Jabari Price (born August 31, 1992) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

. 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 ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He was selected by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

in the seventh round of the

2014 NFL draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

Early life and high school career

Price was born on August 31, 1992 in

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale and 36 miles north of Miami. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part ...

, to Lalanda Price Sr. and Portia Williams. His grandmother, Ernestine Price, was a community leader and civil rights activist. Price grew up playing pee-wee football against fellow

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

native

Teddy Bridgewater Theodore Edmond Bridgewater Jr. (born November 10, 1992) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the 2013 Sugar Bowl, and was selected as the final first round pick of ...

. Price attended

Blanche Ely High School Blanche Ely High School is a high school located in Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida. The school is named for Blanche Ely, former principal and social activist. In addition to Pompano Beach, Ely serves a portion of Deerfield Beach and a ...

, where he played as a

and

free safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the American football positions#Defense, defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two var ...

on the football team. He was teammates with

Patrick Peterson Patrick De'mon Peterson Jr. ( Johnson; born July 11, 1990) is an American former professional football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons. He played college football for the LSU Tigers, where he wo ...

. As a junior in 2008, Price tallied 39

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, 10 pass break-ups (PBU), one

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

, and one forced fumble. As a senior, despite opponents throwing his way only 23 times, Price recorded five

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

and 12 pass break-ups, to go along with 39 tackles and five forced fumbles. He helped lead Ely to an 11–2 record and the state 5A regionals, where they were defeated by nationally ranked

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, the foremost Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the Western tradition. A Doctor of the Church, he wa ...

. Price was named first-team all-county and third-team Class 5A all-state by the ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

''. He also earned an invitation to play in the annual Dade vs. Broward County high school all-star game. Price also competed as a sprinter on Blanche Ely's

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 ...

team. In 2008, he took eighth in the 200 meters (23.42s) and eighth in the

400-meter dash The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

(52.95s) at the BCAA North Meet. At the

FHSAA The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is a not-for-profit organization designated by the Florida Legislature as the governing organization to regulate all interscholastic activities of high schools in Florida. It is a member of ...

4A District Meet, Price ran a personal-best time of 11.32 seconds in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and ran the third leg on the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

squad, helping them win the event with a time of 41.48 seconds. He also posted a career-best time of 21.42 seconds in the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

at the Charles Johnson Invitational as a senior. The Blanche Ely relay squad was named to the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' all-county first-team. Price was named an All-American Scholar by the United States Achievement Academy after compiling a 4.0

grade point average Grading in education is the application of standardized Measurement, measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentage ...

Recruiting

Price was a consensus three-star recruit and was rated the no. 83 cornerback in the country by

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

. He received 10

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

scholarship offers, including letters from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

. Price originally gave an oral commitment to Minnesota but ultimately decided to play for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

in order to be closer to home.

College career

As a true freshman at North Carolina, Price played in all 13 games at cornerback, starting the final four and recording 20 tackles, four pass break-ups and one interception. Ahead of his sophomore season, he injured a tendon in his hand during practice, requiring surgery. Price missed the first four games of the season, but still ended up with 16 tackles, two pass break-ups and a tackle for loss. He had a breakout season as a junior. In 11 games, he tallied 76 tackles (ranking third on the team), nine pass break-ups (first on the team), four tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, one QB hurry and one interception. As a senior, Price posted 74 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, nine pass break-ups and a forced fumble while starting all 12 games, earning All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

honorable mention accolades.

Professional career

After being projected as a fifth-seventh round pick, Price was selected by the

in the seventh round (225th overall) of the

. On May 16, 2014, the Vikings signed Price and Kendall James (sixth round) to rookie contracts. He agreed to a four-year/$2.28 million contract. Price appeared in 14 games as a rookie, recording 10 combined tackles while mostly playing special teams. Price was suspended for the first two games of the 2015 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. On September 3, 2016, he was placed on injured reserve. On September 2, 2017, Price was released by the Vikings.

Personal life

In preparation for the

, Price was mentored by fellow

Pompano Beach Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale and 36 miles north of Miami. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoa ...

native

Tyrone Carter Tyrone M. Carter (born March 31, 1976) is an American former professional football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, earned All-American honors and won several ...

. On December 29, 2014, Price was arrested in

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the most populous county in Minnesota and the 34th-most populous count ...

, and charged with a misdemeanor DWI. He was released on bail shortly thereafter. Price pled guilty to a reduced charge of

careless driving Driving without due care and attention or careless driving is a legal term for a particular type of moving traffic violation related to aggressive driving in the United States, Canada (at least in Ontario), the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It is ...

on April 10, 2015, and was sentenced to a $300 fine and 30 days of electronic home monitoring.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jabari Living people 1992 births American football cornerbacks North Carolina Tar Heels football players Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Pompano Beach, Florida Blanche Ely High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen