Juan Roque
Encyclopedia
Juan Armando Roque is a former American football
offensive tackle who played three years for the National Football League
's (NFL) Detroit Lions
and played one season for the Toronto Argonauts
of the Canadian Football League
. Roque is currently a color analyst
for Fox Sports Arizona for Arizona State University
football games.
, to Armando and Maria Roque. Shortly after Juan's birth Armando and Maria moved to the Roques' native Mexico, living in Coatzacoalcos
, Veracruz
. When Juan was three the Roques returned to California and eventually resided in Ontario
.
and played on its offensive line. Coming out of high school, Roque was recruited by numerous colleges; these included USC
and Washington State
. Initially Roque verbally committed to USC but withdrew the commitment and decided to sign his letter of intent
with Arizona State University
to play for incoming head coach Bruce Snyder
. Roque was initially recruited as a defensive lineman.
during the 1992 season
. By his sophomore season, 1994, Roque had gained a starting spot for Arizona State at left guard
.
In 1995 Roque was named as a pre-season All-West lineman, and honorable mention All-American, by Street & Smith's. Following the season, he was named to the All Pacific-10 Conference first team and was a second team All-American by The Sporting News.
Before the 1996 season Roque was considered as a contender for the Outland Trophy
as best interior lineman in the country. In May 1996 Roque graduated from Arizona State, earning a Latin American history degree. Roque started all 11 games for the Sun Devils that season, helping the team go 11–0 in the regular season. Notable victories that season were a 19–0 upset of number one-ranked Nebraska, a come from behind victory over UCLA, a double overtime
win against USC, and a 56–14 rout of the University of Arizona in Tucson
. Arizona State won the Pacific-10 Conference championship for the second time in school history and earned a Rose Bowl
berth with a 35–7 victory against California. Roque received numerous honors that year. He was a consensus All-American, All Pacific-10 Conference first team member for the second year in a row, runner-up for the Lombardi Award
, and an Outland Trophy finalist. Roque played in the Rose Bowl
on January 1, 1997 against Ohio State University
. The second-ranked Sun Devils, despite a strong effort by quarterback
Jake Plummer
, lost 20–17. After the college season ended, Roque was invited to participate in the 1997 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana
and did so.
Roque was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round (35th overall). During his rookie year Roque played in 13 games. Against the Chicago Bears
on Thanksgiving Day
, Roque received an opportunity to start. During the game, Roque suffered a serious left knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Roque did not play in 1998 as he spent the entire year on injured reserve due to lingering effects from the knee injury.
In 1999 Roque earned a starting position at right tackle. He started the first two games and helped the Lions earn a 2–0 record. Roque did not see further playing time until the final two games of the regular season, but saw action against the Washington Redskins
during a Wild Card playoff game in January 2000. Roque was released by the Lions before the 2000 season
.
In 2001 Roque signed a contract to play for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Listed as a defensive lineman, Roque played in seven games for the Argonauts in the 2002 CFL season
before the team released him.
, and is a legal administrator.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
offensive tackle who played three years for the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's (NFL) Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
and played one season for the Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...
of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
. Roque is currently a color analyst
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for Fox Sports Arizona for Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
football games.
Beginnings
Roque was born in San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, to Armando and Maria Roque. Shortly after Juan's birth Armando and Maria moved to the Roques' native Mexico, living in Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos River. Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word meaning "Site of the Snake" or "Where the snake hides"...
, Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
. When Juan was three the Roques returned to California and eventually resided in Ontario
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...
.
High school
Roque attended Ontario High SchoolOntario High School (California)
Ontario High School is a public high school in Ontario, California. It is one of the twelve schools of the Chaffey Joint Union High School District.-History:...
and played on its offensive line. Coming out of high school, Roque was recruited by numerous colleges; these included USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and Washington State
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
. Initially Roque verbally committed to USC but withdrew the commitment and decided to sign his letter of intent
Letter of intent
A letter of intent is a document outlining an agreement between two or more parties before the agreement is finalized. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement...
with Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
to play for incoming head coach Bruce Snyder
Bruce Snyder
Bruce Snyder was an American football player and coach. After playing for Oregon in the early 1960s as a fullback, Snyder embarked on a coaching career...
. Roque was initially recruited as a defensive lineman.
College
Soon after arriving at Arizona State, Roque was moved to offensive tackle and redshirtedRedshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...
during the 1992 season
1992 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Coalition, and ended with Alabama's first national championship in thirteen years—their first since the departure of Bear Bryant...
. By his sophomore season, 1994, Roque had gained a starting spot for Arizona State at left guard
Guard (American football)
In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....
.
In 1995 Roque was named as a pre-season All-West lineman, and honorable mention All-American, by Street & Smith's. Following the season, he was named to the All Pacific-10 Conference first team and was a second team All-American by The Sporting News.
Before the 1996 season Roque was considered as a contender for the Outland Trophy
Outland Trophy
The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named All-America at two positions, Outland garnered consensus All-America honors in...
as best interior lineman in the country. In May 1996 Roque graduated from Arizona State, earning a Latin American history degree. Roque started all 11 games for the Sun Devils that season, helping the team go 11–0 in the regular season. Notable victories that season were a 19–0 upset of number one-ranked Nebraska, a come from behind victory over UCLA, a double overtime
Overtime (sports)
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...
win against USC, and a 56–14 rout of the University of Arizona in Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Arizona State won the Pacific-10 Conference championship for the second time in school history and earned a Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
berth with a 35–7 victory against California. Roque received numerous honors that year. He was a consensus All-American, All Pacific-10 Conference first team member for the second year in a row, runner-up for the Lombardi Award
Lombardi Award
The Rotary Lombardi Award is awarded annually to the best college football lineman or linebacker. The Lombardi Award program was approved by the Rotary Club in Houston in 1970 shortly after the death of Vince Lombardi. The committee outlined the criteria for eligibility for the award, which...
, and an Outland Trophy finalist. Roque played in the Rose Bowl
1997 Rose Bowl
The 1997 Rose Bowl Game was a postseason college football bowl game between the Arizona State Sun Devils of the Pacific-10 Conference and the Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference, held on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The game resulted in a dramatic 20–17...
on January 1, 1997 against Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. The second-ranked Sun Devils, despite a strong effort by quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Jake Plummer
Jake Plummer
Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arizona State....
, lost 20–17. After the college season ended, Roque was invited to participate in the 1997 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and did so.
Professional football
During the 1997 NFL Draft1997 NFL Draft
The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that...
Roque was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round (35th overall). During his rookie year Roque played in 13 games. Against the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
on Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Classic
The National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic is a series of games played during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It has been a regular occurrence since the league's inception in 1920. Since 2006, three games are played every Thanksgiving...
, Roque received an opportunity to start. During the game, Roque suffered a serious left knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Roque did not play in 1998 as he spent the entire year on injured reserve due to lingering effects from the knee injury.
In 1999 Roque earned a starting position at right tackle. He started the first two games and helped the Lions earn a 2–0 record. Roque did not see further playing time until the final two games of the regular season, but saw action against the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
during a Wild Card playoff game in January 2000. Roque was released by the Lions before the 2000 season
2000 NFL season
The 2000 NFL season was the 81st regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXXV when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants.Week 1 of the season reverted to Labor Day weekend in 2000...
.
In 2001 Roque signed a contract to play for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Listed as a defensive lineman, Roque played in seven games for the Argonauts in the 2002 CFL season
2002 CFL season
The 2002 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 49th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 45th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2002:...
before the team released him.
Post-football
From 2007 to 2010 Roque worked as a color commentator for television broadcasts of Arizona State games on Fox Sports Arizona. On October 17, 2009, Roque was inducted into the Arizona State University Sports Hall of Fame. As of 2007, Roque resides in Chandler, ArizonaChandler, Arizona
-Demographics:As of the Census of 2010, there were 236,123 people, 86,924 households, and 60,212 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 73.3% White, 4.8% Black or African American, 1.5% Native American, 8.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 21.9% Hispanic or Latino, and 8.3%...
, and is a legal administrator.