Porter Michael Peterson (born June 17, 1976) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the outside linebackers coach at the University of South Carolina. Peterson played college football at the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team and earned All-American honors. He was a second-round pick in the 1999 NFL Draft and played professionally for thirteen seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL).
. . . Mike Peterson . . .
Peterson was born in Gainesville, Florida in 1976.[1] He attended Santa Fe High School in nearby Alachua, Florida,[2] where he played for the Santa Fe Raiders high school football team.
Peterson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Steve Spurrier‘s Florida Gators football team from 1995 to 1998.[3][4][5] He was a member of the 1996 Gators team that finished 12–1 and won the Bowl Alliance national championship by defeating the top-ranked Florida State Seminoles 52–20 in the Sugar Bowl. Peterson started twenty-four of forty-two games in which he played, posted 249 tackles, three forced fumbles, thirteen tackles for a loss and 8.5 sacks.[3] As a senior team captain in 1998, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a first-team All-American, and was selected as the Gators’ most valuable player by his teammates.[3][4][5]
Peterson was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a “Gator Great” in 2011.[6][7][4][5]
. . . Mike Peterson . . .