Jabari Price (born August 31, 1992) 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 wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

. He played college football at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. He was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

in the seventh round, 225th overall of the 2014 NFL Draft.

High school career

Price attended

Blanche Ely High School Blanche Ely High School is a high school located in Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida. The school is named for Blanche Ely, former principal and social activist. In addition to Pompano Beach, Ely serves a portion of Deerfield Beach and ...

in Pompano Beach, Florida, where he played as a

and free safety on the football team. As a senior in 2010, opponents threw his way only 23 times and he still made five interceptions and 12 pass break-ups, to go along with 39

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and 5

forced fumbles A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

. He helped lead Ely to an 11–2 record and the state 5A regionals, where they nearly pulled off an upset of

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...

, the nation’s No. 1 team. He earned all-county honors and played in the annual Dade vs. Broward County high school all-star game in January. The United States Achievement Academy named Price an All-American Scholar in 2010. As a member of Blanche Ely's

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

team, Price competed as a sprinter. In 2008, he took eighth in the 200 meters (23.42s) and eight in the

400-meter dash The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

(52.95s) at the BCAA North Meet. At the

FHSAA The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

4A District Meet, he ran a personal-best time of 11.32 seconds in the 100-meter dash and ran the third leg on the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

squad, helping them win the event with a time of 41.48 seconds. He also posted a career-best time of 21.42 seconds in the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

at the Charles Johnson Invitational as a senior.

Recruiting

Price was a consensus three-star recruit and was rated the no. 83 cornerback in the country by

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

. He received 10

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

scholarship offers, including letters from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

. He originally gave an oral commitment to Minnesota but ultimately decided to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels in order to be closer to home.

College career

As a true freshman cornerback, Price played in all 13 games, starting in the final four. He recorded 20 tackles, four pass break-ups and one interception. He missed four games his sophomore season due to hand surgery, but still ended up with 16 tackles, two pass break-ups and a tackle for loss. His junior year is when he stepped his game up. In 11 games, he tallied 76 tackles (good for third on the team), 9 pass break-ups (good for first), 4 tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, one QB hurry and one interception. He registered at least 4 tackles in each game. His final year at UNC, he posted 74 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 9 pass break-ups and a forced fumble while starting all 12 games, earning All- Atlantic Coast Conference honorable mention accolades.

Professional career

After being projected as a fifth-seventh round pick, Price was selected by the

in the seventh round (225th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. On May 16, 2014, the Vikings signed Price and Kendall James (sixth round) to rookie contracts. He agreed to a 4 year/$2.28 million contract. Price appeared in 14 games as a rookie, recording 10 combined tackles while mostly playing special teams. Price was suspended for the first two games of the 2015 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. On September 3, 2016, he was placed on injured reserve. On September 2, 2017, Price was released by the Vikings.

Personal life

Price was raised by both parents, Lalanda Price Sr. and Portia Williams, in Pompano Beach. Price's grandmother, Ernestine Price, was a community leader and civil rights activist. On December 29, 2014, Price was arrested in

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneap ...

and charged with a misdemeanor DWI. He was released on bail shortly thereafter. He pled guilty to a reduced charge of

careless driving Driving without due care and attention or careless driving is a legal term for a particular type of moving traffic violation in the United States, Canada (at least in Ontario), the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It is often punishable by fines or en ...

on April 10, 2015, and was sentenced to a $300 fine and 30 days of electronic home monitoring.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Jabari Living people 1992 births African-American players of American football American football cornerbacks North Carolina Tar Heels football players Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from Broward County, Florida People from Pompano Beach, Florida Blanche Ely High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople