Solomon Alijah Lewis Vera-Tucker (born June 17, 1999) is an

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

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

for 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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, where he was awarded the

Morris Trophy Coaches of the Pac-12 Conference bestow the following awards at the end of each football season. The conference was founded in its current form as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959, but traces its roots to the Pacific Coast Co ...

in 2020 and was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection. Vera-Tucker was drafted by the Jets in the first round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early and high school

Vera-Tucker grew up in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

and attended

Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named for the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Jam ...

. He played offensive tackle and defensive end on the football team and was named an Under Armour All-American as a senior. Vera-Tucker was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at USC over offers from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

College career

Vera-Tucker

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 ...

his true freshman season. Vera-Tucker played in all 12 of the Trojans games as a reserve guard and on special teams during his redshirt freshman season. He was named first-team All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. Vera-Tucker considered entering the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

, but opted to return to USC for his redshirt junior season. Following the announcement that Pac-12 would postpone the 2020 season, Vera-Tucker announced that he would opt out of the season in order to focus on preparing for the

. Vera-Tucker reversed his decision to opt out after the Pac-12 announced that they would resume fall football.

Professional career

Vera-Tucker was selected by the

in the first round (14th overall) of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with the Jets on July 20, 2021, worth $15.88 million. He was named the Jets starting left guard, and started 16 games there, and was named to the

PFWA All-Rookie Team Following each National Football League (NFL) season, the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA) compiles an honorary All-Rookie Team to recognize that season's most outstanding rookies at each position as adjudged by sportswriters of the PFWA. T ...

. Vera-Tucker was named the Jets starting right guard in 2022 after the team signed left guard

Laken Tomlinson Laken Tomlinson (born February 9, 1992) is an American football offensive guard for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Duke. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2015 NF ...

. He started at left tackle in Week 4 after an injury to

George Fant George Fant (born Georg Fredrik Mikael Fant; 11 July 1916 – 21 February 1998) was a Swedish actor, director and theater manager. He appeared in 50 films between 1936 and 1995. Fant was the son of Captain Tore Fant and Stina Fant (née Gu ...

, then moved to right tackle in Week 5 after an injury to

Max Mitchell Max Mitchell (born October 12, 1999) is an American football offensive tackle for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana. Early life and high school Mitchell grew up in Monroe, Louisi ...

, and started the next three games. He suffered a torn triceps in Week 7 and was placed on injured reserve on October 25, 2022.

References

External links

New York Jets bio

USC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vera-Tucker, Alijah 1999 births Living people USC Trojans football players American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Players of American football from Oakland, California New York Jets players