JaCoby Stevens (born June 19, 1998) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, where he is now a recruiting specialist.

Early life

Stevens grew up in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

and attended

The Ensworth School The Ensworth School is a private school located on two separate campuses in Nashville, Tennessee. The original campus, with grades kindergarten (previously referred to as "pre-first") through eighth, opened in 1958 with 152 students. The school ...

before transferring to Oakland High School after his freshman year. Stevens played both

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for Oakland and was also a member of the basketball team. As a junior, he recorded 84 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions, two fumbles recovered and scored two defensive touchdowns on defense and caught 32 passes for 806 yards with 11 touchdowns and had three rushing touchdowns on offense. As a senior, he recorded 61 tackles with 9 interceptions on defense with 34 receptions for 689 yards and 12 touchdowns on offense and was named Tennessee's Mr. Football. Stevens was rated a five-star recruit and initially committed to play college football at

over offers from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Auburn and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He decommitted during his senior season after the team fired head coach

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

, but ultimately re-committed.

College career

Stevens played both safety and wide receiver as a true freshman, appearing in six games with one start at wide receiver and catching two passes for 32 yards. Stevens moved permanently to safety before his sophomore year and started the last four games of the season, recording 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception with five passes broken up. In his first full season as a starter, Stevens recorded 85 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks with three interceptions and nine passes defended and was named second-team

All-Southeastern Conference The All-SEC football team is an annual Southeastern Conference (SEC) honor bestowed on the best players in the conference following every college football season. Seasons

Following is a list of all-conference teams in the history of the SEC: ...

by the league's coaches and helped LSU win the 2019 National Championship. After Ja'Marr Chase opted out for the 2020 season, Stevens was selected to wear the #7 jersey, which goes to the biggest playmaker on the team.

Professional career

Stevens was selected in the sixth round with the 224th overall pick of the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with Philadelphia on June 9, 2021, worth $3.6 million. He was waived on August 31, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. On January 2, 2022, Stevens made his NFL debut in the team's week 17 game against the

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, collecting a tackle in the 20-16 victory. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on January 18, 2022. On August 30, 2022, Stevens was waived by the Eagles. On August 3, 2023, Stevens joined the

football coaching staff.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, JaCoby 1998 births Living people Philadelphia Eagles players LSU Tigers football players American football safeties Players of American football from Murfreesboro, Tennessee 21st-century African-American sportsmen The Ensworth School alumni