Josh Portis

American gridiron football player (born 1987)

‹ The template Infobox NFL biography is being considered for merging. ›

American football player

Josh Portis

Portis with the Seattle Seahawks in 2011

No. 3
Position:| Quarterback
Personal information
Born:|  (1987-07-14) July 14, 1987 (age 37)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Height:| 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:| 211 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High school:| Woodland Hills (CA) Taft
College:| California (PA)
Undrafted:| 2011
Career history

* Seattle Seahawks (2011–2012)
* Toronto Argonauts (2013)*
* Seattle Seahawks (2013)*
* Toronto Argonauts (2013)
* Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2014–2015)
* Washington Valor (2017–2018)

* Offseason and/or practice squad member only

Career highlights and awards

* NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year

Stats at Pro Football Reference
Stats at CFL.ca (archive)
Stats at ArenaFan.com

Joshua Allen Portis (born July 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback. He was highly touted as one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterback prospects out of high school. Portis attended the University of Florida for one season and then transferred to the University of Maryland. In 2009, he transferred again to Division II California University of Pennsylvania, where he set school records with 3,421 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and 3,870 total offensive yards throwing.

Portis was signed by the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent out of college in 2011. He was also a member of the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the Washington Valor of the Arena Football League (AFL).

## Early years

[edit]

Portis grew up in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, California with his mother Patricia Portis. He initially attended Redondo Union High School, where he played junior varsity for one year. After his mother had a disagreement with the head coach over playing time, Portis transferred to Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and then again to William Howard Taft High School.[1] At Taft, he was a two-year letter-winner at quarterback. He threw for 2,294 yards, 36 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, and ran for 865 yards and 13 touchdowns. As a senior, he was named an all-state player, league offensive player of the year, and a Los Angeles first-team all-city player. Scout.com assessed him as the fifth-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation. He was highly recruited out of high school and received offers from Florida, Maryland, Kansas State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, and Washington.[2]

## College career

[edit]

Portis attended college at Florida for one season and saw action in six games. In 2005, he made six out of 11 completions for 81 yards. He threw one interception and was sacked three times. He was Florida's fourth-leading rusher with 163 yards on 24 carries. He transferred to Maryland in 2006 and was required by NCAA rules to sit out for a season.[3] In 2007, he was caught cheating on an exam and suspended for the season under the university's honor code policy.[4][5] In 2008, Portis mostly substituted for starting quarterback Chris Turner for one option play at a time. He completed one of three pass attempts for four yards and made 31 carries for 186 rushing yards and a touchdown.[6] Portis' playing time decreased throughout the season, with him seeing action on just eight plays in the last half of the season.[7]

On January 7, 2009, it was announced that Portis would transfer to California University of Pennsylvania in the spring semester.[8] Since the school competes at the Division II level, he had two years of eligibility remaining with the California Vulcans.[9] He started the season-opener, in which eighth-ranked California lost to unranked Saginaw Valley State, 23–17, and recorded 14 completions on 31 attempts for 145 yards and two interceptions,[10] and led the team in rushing with 12 carries for 82 yards. In that one game, he exceeded his previous combined career pass attempts of 14.[11] After dropping the second game, 17-10, to sixth-ranked Bloomsburg University, Portis turned his team around and threw for 202 yards in a 30-23 Cal U win over West Chester University.[12] Portis now leads the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference with 18 touchdown passes, a passer rating of 179.4, and led the Vulcans to their 5th straight PSAC West Championship.[13] In the Division II semifinals against second-ranked Northwest Missouri State, Portis completed 20 of 36 pass attempts for a career-high of 367 yards and three touchdowns, but California fell, 56–31.[14] Upon the conclusion of the season, Portis had set school records with 3,421 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and 3,870 total offensive yards.[15] He declined to enter the 2010 NFL draft, and said, "I think my best chance at the pros is to stay at California another year."[15] In 2010, Portis was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, and fraud for using a stolen credit card at a mall near Pittsburgh.[16]

## Professional career

[edit]

Pre-draft measurables  Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

6 ft 2+7⁄8 in
(1.90 m)  | 211 lb
(96 kg)  | 34+1⁄8 in
(0.87 m)  | 9+3⁄8 in
(0.24 m) | 4.69 s | 1.71 s | 2.79 s | 4.12 s | 6.84 s | 40.0 in
(1.02 m) | 10 ft 6 in
(3.20 m)
All values from NFL Combine[17][18]

### Seattle Seahawks (first stint)

[edit]

Portis was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent following the 2011 NFL draft on July 26, 2011. He made the Seahawks roster on September 3 behind starter Tarvaris Jackson. On August 11, 2011, against the Chargers, he went 5 for 6 for 69 yards and 1 touchdown in a preseason win. Portis was cut by the Seahawks on August 31, 2012 and signed to their practice squad on September 1, 2012.[19] He was then again released from the Seahawks on May 21, 2013 after a May 5 DUI arrest.[20]

### Toronto Argonauts (first stint)

[edit]

On March 8, 2013, Portis was signed by the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

### Seattle Seahawks (second stint)

[edit]

Portis was re-signed by the Seahawks on April 3, 2013 to a two-year contract. On May 21, Portis was waived after news surfaced of his DUI arrest.[21]

### Toronto Argonauts (second stint)

[edit]

Portis re-signed with Toronto on June 2, 2013.

### Winnipeg Blue Bombers

[edit]

On July 15, 2014, Portis was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Following the 2014 CFL season, Portis resigned with the Blue Bombers prior to becoming a free-agent.[22] On June 29, 2015, Portis was released from the Bombers.

### Washington Valor

[edit]

On May 24, 2017, Portis was assigned to the Washington Valor of the Arena Football League.[23] He was placed on reassignment on July 20, 2017.[24] On March 21, 2018, he was assigned to the Valor.[25] On May 7, 2018, he was placed on reassignment.[26] On May 14, 2018, he was assigned to the Valor.[27] On May 17, 2018, he was placed on reassignment.[28]

## Personal life

[edit]

He is the cousin of retired Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis.[29] On May 5, 2013, Portis was arrested for driving under the influence, and had a blood alcohol level of 0.092, .012 higher than the state of Washington's limit.[30]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Freshman QB Portis set to leave UF; Guided by his influential mother, Josh Portis again plans to change schools, The Orlando Sentinel, December 10, 2005.
2. ^ Josh Portis Profile, Scout.com, retrieved January 11, 2009.
3. ^ Portis Transfers to Maryland, University of Maryland Terrapins football official website, January 26, 2006, retrieved January 12, 2009.
4. ^ Maryland backup QB to transfer, ESPN, January 7, 2009.
5. ^ Student outlines Portis incident Archived June 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Diamondback, September 5, 2007.
6. ^ Josh Portis Stats[dead link‍], ESPN, retrieved January 12, 2009.
7. ^ The Portis breakdown, revisited Archived January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Times, December 17, 2008, retrieved January 12, 2009.
8. ^ Heather Dinich, Maryland backup QB to transfer Archived February 8, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, ESPN, January 7, 2009, retrieved January 12, 2009.
9. ^ Former Gator QBs Newton, Portis try to start over Archived May 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Orlando Sentinel, April 29, 2009.
10. ^ No. 8 Vulcans fall to Saginaw Valley, 23-17, California University of Pennsylvania, August 27, 2009.
11. ^ Patrick Stevens, Paging Portis Archived August 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Times, August 27, 2009.
12. ^ Vulcans claim win at West Chester, California University of Pennsylvania, September 12, 2009.
13. ^ 2009 PSAC Football Leaders, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, retrieved October 16, 2011.
14. ^ Bearcats finish off Cal U's season Archived September 10, 2012, at archive.today, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 7, 2009.
15. ^ a b Cal won't lose Portis to NFL[permanent dead link‍], Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 26, 2009.
16. ^ Cal U standout Portis gets deal in theft case Archived September 12, 2012, at archive.today, The Valley Independent, December 15, 2010.
17. ^ "Josh Portis Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
18. ^ "2011 Draft Scout Josh Portis, California (PA) NFL Draft Scout College Football Profile". draftscout.com. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
19. ^ Benne, Jon. "Josh Portis released from Practice Squad". Field Gulls. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
20. ^ Schilken, Chuck. "Seahawks backup QB Josh Portis waived after being arrested". Retrieved May 21, 2013.
21. ^ Associated Press (May 21, 2013). "Seattle waives backup QB Josh Portis". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
22. ^ "BOMBERS EXTEND CONTRACT OF QB JOSH PORTIS". Winnipeg Blue Bombers. December 18, 2014. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
23. ^ Thom Loverro (May 28, 2017). "NFL dreams fuel D.C.'s latest arena football adventure". www.washingtontimes.com. The Washington Times, LLC. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
24. ^ "Transactions". afldigital.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2017.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
25. ^ "Team Transactions". arenafan.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
26. ^ "Transactions". afldigital.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
27. ^ "Transactions". afldigital.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
28. ^ "Recent Transactions". arenafan.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
29. ^ Player Bio: Josh Portis Archived January 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, University of Maryland Terrapins football official website, retrieved January 11, 2009.
30. ^ Sherman, Rodger (May 20, 2013). "Seahawks QB Josh Portis arrested for DUI". Philadelphia Media Network. Retrieved May 20, 2013.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josh Portis.

* Stats Crew profile
* Former Terps QB is California dreamin', The Washington Times, August 16, 2009.
* Portis showing improvement, The Washington Post, August 6, 2008.
* Terps can't dig deep for answers at QB: Loss of Portis, transfers leaves position thin, The Baltimore Sun, September 3, 2007.
* Portis speeds up Terps' QB debate, The Baltimore Sun, August 29, 2007.
* Portis makes impression; ineligible player poses as White, The Washington Times, September 12, 2007.
* Portis leads Cal U past Gannon, Trib Total Media, September 21, 2009.
* [1]