Jalen Redmond (born March 12, 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 ...

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 ...

for 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 expansion ...

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 ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, and was previously a member of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

of the NFL and the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL).

Early life

Redmond was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He attended

Midwest City High School Midwest City High School is one of two high schools in Midwest City, Oklahoma, United States. The school is part of the Mid-Del School District, and serves more than 1,600 students.

, but only played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

his first two years.

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coaches liked his size (6 ft 2 in, 230 lb) and convinced him to tryout for the team as a junior; during spring practice, he received his first athletic scholarship offer from Memphis, despite having not even played a varsity football game yet. That year, playing both

and

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, ...

, Redmond posted 82 tackles and 14 sacks. Offers began flowing in at this point, and by the start of his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year he had about 20 offers. He posted 87 tackles, 34 , and 19.5 sacks in his final season, being named first-team all-state by ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th larges ...

''. A five-star recruit and the 16th-best prospect nationally according to

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

, Redmond eventually announced his commitment to play

for

College career

At the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, Redmond was in a position to compete for immediate playing time as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

in 2018, but a

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

issue led to him being ruled out for the season. However, he returned midseason and appeared in three games, before then sitting out the rest, finishing the year with six total tackles. In 2019, he appeared in 13 out of 14 games and posted a team-leading 6.5 sacks and placed third in TFLs with 11. Redmond opted out of the 2020 season due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and his blood clot issues. Redmond returned to the team in 2021 and appeared in eight games, seven of which he started, and posted 19 tackles, eight TFLs, and 3.5 sacks despite missing five games due to injury. As a senior in 2022, he appeared in 12 games and posted 23 tackles, 10.0 TFLs and four sacks.

Professional career

Redmond impressed at the 2023

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

, posting a

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

time that placed second among players at his position, as well as the second-best 10-yard split, and both the best broad jump and

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

for players at his position.

Carolina Panthers

Redmond was signed by the

as an undrafted free agent on April 29, 2023. He was waived on August 8, 2023.

Arlington Renegades

On December 11, 2023, Redmond signed with the Arlington Renegades of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. His contract with the team was terminated on June 17, 2024 to sign with an NFL team.

Minnesota Vikings

On June 18, 2024, Redmond signed with the

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioOklahoma Sooners bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redmond, Jalen Living people American football outside linebackers American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends People from Midwest City, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners football players Carolina Panthers players Minnesota Vikings players 1999 births Arlington Renegades players