Claridge started 48 games for USC and the first to do so as a true freshman in college football and was voted the Pac-10 top offensive linesman in 1999.

After being selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 2000 NFL draft, he started for 62 games in his first four seasons.

In 2005, Claridge played two games at the right tackle position with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League.

After being found unconscious at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was transported to Saint Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson where he later died at age 27.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on 10 May 2006 that the cause of death was acute pneumonia, exacerbated by respiratory depression brought on by intoxication with the painkiller oxycodone [1].