Tiquan Underwood

Tiquan Underwood (born February 17, 1987) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the assistant wide receivers coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Rutgers and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft.

Underwood was also a member of the New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Carolina Panthers in the NFL. He also played for the Hamilton Tiger Cats and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Underwood is known for his distinctive hi-top fade hairstyle.

Early life
Underwood grew up in North Brunswick, New Jersey. He played for Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Underwood started as a wide receiver his sophomore and senior years. He was rated as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com and only received scholarship offers from Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Maryland.

College career
During the opening week of the 2007 college football season for Rutgers, Underwood was one of four nominees for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award.

In 2008, Underwood was named a team captain. After the season, he was the recipient of the Loyal Knight Award, honoring the Rutgers player whose character and dedication have proved resilient in his pursuit of excellence.

Jacksonville Jaguars
Underwood was drafted 253rd overall in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was waived on September 5, 2009. He was re-signed to the practice squad on September 6. He was called up from the Jaguars practice squad on September 23, 2009. He was waived on August 25, 2011, after playing in 10 games in 2010.

New England Patriots
On August 29, 2011, Underwood signed with the New England Patriots. On September 3, five days after signing with Patriots, Underwood was cut. On November 8, 2011, Underwood was signed to the 53 man roster to boost a beleaguered kick return squad. He was released on November 12 and re-signed on November 23, 2011. On February 4, 2012, the night before Super Bowl XLVI, he was released. He was re-signed to the Patriots two days after the Super Bowl on February 7, 2012. He was cut again on May 3 after the Patriots had signed Jabar Gaffney. On August 23, 2012, he received his own AFC Championship ring.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
On May 7, 2012, Underwood signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He rejoined his former coach Greg Schiano. Underwood was released by the Buccaneers on August 31, 2012, even though many felt he had an impressive training camp. On September 20, 2012, Tiquan was signed again by the Buccaneers when they released wide receiver Preston Parker. On October 21, 2012, Underwood caught his first touchdown pass of his career in a losing effort to the New Orleans Saints. He was released again by the Buccaneers on September 1, 2013, but then re-signed on October 2, 2013.

Carolina Panthers
Underwood signed with the Carolina Panthers on March 21, 2014. He was released on August 24, 2014.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
On April 2, 2015, Underwood signed with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Underwood played in 14 games in the 2015 season and then 3 in the 2016 season before being released partway through the season in August 2016. In total he caught 45 passes for 711 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Montreal Alouettes
Underwood was signed to the Montreal Alouettes' practice roster on September 28, 2016. In his first season in Montreal Underwood played in 3 games catching 8 passes for 107 yards with one touchdown. Underwood was resigned for the 2017 season. On July 19, Underwood caught 5 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, giving him 1,000 yards receiving in both his CFL and NFL careers. He was released by the Alouettes on October 18, 2017.

Lafayette
Shortly after retiring from playing professional football, Underwood was hired as the wide receivers coach for Lafayette for the 2018 season. This was under John Garrett who was his wide receivers coach in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

Miami Dolphins
In 2019, Underwood was hired by the Miami Dolphins as an offensive quality control coach.

Rutgers
In 2020 after a season in Miami, Underwood returned to Rutgers where he played his college football as the team’s wide receivers coach under Greg Schiano, whom Underwood played for in college.

Pittsburgh
After two seasons at his alma mater, Underwood joined the staff at Pittsburgh in January 2022.

New England Patriots
In 2024. Underwood was hired by the New England Patriots as an assistant wide receivers coach under Jerod Mayo, who Underwood was teammates with in 2011.