Jaylen Allen Wright (born April 1, 2003) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

High school career

Wright attended Southern Durham High School in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. As a junior in 2019, he rushed for 901 yards on 89 carries with five touchdowns. He did not play as a senior due to the season being cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Wright committed to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

to play

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 ...

College career

As a true freshman at Tennessee in 2021, Wright played in nine games and had 85 rushes for 409 yards and four touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2022, he led Tennessee with 875 yards on 146 carries with 10 touchdowns. He returned to Tennessee for his junior year in 2023. In the 2023 season, he had 137 carries for 1,013 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in 12 games.

Professional career

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Jaylen 2003 births Living people Players of American football from Durham, North Carolina American football running backs Tennessee Volunteers football players