Darnell Bing
Darnell Bing is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League. He was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He played college football for the USC Trojans.
Bing was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, and Houston Texans.
Early life
Bing attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. He was a part of a Poly team that had five players ranked in the top 100 in the nation according to Rivals.com: tight end Marcedes Lewis, offensive tackle Winston Justice, defensive tackle Manuel Wright, running back Hershel Dennis and himself. Bing was a member of the USC football team in college along with all of these high school teammates, except for Lewis who played for USC's crosstown archrival, UCLA.College career
Bing played safety for the USC Trojans, and received permission from USC athletic director Mike Garrett to wear Garrett's retired No. 20 jersey. He was ruled academically ineligible his first year, but Bing started on all three other years of his collegiate career and was on two national championship teams. He was named a Jim Thorpe Award finalist as the nation's best collegiate football defensive back and an All-American in 2005. He was an early entry candidate in the 2006 NFL Draft, winding up in the fourth round.In his final season at Southern California, Bing had an interception in the final minutes of the game against Fresno State that sealed the win for the Trojans.
Awards and honors
- Honorable mention All-Pac-10
- Sporting News Pac-10 Freshman of the Year
- Sporting News Freshman All-American
- Second-team All-Pac-10
- First-team All-Pac-10
- First-team AP All-American
- Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist
- Lott Trophy quarterfinalist
Professional career