John Cody "J. C." Sherritt (born May 2, 1988) 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 ...

and

linebackers coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big Wes ...

. He is a former

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

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 played in eight seasons for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

and won one

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

championship in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. Sherritt played his college football at

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Ha ...

and was the 2010 recipient of the

Buck Buchanan Award The Buck Buchanan Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football, and was first given in 1995 after the Walter Payton Award was ...

High school career

In 2006 Sherritt graduated from Pullman High School in

Pullman, Washington Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 census, and estimated to be 34,506 in 2019. Originally founded as Thr ...

, where he played linebacker and running back, helping lead his team to a perfect 14–0 record and the State 2A Championship. Sherritt received an offer to walk on at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...

, but Sherritt decided to attend

, which gave him his only Division I scholarship offer.

College career

Sherritt played 49 games over four seasons at Eastern Washington. As a senior, he finished the regular season ranked 10th in the FCS with 11.36 tackles per game. Sherritt also became the first player in school history with more than 400 career tackles and helped lead Eastern Washington to the 2010 FCS National Championship. He was named the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

Defensive Player of the Year and won the

as the FCS' top defensive player of the year. Sherritt led the FCS with 170 tackles in 2009, and he ranked third in 2010 with 150 (11.5 per game).

Professional career

Sherritt went undrafted in the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York ...

, but signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

contract on April 20, 2011, with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). In his first year in the league ( 2011) Sherritt became a key component of the

Eskimos Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related t ...

defense. He amassed 72 tackles, 13 special teams tackles, and 3 quarterback sacks. JC Sherritt had an even better year in his second season in the CFL. Sherritt finished the

2012 CFL season The 2012 CFL season was the 59th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012, and the regular season started on June 29, 2012. Rogers Centre i ...

with a CFL record 130 tackles; despite missing 1 game due to injury. He surpassed the previous record of 129 tackles by Calvin Tiggle from 1994. He was named a CFL West All-Star, CFL All-Star, and also named the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player. After his outstanding 2012 season, Sherritt was rewarded with a three year contract extension by the Eskimos. Sherritt suffered a broken thumb in Week 6 of the

2013 CFL season The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 56th season of the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013. Regina, Saskatchewa ...

, he underwent surgery on it during the following bye week. At the time of his injury he had 37 tackles through 6 games. Sherritt missed 4 games following his surgery to repair his broken thumb. In Week 15, he re-fractured the same thumb and was listed as out-indefinitely. Sherritt continued to be an important contributor on the Eskimos defense over the next three seasons, totaling 70 tackles in

and 77 in 2016. In the first game of the 2017 season Sherritt left the game after suffering an apparent Achilles injury. On June 26, 2017 it was announced that Sherritt would miss the remainder of the season with a ruptured Achilles. Despite missing almost the entire 2017 season Sherritt and the Eskimos agreed to a two-year contract extension on February 9, 2018. In 2018, he played in all 18 games and recorded 100 defensive tackles, three sacks, and two interceptions. On January 16, 2019, he announced his retirement.

Coaching career

On January 28, 2019, it was announced that Sherritt had been hired by the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third ...

to be their

. In January of 2020, Sherritt was hired by new head coach

Beau Baldwin Beau Daniel Baldwin (born May 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator at Arizona State. Previously, He was the head football coach at California Polytechnic State University, a position he held f ...

at Cal Poly originally as the

linebackers 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, pla ...

coach and co-

special teams coordinator In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, but was later announced as the

in February of 2020.

References

External links

Calgary Stampeders bioEdmonton Eskimos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherritt, J. C. 1988 births American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers American players of Canadian football Calgary Stampeders coaches Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Eastern Washington Eagles football players Edmonton Elks players Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award winners Living people People from Pullman, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state)