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Tyler Varga
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John Tyler Varga (born September 24, 1993) is a Finnish-Canadian-Swedish-Croatian[1][2][3] former professional American football fullback. Varga played college football at the University of Western Ontario, where he was named the OUA Rookie of the Year in 2011,[4] and Yale. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL), where he spent one season, and is the first Finnish player to play in NFL.
Key Information
Early life
[edit]Varga was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His mother Hannele Sundberg is originally from Vantaa, Finland, and his father John Varga is of Croatian descent.[5]
College career
[edit] | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (January 2023) |
Varga attended the University of Western Ontario for one season in 2011, where he was named team MVP, conference player of the year and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) National Freshman of the Year.
Before the 2012 season, Varga transferred to Yale University, where he played for the rest of his college career. He finished at Yale as a three-time All-Ivy honoree with 529 rushing attempts (ranked 5th in Yale history), 2,985 rushing yards (ranked 4th), 5.6 yards per carry (ranked 2nd), and 31 rushing touchdowns (ranked 3rd). Following Varga's senior performance, he was honored as the 2014 Offensive Player of the Year and awarded the Asa S. Bushnell Cup, which honours the Ivy League Player of the Year.[6] Varga was the eighth Bulldog to receive the Cup in Yale's ninth recognition, its first since 2007. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Professional career
[edit]In May 2015, after going unselected in the 2015 NFL draft, Varga signed as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts.[7] In a preseason game against the St. Louis Rams, Varga scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown.[8] He made his NFL regular season debut in Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills. The following week against the New York Jets, Varga made 4 kick returns for 98 yards. In Week 3 against the Tennessee Titans, Varga suffered a concussion in the Colts' win. On October 14, he was placed season-ending injured reserve.[9] On July 26, 2016, Varga retired from the NFL.[10]
Statistics
[edit]| Season | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2015 | Indianapolis Colts | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 18 | 0 | – | – |
| Total | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
References
[edit]- ^ "Combine Chronicles: For Tyler Varga, 'Not Enough Hours in the Day'". Bleacher Report. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
- ^ "Varga's homecoming: Kitchener native better than ever on the gridiron". Waterloo Region Record.
- ^ "Tyler Varga's International Roots Have Carried Him To the NFL". September 16, 2015.
- ^ "Tyler Varga named OUA Rookie of the Year". westernmustangs.com. November 11, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
- ^ Holopainen, Pekka (September 7, 2015). "Tekeekö tämä tuntematon mies suomalaista urheiluhistoriaa – unelmasopimus miljardiliigaan!". IS.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- ^ "Yale's Varga, Harvard's Hodges, Princeton's Zeuli Named 2014 Ivy League Football Players Of The Year, Bushnell Cup Recipients". National Football Foundation. December 8, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
- ^ GRMP, Philip Walker / Kitchener Staff (May 4, 2015). "Kitchener's Tyler Varga agrees to free-agent deal with Colts". The Record. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
- ^ "From Yale to NFL for Colts RB Tyler Varga?". ESPN.com. September 3, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
- ^ "Colts sign Ahmad Bradshaw". October 14, 2015.
- ^ Florio, Mike (July 26, 2016). "Tyler Varga retires". profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
External links
[edit]- Indianapolis Colts bio
- Yale Bulldogs bio Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
 | This biographical article relating to an American football running back born in the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |