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The 17th season of The Bachelorette, which features a young NFL hopeful among its cast of contestants, is underway. The 26-year-old, American Football player Andrew Spencer has grabbed the attention of both viewers and The Bachelorette herself, Katie Thurston.
Who is NFL hopeful Andrew Spencer?
The 6' 1", 210 lbs defensive back played college football at Winona State University with dreams of playing in the NFL. He was a first-team All-American and Winona State Male Athlete of the Year in the 2017-18 season.
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Spencer currently lives in Vienna, Austria, where he plays for the Dacia Vienna Vikings in the Austrian Football League. When he's not playing football in Austria, Spencer is a high school football coach and teacher's assistant in Chicago.
“I feel very good now to start my third season with the Vikings, and I can hardly wait to complete an entire season with the team," he told AFI in an interview. "I signed again with the Vikings to win titles, but I also have the feeling that I still want to prove a lot. A personal goal is to be the best player in Europe. Now I have a whole season ahead of me to prove that and to show my potential to the full."
The Bachelorette contestant missed the start of the football season in Austria to appear on the reality dating TV show. The Vikings coach had this to say about his absence:
“Of course we would all have liked to have Andrew with us at the start of the season. But we are very capable of reacting to unplanned circumstances. The team is in very good shape, has an energetic team spirit and can adapt very well until Andrew joins us again.”
NFL opportunity
After starring at Winona State during his senior year of college, Spencer was invited to the Cleveland Browns' NFL rookie minicamp in 2018. It is as close as the 26-year-old defender has gotten to playing in the NFL.
Legal issues
Andrew Spencer has had a couple of run-ins with the law as a young man. In September 2014, he was charged with underage consumption of alcohol; he pleaded guilty and was fined $185.
In December 2018, Spencer pleaded guilty to fourth-degree DWI in Minnesota. He was put on probation and fined $400.
