Antwaan Randle El ( AN-twahn RAN-dəl-EL; born August 17, 1979) is an American professional football coach and former player who currently serves as the wide receivers coach and assistant head coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers, earning first-team All-American honors in 2001. He also played basketball and baseball for the Hoosiers. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft. Playing with the Steelers for four seasons as a wide receiver and return specialist, he was active in all 64 regular season games with 23 starts. He was also instrumental in a number of trick plays, including throwing a touchdown pass as a wide receiver for the Steelers in Super Bowl XL.
After the 2005 NFL season, Randle El was signed as a free agent with the Washington Redskins, where he scored ten touchdowns, catching eight and throwing two. In 2007, Randle El was sidelined for a game against the Buffalo Bills with a hamstring injury. This was the only inactive game of his NFL career.
Randle El was released by the Redskins in March 2010, re-signing with the Steelers shortly after. Randle El was also named fifth in USA Today's All-Decade kick returners.
For a time, he was also a sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network for interconference games that the Indiana football team plays.
Randle El was born in Riverdale, Illinois as the son of Curtis Randle El Sr., a food distributor, and Jacqueline, a day-care provider. Randle El was raised a Pentecostal Christian. A Chicago Bears fan, he attended Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was a high school teammate of former NFL linebacker Napoleon Harris, as well as NBA center Melvin Ely and former NFL wide receiver Tai Streets.
After graduating from Thornton Township in 1997, Randle El was drafted in the 1997 Major League Baseball draft, selected in the 14th round (424th overall) by the Chicago Cubs. He opted instead to pursue a football scholarship at Indiana University, despite being told he was too small during the recruiting process.
Randle El attended Indiana University Bloomington from 1997 to 2001, playing college football primarily as a quarterback. Due to a low SAT score, he sat out his first full technical year at Indiana as a partial academic qualifier. Playing for the first time in Indiana's 1998 season opener against the Western Michigan Broncos, Randle El completed 22-of-29 passing attempts for 385 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, as well as rushing for 82 yards on 23 carries for three touchdowns. The Hoosiers would go on to win the game, 45–30, with Randle El's 467 yards breaking the NCAA freshman total offense record in his first collegiate game. His performance was also the third all-time highest passing yards in a single game for Indiana, and would earn Randle El the co-Big Ten Player of the Week award. In the same season, Randle El would lead the team to victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 17, 1998, with a rushing touchdown in the final seconds of the game. The win came after a 62–0 loss to Iowa the previous season, making Indiana the first team in the history of the Big Ten Conference to lose to a team by more than 60 points in one season, and beat them the following year. Randle El would win the Big Ten Player of the Week award for a second time for his performance. On December 1, 1998, Randle El was announced as the winner of the 1998 Big Ten Freshman of the Year award, voted for by both Conference coaches and the media. The award was later re-titled the "Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year" award, partly in honor of Randle El's successful college career. Over the course of the 1998 season, Randle El tallied four 100-yard rushing games, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Michigan Wolverines, the Michigan State Spartans, and the Cincinnati Bearcats. He finished the season and his freshman year with 1,745 passing yards and six touchdowns, as well as 873 yards rushing as a quarterback, breaking the Indiana University season record.
While at Indiana, Randle El became the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for 40 career touchdowns and score 40 career rushing touchdowns. In 2001, he was awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, presented by the Chicago Tribune to the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference. He finished his collegiate career as fifth on the all-time NCAA total yardage list, and became the first player in college football history to record 2,500 total yards for each of four consecutive years. Tallying 7,469 passing yards, 3,895 rushing yards, and 92 touchdowns running and passing for his college career, he finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting in his senior season. Randle El ended his college career with a 26–15 win over the Kentucky Wildcats, passing for two touchdowns.
In 2000, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno said of Randle El, "He is just the whole offense. It is scary to watch him. He is so quick that if you don't get on him and you wait for him to pitch the ball, he will take off on you. He is just an amazing athlete. I don't know how you get ready for him."
While attending Indiana, Randle El also played varsity basketball under Hall of Fame head coach Bob Knight. Following the regular-season football finale against Purdue on November 21, 1998, Randle El joined the 1998–99 Indiana basketball team in Hawaii for the 1998 Maui Invitational on November 23 but did not see any action in the three games. In his first basketball practice with the team, he broke the first metacarpal bone in his right hand while deflecting a pass, causing him to miss the next four weeks. He made his Hoosiers basketball debut on December 20 against San Francisco, wearing a soft cast on his right hand, his shooting hand. In his debut, he had five points, two rebounds and two assists in five minutes during the 106–54 victory. After appearing in nine games, Randle El broke another bone in the same hand, causing him to miss the remainder of the regular season. He returned for the NCAA tournament, playing in the first and second rounds against George Washington and St. John's. In the 1998–99 season, Randle El played in 11 games for the basketball team, averaging 1.5 points and 0.7 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game. Randle El did not play basketball during the 1999–2000 season, choosing to rest after playing football and basketball during the previous academic year. He never returned to the Indiana basketball team afterward. In 2000, Randle El joined the Indiana varsity baseball team, playing under head coach Bob Morgan. He appeared in 13 of the team's 56 games as Indiana finished 29–27, recording one hit in 12 at bats.
In November 2012, Randle El was inducted into the Indiana Athletic Hall of Fame. In June 2025, he was named one of the 79 nominees for the 2026 class of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Pittsburgh Steelers (first stint)
Randle El was selected as a wide receiver in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft with the 62nd overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was the ninth wide receiver to be selected in the 2002 NFL Draft. He earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against Baltimore in Week 8. As a rookie, he had 47 receptions for 489 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.
In Week 8 of the 2003 season, Randle El earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his game against St. Louis. He had an 84-yard punt return for a touchdown in the game. In the 2003 season, Randle El finished with 37 receptions for 364 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.
The Steelers made him their top kickoff returner through the 2004 season, and their top punt returner. In Week 15, against the New York Giants, he threw his first professional touchdown pass on a 10-yard catch by Verron Haynes. He finished the 2004 season with 43 receptions for 601 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.