James Sherman Jett (born December 28, 1970), 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 ...

wide receiver and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

sprinter who played nine seasons for the

Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then aga ...

from 1993 to 2002, in 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 ...

. He attended college at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. He guided the Jefferson High School Cougars of

Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia Shenandoah Junction is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. As of the 2010 census, Shenandoah Junction had a population of 703. It is located between Kearneysville and Charl ...

to the state playoffs in 1988. James also ran for the JHS Cougar's Track Team.

Collegiate career

Jett played college football at

where he was a four-year starter at receiver.

Freshman season (1989)

Jett entered the 1989 season as the only true freshman to play on the eventual Gator Bowl team. Jett was one of the targets, along with senior

Reggie Rembert Reginald Bernard "Reggie" Rembert (born December 25, 1966) is a retired American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He was drafted in the second round (28th overall) of the 1990 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He played co ...

, for All-American quarterback Major Harris. Along with receiving, Jett led the Mountaineers as a

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. Jett finished the season with only 8 receptions but 179 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a total of 35 returns for 504 yards.

Sophomore season (1990)

Jett entered his sophomore season in 1990 as the leading returning receiver for the Mountaineers, who lost both Rembert and Harris. Jett totaled his best statistical season in his career, recording 31 receptions for 652 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also had a career-low 10 returns for 164 yards.

Junior season (1991)

As a junior, Jett saw his numbers decrease to only 9 receptions for 171 yards and two touchdowns. However, he totaled 45 returns for 619 yards, both career-highs. Jett also had five carries for 28 yards and a pass for 27 yards. He finished the season with 845

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing t ...

Senior season (1992)

In his final collegiate season, James Jett recorded 19 receptions for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also had 35 returns for 333 yards. Jett finished his career against

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

, where Jett was on the receiving end of a stadium-record 78-yard touchdown reception. Jett played in the Japan Bowl All-Star game upon his graduation.

Legacy

James Jett finished his career with 1,384 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also had 125 returns for 1,620 yards, totaling 3,076 career all-purpose yards. His all-purpose yardage was fifth on WVU's all-time career list, while his receiving totals was eighth at the time of his graduation. Jett was inducted into the

Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Track and field

Jett was also an

sprinter. While at

, he was a seven-time All-American in track, finishing fifth at

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contes ...

in the U.S. Olympic Trials in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, earning him a spot on the

4 x 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 ...

Olympic team, that won the gold medal in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

with a time of 38.95 seconds. He also outran eventual Olympic gold medalist

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 ...

in the

during prelims to the games. Jett ran the first two rounds of the

in Barcelona, then gave his spot in the finals to

. All team members earned a gold medal. Jett earned NCAA indoor and outdoor All-America honors in the 50 meters,

and 200 meters during his career and finished as NCAA runner-up at

and 200 meters in 1992. His personal bests are 10.10 seconds in the

and 19.91 seconds in the 200 meters.

Personal bests

Professional career

1993–1995

James Jett signed with the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

following the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

. During his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season, Jett lead the NFL with over 23 yards per reception and also recorded 771 yards on 33 receptions for 3 touchdowns. Jett averaged 48.2 yards per game his debut season, played in all 16 games but only starting one. In the 1994 season, Jett played in all 16 games, only starting one, again. However, he only recorded 15 receptions for 253 yards (16.9 yards per reception). In 1995, Jett played in all the games on the season but did not start any contests. He finished the season with 13 receptions for 179 yards and a touchdown.

1996–1998

In 1996, Jett finally started all 16 games on the year. At age 26, he recorded 43 receptions for 601 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jett won the NFL Fastest Man Competition following the season. The following season, he was second among NFL receivers with a personal-best 12 touchdowns in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. Jett finished with a career-high 46 receptions for 804 yards. Jett was a finalist in the NFL Fastest Man Competition after winning the competition the previous season. In the 1998 season, Jett recorded a career-high 882 yards on 45 receptions for 6 touchdowns. He also tallied a career-high 55 yards per game in his final season of starting all 16 games.

1999–2002

At 29 years old, in 1999, Jett recorded 552 yards on 39 receptions for 2 touchdowns. The following year, 2000, he finished with 20 receptions for 356 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a career-long 84-yard reception against the Atlanta Falcons. In 2001, at the age of 31 years, Jett played in 11 games on the season, recording two receptions for 19 yards. In his final professional season, 2002, the 32-year-old played in and started only one game, but did not record a statistic.

Legacy

James Jett finished his career with 256 receptions for 4,417 yards and 30 touchdowns, a 17.3 yard per reception average. Jett finished his career as the 8th-leading receiver in Oakland Raiders team history. He was one of two Los Angeles Raiders to remain with the team through Super Bowl XXXVII (the other being fellow wide receiver Tim Brown).

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20121026075038/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/je/james-jett-1.html * https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JettJa00.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Jett, James 1970 births Living people People from Charles Town, West Virginia African-American players of American football American football wide receivers West Virginia Mountaineers football players Los Angeles Raiders players Oakland Raiders players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Players of American football from West Virginia Track and field athletes from West Virginia Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics American male sprinters Track and field athletes in the National Football League 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople