Jahleel Billingsley (born May 17, 2001) 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

. 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

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

and

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

Early life

Billingsley grew up in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and attended

Wendell Phillips Academy High School Wendell Phillips Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in September 1904, Phillips is part of the Chicago Public Schools distric ...

, where he played

and

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 ...

. He played multiple positions for the Wildcats including

, receiver, wildcat

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

. Billingsley was rated a four-star prospect and committed to play college football at Alabama over offers from Auburn,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. He was the first Alabama recruit from the state of Illinois since 1997.

College career

Bilingsley played in nine games with two receptions for 16 yards as a freshman. He caught 18 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns as the Crimson Tide won the

2021 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 11, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The seventh College Football Playoff National Championship, the game determine ...

. Billingsley also led the team with 89 kick return yards. Billingsley was moved down the depth chart prior to the start of the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

season. When coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. ( ; born October 31, 1951) is an American sportscaster and former Professional gridiron football, professional and college football coach. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's ''College GameDay (football TV program), Colleg ...

was asked about it after the team’s first game against

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, he said Saban said, “Jahleel and I have talked on several occasions because he’s certainly a guy that we want to have success for his own benefit individually, as well as for the team. Sometime when you get a little external encouragement it can be a positive for you.” Billingsley caught a 26-yard touchdown pass in the Crimson Tide's 31-29 win in Week 3 over 11th-ranked

and returned to the starting lineup the following game against

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

. Billingsley ended the 2021 season with 17 receptions for 256 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games. On January 11, 2022, Billingsley entered the transfer portal after not catching a pass during the CFB Championship for Alabama. Then on January 16, it was announced that Billingsley would be transferring to Texas to play with former Alabama Offensive Coordinator,

Steve Sarkisian Stephen Sarkisian (; born March 8, 1974)Stephens, Ken. – "QB Genealogy – Steve Sarkisian is latest in long line of talented BYU quarterbacks". – ''Dallas Morning News''– December 31, 1996. is an American football coach and former player ...

. He started his time at Texas with a six-game suspension for "something that happened before his arrival in Texas." During the four games he did play in, he was targeted just six times, making three catches for 38 receiving yards. He left the team before their 2022 season was over.

College statistics

Source:

Professional career

In late 2022 Billingsley chose to forego his final two years of college eligibility and enter the draft. was not invited to the 2023 NFL Combine, but did participate in Texas' Pro Day. Despite being on draft watch lists, he was not selected in the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

, but did garner an invite to mini-camp by the Tennessee Titans.

Calgary Stampeders

Billingsley was signed by the

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

to their

practice roster In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

on July 12, 2023. He was released on July 15.

San Antonio Brahmas

Billingsley was selected by the

San Antonio Brahmas The San Antonio Brahmas are a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The Brahmas compete in the United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team is owned and operated by Dwayne Johnson's Alpha ...

in the 2023 XFL Rookie Draft on June 16, 2023 - before signing with Calgary. After being released by Calgary, he signed with the Brahmas on October 20. He was not part of the roster after the

2024 UFL dispersal draft The 2024 UFL dispersal draft was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2024 UFL season and disperse the rosters from the eight teams from its component conferences, the XFL and USFL, that were not retained i ...

on January 15, 2024.

References

External links

Alabama Crimson Tide bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billingsley, Jahleel Living people American football tight ends Alabama Crimson Tide football players Texas Longhorns football players Players of American football from Chicago 2001 births San Antonio Brahmas players Calgary Stampeders players Players of Canadian football from Chicago Canadian football tight ends