Gregory Lemont Ellis (born August 14, 1975) is a former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the University of North Carolina, and was recognized as an All-American. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft, and also played a season for the Oakland Raiders. Ellis has also produced for television and film, including as the executive producer of the 2015 sports film Carter High. Early years Ellis was born in Wendell, North Carolina. He attended East Wake High School in Wendell. He was named Male High School Athlete of the Year in 1993 by the Raleigh News and Observer. College career Ellis attended the University of North Carolina, and played for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team from 1994 to 1997. Ellis had four sacks a back-up defensive end during his redshirt freshman year. In 1995, he was named first-team All-ACC. Ellis was also named honorable mention All-American by UPI, while recording 71 tackles and seven sacks. As a junior, Ellis was named second-team All-American by The Sporting News and was a first-team All-ACC selection after closing the season with 62 tackles and 12.5 sacks—the second most sacks in Tar Heels history, behind Lawrence Taylor's 16 in 1979. Professional career Dallas Cowboys Ellis was drafted with the 8th pick of first round in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, a selection which caused a great stir among Dallas Cowboys fans who were disappointed that the team passed on the opportunity to take Randy Moss. Although rumored to be the destination where Moss would end up, Dallas opted to take a player in Ellis who did not possess the character issues that Moss did. He became a starter at defensive end for Dallas immediately and started 155 of 162 games during his Cowboy career from 1998-2008. For the first eight years he spent a similar amount of time as the starting right end as he did the starting left end. In 2006, he was moved to outside linebacker as Bill Parcells implemented his 3-4 defense. Ellis started 35 games and made 38 total appearances at outside linebacker from 2006-2008. During his tenure in Dallas he totaled 77 quarterback sacks, 377 tackles, 20 forced fumbles nine fumble recoveries and four interceptions. He scored two touchdowns, both in 1999,