Jerel Jamal Stokes (born October 6, 1972) 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 ...

player who was a

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 ...

for nine seasons in 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

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 Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

, earning

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

honors in 1993. A first-round selection in the

1995 NFL draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount ...

by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the 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 ...

, he played in the NFL for the 49ers,

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

. He won a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

with the Patriots in 2003.

Early life

Stokes was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
J. J. Stokes
Retrieved February 10, 2012. He attended

Point Loma High School Point Loma High School is a public high school in San Diego, California, United States. It is part of San Diego Unified School District. The school is located in the Loma Portal neighborhood of Point Loma. The school serves the neighborhood ...

in San Diego,databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved February 10, 2012. where he was part of a talented

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

team that included quarterback

Dan White Daniel James White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American politician who assassinated George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, inside San ...

and lineman

La'Roi Glover La'Roi Damon Glover (; born July 4, 1974) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the defensive line coach for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League (UFL). He played as a defensive tackle in the Na ...

. The team was coached throughout Stokes' four years by local legend Bennie Edens.

College career

While attending

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), Stokes played for the Bruins from 1991 to 1994. His breakout season came in his junior year when he was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Stokes' junior season was rewarded with a top ten finish in the balloting for that year's

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

, being the only junior recognized. Stokes' junior season ended with

recognition by The Sporting News, AP, UPI, and Kodak. Stokes' senior year began as the nation's leading Heisman contender, but was quickly sidetracked by a severe upper thigh contusion suffered in the season's first game. Stokes still holds UCLA school records for receiving

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s in a season (17 in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

), receiving touchdowns in a career (28), receiving yards in a game (263 vs.

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

) and receptions in a game (14 vs.

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, 1994 Rose Bowl), among others. On October 9, 2009, Stokes was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. * 1991: 5 catches for 55 yards. * 1992: 41 catches for 728 yards with 7 TD. * 1993: 82 catches for 1181 yards with 17 TD. * 1994: 26 catches for 505 yards with 4 TD.

Professional career

Stokes was selected with the first round (tenth overall pick) of the

by the

. He played for the 49ers from to .Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
J. J. Stokes
Retrieved February 10, 2012. The 49ers traded up 20 spots to the No. 10 pick in the first round of the draft to select Stokes. After a slow start to his rookie season, the former Bruin ultimately netted 38 receptions for 517 yards and four touchdowns, the last of which was tossed by

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter ...

. During the 1996 season, Stokes suffered a broken hand and missed most of the season, leading to the emergence of the 49ers' third round pick in the

1996 NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 20–21, 1996 NFL seas ...

, wide receiver

Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), also known by his initials "T.O.", is an American former professional football wide receiver who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Regarded as one of the greatest wide rec ...

. In 1997, with Rice sidelined with a torn ACL, Stokes and Owens formed a formidable duo for quarterback

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Bu ...

, with Stokes hauling in 58 passes for 733 yards and four touchdowns. Once Rice returned, Stokes' production did not falter as he would achieve career highs in receptions (63), yards (770) and touchdowns (eight). Stokes was also the recipient of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

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 ...

Bill Romanowski William Thomas Romanowski (born April 2, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Romo" and "RomoCop", he spent the majority of his career wit ...

spitting in his face during a ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

'' game in December

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Along with the rest of the team, Stokes' production dropped in 1999 as a result of Young's career-ending concussion in a Monday night game in Arizona.

Football Outsiders Football Outsiders (FO) was a website started in July 2003 which focused on advanced statistical analysis of the National Football League (NFL). The site was run by a staff of regular writers, who produced a series of weekly columns using both t ...

called Stokes "the league's least valuable receiver" in 1999. The 49ers released him in 2003 and he was initially signed by the

before going to New England. Stokes was rarely used by either team, only contributing 15 catches for 154 yards during the 2003 campaign. New England released him and activated fullback

Larry Centers Larry Eugene Centers (born June 1, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, mostly the Phoenix / Arizona Cardinals (1990–1998). Centers then played for ...

near the end of the season. However, he was re-signed by the Patriots prior to the

AFC Championship Game The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semifinal NFL playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football lea ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Life after football

He worked as a radio host for the ESPN radio affiliate based out of

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

. Currently, he works as an analyst for Fox Sports on UCLA's football games and for high school football on the internet in Southern California. He is currently residing in the Bay Area with his wife and kids.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, J.J. 1972 births Living people All-American college football players American football wide receivers Jacksonville Jaguars players New England Patriots players Players of American football from San Diego Point Loma High School alumni San Francisco 49ers players UCLA Bruins football players