Jerrod Alexander Heard (born September 10, 1995) 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. 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 ...

from 2014 to 2018. He previously played with the

Dallas Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The Renegades compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded as the D ...

and Team 9 of the XFL. He also played for the

Frisco Fighters The Frisco Fighters are an inactive professional Indoor American football, indoor football team based in Frisco, Texas. A member of the Indoor Football League, the Fighters play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team was set to partic ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(IFL).

Early life

Heard attended and played quarterback for

John H. Guyer High School John H. Guyer High School is a public high school situated in the city of Denton, Texas, in Denton County, Texas, Denton County, United States and classified as a 6A school by the University Interscholastic League, UIL. It is a part of the Denton ...

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

, a 4A D1 high school at the time, now a 6A D1 high school, and won State Championships in Football in 2012 and 2013. He was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked among the top dual-threat quarterbacks in his class. He committed to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

to play

College career

Heard was redshirted for the 2014 season and did not enter any games. In the summer of 2015, as a redshirt freshman, he competed with Tyrone Swoopes to be the Longhorns starting quarterback. Swoopes would win the competition and start the first game, but after a lopsided loss to Notre Dame to start the season, Heard took over at QB. Swoopes and Heard would alternate at QB all year for Texas, although Heard would start 10 games in the 2015 season. In his first start for Texas against Rice, Heard threw for 120 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 96 yards. In only his second start at QB, Heard broke

Vince Young Vincent Paul Young Jr. (born May 18, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Young was selected by the Tennessee Titans as the third overall pick in th ...

's single game record for offense for the Texas Longhorns, accounting for 527 yards of total offense. Texas lost a heartbreaker 45–44 to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

by missing an extra point after Heard rushed for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:11 remaining in the 4th quarter, his third rushing TD of the game. Against #22

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 ...

, Heard went 9/17 for 119 yards and rushed for another 48 yards in a loss. Texas was heavily penalized all day, with the referees calling back two touchdowns and two turnovers on penalties. Despite the setbacks, Texas was in position to win but had another kicking error in the last minute to set up Oklahoma State to win in regulation. Heard had no touchdowns but was instrumental in keeping Texas within striking distance the entire game Heard played an outstanding game against #10

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

in the Cotton Bowl in his 4th start, giving both him and coach

Charlie Strong Charles Rene Strong (born August 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is the current defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He recently served as the Head coach, assistant head coach and Li ...

their first signature win. Heard was one of 2 players on the Longhorns who rushed for over 100 yards in the game and helped to dominate the rushing attack against a top 10 team, winning 24–17. Heard only attempted 11 passes all game (with 1 touchdown), while Texas rushed on 58 plays. Backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes began to come in and out of games as part of the 18-wheeler package, and was used in short yardage and goal line situations. Swoopes was credited with 2 touchdowns against OU. On a rainy day in Austin against Kansas State, Heard was given a game plan of a heavy running attack. Heard and the Longhorns offense ran over and over for an average of 5.2 yards per rush, and only attempted 1 dropback pass in the entire first half for a 16–6 lead. Swoopes came into the game with the goal line package and in the 4th quarter and ran for 3 touchdowns. Heard scrambled for 4 first downs on 3rd-and-long in the game and was able to consistently move the chains all day as Texas won 23–9. Heard and the Texas Longhorns beat

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

at home with another outstanding game passing and running. Heard totaled 201 yards passing and another 53 yards rushing with 1 passing TD. Swoopes was put into the game in goal line situations and scored 4 rushing touchdowns in the game. After losing to

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, Heard started the annual thanksgiving game against

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

and was knocked out with a concussion in the 2nd quarter. Swoopes played the rest of the game and after the Longhorns took the lead in the 4th quarter, the Red Raiders scored twice more and won 48–45, bringing the Longhorns record to 4–7 with 1 game to play. Heard only played sparingly in the win at Baylor. Heard completed his freshman year appearing in 12 games, starting 10 of them and winning 4. He passed for 1214 yards and ran for 556 yards, with 8 total TDs and 5 interceptions. He had two games with over 100 yards rushing and two games with over 200 yards passing. In March 2016, Heard suffered a shoulder injury, which would keep him sidelined for the remainder of spring practice. As a result, he fell behind Tyrone Swoopes and Shane Buechele in the quarterback competition. Heard began his transition from quarterback to wide receiver during the summer and the position change became official by the first week of fall practice. Heard played WR in the 2016 season and developed a good chemistry with true freshman QB Shane Buechele, playing in multiple formations as one of 10 WRs in heavy rotation for the longhorns. Heard scored 3 receiving touchdowns in the first 6 games of the season, 2 against

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

, and one against Iowa St. Heard caught a career long 68 yard pass in the win versus Notre Dame. In 2017, Heard played in 12 games, starting none. He had 20 receptions for a 156 yards and 1 TD. He also rushed 18 times for 2 TDs and complete 2 out of 3 passes for 18 yards. One of his touchdown receptions was in the first OT of a double overtime win over Kansas State.

College statistics

Professional career

Dallas Renegades

Heard was selected in the 2020 XFL draft by the

during the open rounds. He was waived on February 25, 2020.

Team 9

He signed with the XFL's Team 9

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 ...

, and then was re-signed by the Renegades on March 9, 2020. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Frisco Fighters

In 2021, Heard played for the

of the

. In his first year with the Fighters, Heard helped the Fighters clinch a playoff berth and advance as far as the IFL semifinals. Heard would re-sign with the Fighters for the 2022 season. Heard would be released by the Fighters on May 18, 2022.

References

External links

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heard, Jerrod Living people Players of American football from Denton, Texas American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers Dallas Renegades players Texas Longhorns football players Team 9 players 1995 births Frisco Fighters players