Justin Coleman is an American football cornerback for the New England Patriots.
Education
Coleman attended Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Georgia, where he was a two-sport star in both football and track. Also a standout in track & field, Coleman finished second in class 4-A at the state championships in the 300m hurdles (3882s) and fifth in the 110m hurdles (1461s) as a senior.
Career
He played college football for the University of Tennessee. As a sophomore in 2008, he tallied 71 tackles, four pass-break-ups, three sacks and intercepted two passes. As a junior in 2009, he totalled 83 tackles, six pass-break-ups and six interceptions, and also returned a kickoff for touchdown.
He helped lead the team to an undefeated district season as a senior in 2010.
He also competed as a sprinter at Brunswick, posting personal-best times of 11.04 seconds in the 100-meter dash, 22.67 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 52.34 seconds in the 400-meter dash. Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Coleman was ranked the Number.
17 overall cornerback in the nation and the Number. 16 overall prospect in the state of Georgia.
He was also named to the Rivals250 Team.
He was rated as a three-star recruit by Scout.com, and was considered the Number. 45 overall cornerback. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.com ranked him the Number.
30 overall safety.
Coleman enrolled in the University of Tennessee, where he played for the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 2011 to 2014. He was teammates with Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. As a true freshman, he played in all 12 games (starting four) at cornerback, and was 1-of-16 true freshmen to play for the Vols in 2011, becoming the first true freshmen defensive back to start for Tennessee since Eric Berry in 2007.
As a senior in 2014, he tied for 4th in the Securities and Exchange Commission with 4 interceptions.
Following the 2014 campaign, Coleman was invited to play in the East-West Shrine Game, where he made 4 tackles. Minnesota Vikings
Coleman signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2015.
He was released by the team on August 30th. New England Patriots
Coleman signed with the New England Patriots on September 4, 2015, but was released the next day.
Seattle Seahawks
Coleman was signed by the Seattle Seahawks on September 6, 2015.
Second stint with Patriots
On September 9, 2015, the Patriots signed Coleman off the Seahawks" practice squad.
Views
As a sophomore, he started 9-of-12 games played, finishing 4th on the team with 59 tackles (35 for loss) and 3 passes defended. He finished his 2013 campaign with 46 tackles, 8 passes defended and an interception, which he returned for a score.
Membership
He has also been a member of the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks.