Jaylon Carlies (''Pronounced:'' "CAR-lize") (born September 13, 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 ...

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 ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

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

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

Early life

Carlies grew up in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

and attended West Orange High School where he lettered in football and track & field. He was regarded as an elite sprinter at the high school level and began his football journey as 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 ...

on the West Orange team.Gregg Doyel
"The Jaylon Carlies Story, Like Jaylon Carlies, is Growing Right Before Our Eyes,"
''Indianapolis Star,'' July 31, 2024
Hardcopy permalink
Coming out of high school, Carlies was rated as a three-star recruit, where he decided to commit to play

for the

. Carlies was 6-foot-1 at the time of high school graduation but continued to grow into his college years, topping out just shy of 6'3".

College career

In Carlies' freshman season in 2020, he notched eight tackles. In week two of the 2021 season, Carlies got his first career start which he took advantage of notching four tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble versus

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. In week ten, Carlies had two goal line stops and an interceptions against #1 Georgia. In the 2021 season, Carlies totaled 67 tackles with three being for a loss, and a team-leading four interceptions. Carlies finished the 2022 season with 81 tackles, a sack, four pass deflections, three interceptions, and a forced fuble. In the 2023 Cotton Bowl Carlies led the Tigers with 11 tackles as he helped Missouri beat

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 ...

. Carlies finished the 2023 season with 64 tackles with four and a half being for a loss, two sacks, five pass deflections, two interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble. After the conclusion of the 2023 season, Carlies decided to declare for the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

. Carlies finished his career with the Tigers by playing in 49 games making 39 starts where he totaled 221 tackles, three sacks, 17 pass deflections, nine interceptions, three forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.

Professional career

Carlies was drafted by the

in the 5th round, with the 151st overall selection, of the

. Prior to offseason camp, the Colts announced that Carlies would shift from safety to linebacker. In Carlies' rookie training camp, the Colts carried through on their promise and by the end of July he had risen to third on the team's linebacker depth chart, behind starters Zaire Franklin and E. J. Speed.

References

External links

Indianapolis Colts bio

Missouri Tigers bio

"Indianapolis Colts' Jaylon Carlies Ready to Be Do-It-All Defender ,"
Locked On Colts, via YouTube.com, April 27, 2024. (Video.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlies, Jaylon 2001 births Living people Players of American football from Orlando, Florida American football safeties Missouri Tigers football players Indianapolis Colts players American football linebackers