Aireontae Lamont Ersery (; born February 19, 2002) is an American 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 ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

and was selected by the Texans in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Early life

Ersery was born on February 19, 2002, in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. He grew up in the Ruskin Heights neighborhood of Kansas City. He was raised by his mother, Takita Charles, who was an American national, alongside his 5 other siblings (Danny, Dean, Cherish, Journey, and Rain). During his childhood, Ersery’s family faced severe financial hardship, his mother worked 3 jobs to support Aireontae and his siblings, often facing threats of eviction. As a child, Ersery was resourceful, and often helped provide his family with

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

among other necessities. Ersery later attended Ruskin High School. Originally, Ersery had his sights set on playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, but was drawn into

through Ruskin High School football coach William Perkins. Ersery also participated in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. He was rated as a three-star recruit and committed to play

for the

College career

In Ersery's first two collegiate football seasons in 2020 and 2021, he played in two games, while making one start for Minnesota. In 2022, he started all 13 games for the Gophers, earning honorable mention all-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

recognition. In 2023, Ersery started all 13 games at left tackle for the Gophers and earned second-team all-Big 10 honors.

Professional career

Ersery was selected in the second round with the 48th pick in the 2025 NFL draft by the

References

External links

Houston Texans bioMinnesota Golden Gophers profile
Living people 2002 births Players of American football from Kansas City, Missouri American football offensive tackles Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Houston Texans players {{Amfoot-bio-stub