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He played collegiately at quarterback at UCLA, where he was well-regarded, but apparently was ill-advised in attempting to turn professional after his sophomore season. His professional career seemed to go nowhere, and he was out of football entirely until invited to try out for the Los Angeles Xtreme of the upstart XFL, which played its first and only season in the spring of 2001. He received considerable publicity in leading the Xtreme to the league's sole championship, and also much new interest from teams in the National Football League, before eventually signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers and then quarterbacking them into the playoffs, at the same time seemingly reviving the flagging career of longtime Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. But the Steelers drafted a new quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft, and following an early-season injury, Maddox's career is in jeopardy.
Maddox, Tommy Maddox, Tommy