Touraj Houshmandzadeh, Jr. ( /ˌhʊʃmənˈzɑːdə/ HUUSH-mən-ZAH-də; born September 26, 1977) is an American football wide receiver who currently plays for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oregon State. Houshmandzadeh is of mixed heritage: his mother is African-American and his father Persian. Houshmandzadeh has also played for the Seattle Seahawks in 2009 and the Baltimore Ravens in 2010. T.J. graduated from Barstow High School in Barstow, California. He later enrolled at Cerritos College. In his two seasons with the Falcons in 1997 and 1998, he was a two-time First-Team Mission Conference selection at wide receiver and kickoff returner. He wanted to play as running back his freshman year, but believing he was too tall to play running back, he voluntarily moved to wide receiver. He finished his Falcons career with 1,152 receiving yards on 65 receptions. He also had two 103-yard kickoff returns and an 92-yard punt return. Based on his junior college performance, Houshmandzadeh was offered an athletic scholarship at Oregon State University by then head
T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- star wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks -- thinks his new head coach Pete Carroll made a smart move by leaving USC in January because it's smart to "get out while the… READ MORE >
