Jeffery Wade Ulbrich (; born February 17, 1977) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach and former

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

who is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for the New York Jets of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

and was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the 3rd round (86th overall) in the 2000 NFL Draft and played for the 49ers from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. After retiring as a player following the 2009 season, Ulbrich was the assistant special teams coach for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

for two seasons. He then served as the linebackers and special teams coach at UCLA for three seasons and then served as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Falcons for six seasons.

Early years

Ulbrich attended Live Oak High School in

Morgan Hill, California Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining, entertainme ...

, and lettered three times in football and twice in wrestling. In football, he was a First-team All-League and team MVP. In wrestling, he won a league title (192 pounds).

Playing career

College

Ulbrich redshirted in his lone season at San Jose State before transferring to Gavilan College. He earned first-team All-Conference and team MVP in lone season at

Gavilan College Gavilan College is a public community college in Santa Clara County, California. History The college was established in 1919 as the San Benito County Junior College. It operated as such until 1963, when a new community college district was d ...

Gilroy, California Gilroy is a city in Northern California's Santa Clara County, south of Morgan Hill and north of San Benito County. Gilroy is the southernmost city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a population of 56,766 as of the 2019 U.S. Census Projecti ...

. He was a two-year starter at

. He earned All-WAC first-team selection and team co-captain as a senior. He started all 12 games at middle linebacker. He led the conference with a school-record 169 tackles (42 solo) his senior year. Ulbrich set a school record with 127 assisted tackles, breaking the old mark of 97. He ranked third in the league with eight sacks for 67 yards. He had 15 tackles for loss (58 yards). He was credited with eight quarterback pressures, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. He returned two interceptions for 38 yards and had one pass defensed. He played in seven games, starting three at strong side inside linebacker as a junior. He finished with 41 tackles (28 solo), including a nine-yard sack. He caused and recovered a fumble.

National Football League

San Francisco 49ers

Ulbrich was drafted out of the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawa ...

by the

in the third round (86th pick overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft. He only saw action in four games during his rookie season due to a right shoulder injury. He won the starting job in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, he started only five games at inside linebacker before missing the remainder of the season with a torn biceps muscle. He started in 9 out of 16 games in 2006. Ulbrich took a backup role to first round pick Patrick Willis, and also a role on special teams. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on October 19, 2009, after he suffered a concussion. Ulbrich announced his plans to retire as a result of the concussion on December 9. Upon retirement, he said that he would like to become a college football coach one day.

Coaching career

Seattle Seahawks

On January 29, 2010, Ulbrich was hired by the

as a special teams assistant.

UCLA

In 2012, Ulbrich became the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

linebackers and special teams coach. Ulbrich was elevated to Assistant Head Coach in the spring of 2012, in addition to his duties with the linebackers and special teams. In February of 2014, he was promoted to Defensive Coordinator. Two of his linebacker group, Anthony Barr and Jordan Zumwalt, were selected in the 2014 NFL Draft. Ulbrich's defensive unit was ranked third in the Pac-12 in total defense for 2014. It was led by the Butkus and Lott IMPACT Trophy winner linebacker Eric Kendricks. One of his players, Anthony Barr led the nation in sacks with 13.5.

Atlanta Falcons

In 2015, Ulbrich was hired by the Atlanta Falcons as a linebackers coach. In the 2016 season, Ulbrich and the Falcons reached Super Bowl LI, where they faced the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. In the Super Bowl, the Falcons fell in a 34–28 overtime defeat. In 2020, Ulbrich was promoted to assistant head coach and linebackers coach. On October 12, 2020, Ulbrich was named defensive coordinator under interim head coach Raheem Morris, as part of a midseason shakeup of the coaching staff.

New York Jets

On January 21, 2021, Ulbrich was hired by the New York Jets as their defensive coordinator under head coach

Robert Saleh Robert Saleh (born January 31, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). A defensive coach for much of his 20-year coaching career, Saleh has served as an assistant co ...

References

External links

New York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulbrich, Jeff 1977 births Living people American football middle linebackers Atlanta Falcons coaches Gavilan Rams football players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players San Francisco 49ers players Seattle Seahawks coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches People from Morgan Hill, California Players of American football from San Jose, California San Jose State University alumni National Football League defensive coordinators New York Jets coaches