5 Big Brother Houseguests who were pretty good football players

Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother have shown us a variety of houseguests with various hobbies and professions, including five who played football including one man who was an NFL star. Let’s put on the pads and knock some teeth loose.

Nick Starcevic, Big Brother 8

A 25-year-old houseguest from Kimball, Minnesota, Nick Starcevic had a house romance with Daniele Donato, the runner-up that season which saw her father Evel Dick Donato top her in Finale Night by a 5 to 2 Jury vote.

Nick won no HoHs or PoVs on BB8 and was voted out on Day 34 by a vote of 6 to 2, being backdoored by the Late Night Crew.

As far as his experience as a football player, Nick started out playing as a teen for Kimball High School and then went on to play for the University of Minnesota Crookston where the 6-foot, 205-pounder played Free Safety for the Golden Eagles.

Starcevic was the leading tackler for UMC in 2002, 2003, and 2004 and then went over to Europe to play pro football for Team Finland in the European Football League (EFL) and the Seinäjoki (Finland) Crocodiles back in 2006.

Nick would then go on to Big Brother in the summer of 2007.

Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat, Big Brother 20

A 26-year-old substitute teacher from Orlando, Faysal “Fessy” Shaafat wasn’t that great on Big Brother 20 as a member of the FOUTTE, The Sacred, Six, and The Hive alliances. He won one HoH (Week 8) and two PoVs (Week 1, Week 4) and was voted out on Day 73, finishing in ninth place and making the Jury.

He might not have thrived as a Big Brother contestant, but Fessy, who attended Orlando Lutheran Academy, was a very good football player in college. As a four-year starter at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Shaafat starred as a Tight End.

In his four years playing and starting for the Mocs, Fessy was named an All-America twice, All-Southern Conference first team three times and he ended as the fourth most prolific TE in school history finishing with 125 receptions and 18 TDs. But he was never drafted by an NFL team.

Fessy went on to compete on MTV’s The Challenge and made his debut on Total Madness, but in his four seasons of the Reality TV franchise (Total Madness, Double Agents, Spies Lies & Allies, and Ride or Dies), he has yet to win any competition or any prize money but did make it to two Finals.

Fessy, now 33, was much better as a football player than he was or is as a Reality TV competition contestant.

Kaycee Clark, Big Brother 20

No season of Big Brother had as much football talent in the house as did Big Brother 20 with Fessy and Kaycee Clark, two very talented receivers.

A 30-year-old pro football player from Tempe, Arizona, Kaycee would win the season and take home the $500,000 grand prize after beating Tyler Crispen by a narrow 5 to 4 vote.

As far as her football life, Kaycee played Wide Receiver for the San Diego Surge, a now-defunct team in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) that went a perfect 12-0-0 in 2012 and won the WFA National Championship in Chicago.

Like Fessy, Kaycee, now 36, went on to be on The Challenge where she has been on five seasons, has an impressive 21 Daily Wins, and was a winner on Spies, Lies & Allies. She has amassed $413,00 in prize money on the MTV hit.

Ricky Williams, Celebrity Big Brother 2

Easily the best football player to ever enter the Big Brother house, Ricky Williams finished as the runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother 2 behind Tamar Braxton in 2017. Ricky entered the house in the BB spinoff at age 41.

Williams (5-10, 230) went to Patrick Henry High School in San Diego and then attended the University of Texas (1995-1998) where he starred as a Running Back for the Longhorns and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award in 1998.

Texas retired his jersey No. 34 and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

Ricky would then go on to play in the National Football League (NFL)—the best football league on the planet—where he played for the New Orleans Saints (1999-2001), the Miami Dolphins (2002-2003, 2005, 2006-2010), and the Baltimore Ravens (2011).

He would rush for 10,009 yards in his NFL career and score 74 TDs. Williams, now 54, also played a season in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Toronto Argonauts in 2006. Ricky was recently named on the list of 167 players from the modern era nominated for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Cam Sullivan-Brown, Big Brother 26

Cam Sullivan-Brown finished in third place on Big Brother 26 but some houseguests this past season doubted that the 25-year-old physical therapist from Bowie, Maryland was actually a D-I athlete like he claimed.

Like Fessy, he didn’t really do too well on BB26, ending with zero HoH wins and only one PoV (Week 6). But his deep alliances with runner-up Makensy Manbeck and winner Chielsie Baham essentially carried him to Finale Night.

Sullivan-Brown (6-1, 193) was a Wide Receiver and he actually played for two different programs. Cam had 15 receptions in four seasons playing in the Big Ten Conference powerhouse and current College Football Playoffs (CFP) participant Penn State University,

He would then transfer to Independent school Massachusetts for the 2022-23 season where Cam got more playing time and finished with 27 receptions for 373 yards and two TDs for the Minutemen.

Sullivan-Brown had a memorable 124-yard game against UConn that season where he recorded a career-long 53-yard TD catch vs. the Huskies.