Jehu Femi Chesson II (born 29 December 1993) is a

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

n 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

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 was selected by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

in the fourth round of the

2017 NFL draft The 2017 NFL draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

. He owns the school record for most receiving touchdowns in a game, tied with Derrick Alexander with four. His 207 receiving yards against

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

during the 2015 season also ranks as the third-highest total in school history.

Early life

Chesson was born in

Monrovia, Liberia Monrovia () is the administrative capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liberia’s total population. It ...

, on 29 December 1993, and grew up during the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

. His father, Jehu Chesson Sr., worked in the financial industry but joined Lutheran World Service as a relief worker during the war. Chesson moved with his family to neighboring

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

at the age of two and then to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, three years later, where his father took a job working for MasterCard. Chesson grew up in St. Louis and began playing

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

in the eighth grade. He attended

Ladue Horton Watkins High School Ladue Horton Watkins High School is a public high school in Ladue, Missouri, United States, that is administered by the Ladue School District. Its namesake, Horton Watkins, was vice president of the International Shoe Company and died in 1949 ...

where he played at the

position. He caught 53 passes for 757 yards as a senior, and he was selected as a first-team All-Missouri player. He was also the Missouri high school champion in the 300-meter hurdles in 2011.

College career

A 3-star wide receiver recruit, Chesson accepted a scholarship to play football at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

over offers from

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Northwestern,

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, and

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

, among others. As a freshman in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, he

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

and did not see game action. As a sophomore in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, he had a 33-yard

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 ...

on his first collegiate

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

and caught 15 passes for 221 yards. As a junior in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, he caught 14 passes for 154 yards. Chesson also saw action on

kickoff returns A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

, and in a 10 October 2015 game, against Northwestern, he returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Chesson's return against Northwestern was the first kickoff returned for a touchdown by a Michigan player since Darryl Stonum accomplished the feat in 2009 against Notre Dame. On 14 November 2015, Chesson had a breakout game, catching 10 passes for 207 yards and four touchdowns against

. Three of the four touchdowns were scored in the first half, and the fourth came on a fourth-down play with two seconds remaining in regulation and Michigan trailing 34 to 27. Chesson's 207 receiving yards ranks as the third highest single-game total in Michigan football history. He also tied Derrick Alexander's Michigan single-game record of four receiving touchdowns set in 1992. He was subsequently named the Co-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Offensive Player of the Week, along with

Jake Rudock Jacob Michael Rudock ( ; born January 21, 1993) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was a starting quarterback playing college football for the 2013 ...

. Chesson and Rudock became the second-ever pair of teammates in conference history to share the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Award. During the 2015 season, Chesson led Michigan with 1,085 all-purpose yards and 12 touchdowns. He established new career highs with 50 receptions and 764 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. He also had 166 return yards and one touchdown on four kick returns and 155 rushing yards and two touchdowns on eight carries (19.4 yards per carry). Following the 2015 season, Chesson was named to the All-Big Ten offensive first-team, and was awarded the

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the Univers ...

Most Valuable Player Award, by his teammates. As a fifth-year senior in 2016, Chesson was voted Honorable Mention All-Big Ten, playing in 13 games with 7 starts at wide receiver, recording 35 catches for 500 yards and two touchdowns, along with 12 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Chesson was drafted by the

in the fourth round, 139th overall, in the

. In Week 9, against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, he recorded a 10-yard reception for the first catch of his NFL career. He finished his rookie season with two receptions for 18 yards and no touchdowns. He was waived on 1 September 2018.

Washington Redskins

Chesson was signed to the

practice squad 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 ...

of the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

on 5 September 2018. He was promoted to the active roster on 12 September 2018, but was waived on 17 September and returned to the practice squad the following day. He was promoted to the active roster again on 18 October after injuries to Jamison Crowder and Paul Richardson. Chesson was waived on 31 August 2019, but was signed to the practice squad the following day. His practice squad contract with the team expired on 6 January 2020.

New York Jets

Chesson signed a futures contract with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

on 9 January 2020. He was waived on 5 September 2020.

References

External links

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesson, Jehu 1993 births American football wide receivers Kansas City Chiefs players Washington Redskins players New York Jets players Living people Ladue Horton Watkins High School alumni Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from St. Louis Sportspeople from Monrovia Liberian players of American football