Alonzo Jackson (born September 15, 1980) is a former

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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. He previously played for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, and the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

High school career

A native of

Americus, Georgia Americus is the county seat of Sumter County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,230. It is the principal city of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Schley an ...

, Jackson attended Americus High School, where he was a standout defensive lineman. As a senior, he recorded 116 tackles, 16 sacks, and three blocked kicks, and was a first-team Class 2A all-state selection. Recruiting analyst

Tom Lemming Tom Lemming is an American high school football recruiting analyst. Tom Lemming serves as the host of ''The Lemming Report'' on CBS Sports Network, the only national weekly high school football recruiting show. He is the editor of ''The Tom Lemmin ...

rated Jackson as the No. 110 player in the Southeast. He chose Florida State over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

College career

In his

true freshman 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 ...

season with Seminoles, Jackson played in all 12 games and was credited with 13 total tackles, three solo tackles and one pass break-up. In the National Championship game, the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

vs.

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

, Jackson contributed one solo tackle on special teams. As a sophomore, Jackson played in all 12 games (including four starts), serving primarily as back-up to senior David Warren at defensive end. He finished with 37 tackles (including 16 unassisted) on the season, and ranked fourth on the team with 5.0 quarterback sacks, behind

Jamal Reynolds Idris Jamal Reynolds (born February 20, 1979) is an American former college and professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons during the early 2000s. He played college football fo ...

(12.0), David Warren (9.0), and

Darnell Dockett Darnell Maurice Dockett (born May 27, 1981) is a former American football defensive end who had a ten-season career playing for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cardinals in the third round of th ...

(7.0). Jackson's season-best game came against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, when he recorded six tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack. After Warren's graduation, Jackson took over the left defensive end spot, starting ten games. He missed the

Miami (FL) Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

and

games with a sprained knee. Jackson led the team with five quarterback sacks and ranked second with 16 hurries. He also had eight tackles for loss, which tied Travis Johnson for second on the team, behind Darnell Dockett who posted a school-record 22 TFLs. Jackson finished the season with 33 total tackles (19 solo) and named honorable mention All-ACC. He had five tackles and two tackles for loss in the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

against

. In his senior year, Jackson started all 14 games of the season, and registered team-highs in tackles for loss (18.5), sacks (13.0), and quarterback hurries (19). He also had 42 tackles (34 unassisted, sixth on the team), and forced four fumbles (team-high). Against Iowa State, he caught his only interception of the season, and returned it for 48 yards into the endzone.

Professional career

Due to disappointing performances of

Andre Wadsworth Andre Wadsworth (born October 19, 1974) is a former football defensive end. He played College football for Florida State University, and earned All-American honors. He was selected in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Arizona Card ...

and

, the potential of “undersized Seminole ends” like Jackson was met with scepticism. The

drafted him in the second round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

and he made the transition from defensive end to left outside

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the 3–4 defense, projected as a long-term replacement for veteran

Jason Gildon Jason Larue Gildon (born July 31, 1972) is a former outside linebacker for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers (1994–2003) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2004). He was selected to three Pro Bowl teams from 2000, 2001, and 2002, and i ...

. He performed well during the preseason in both of his years with the Steelers, but only saw playing time on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. He was cut prior to the 2005 season, and later signed with the

and the

References

External links

Florida State Seminoles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Alonzo 1980 births American football defensive ends American football linebackers Living people New York Giants players Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Steelers players People from Americus, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)