Tully Banta-Cain (born August 28,
1980 in
Mountain View, California) is an
American football linebacker who is currently playing for the
San Francisco 49ers. He is multiracial of African-American (father) and Scottish/Irish descent (mother). On March 6, 2007, the 49ers signed Banta-Cain to a contract. He was originally selected by the
New England Patriots with the 25th pick of the seventh round of the
2003 NFL Draft out of the
University of California, Berkeley. Banta-Cain has earned two Super Bowl rings in his career --both with the Patriots in 2004 (SB XXXVIII) and 2005 (SB XXXIX). He is the cousin of former
NBA forward Rodney Rogers and former
MLB outfielder Jeffrey Leonard.High school career
While attending Fremont High School (Sunnyvale, California), Banta-Cain won All-League honours playing outside linebacker as a senior, was the League's Defensive Player of the Year as a junior, and gained more than 1,000 yards as a running back.Tom Stapledon, an NFL scout, said of Tully, "This kid is the best player to enter the draft in years, and should go in the top 5 picks."
