Jeff Sylvester Herrod (born July 29, 1966) 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 ...

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 ...

who played 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 ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

and

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 ...

. He was drafted by the

in the ninth round of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 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 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

. 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 ...

for Ole Miss.

Early life

Herrod grew up in a

housing project Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authorities, government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the d ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. He had to walk two miles to play in a youth football league that didn't charge a fee, and initially had to make do with hand-me-down shoulder pads that he found in a dumpster behind a community center.

College career

Herrod initially planned to enlist in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

after graduating from

Banks High School Banks High School is a public high school in Banks, Oregon, United States. History •During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration paid for work on the school's athletic fields. The project was completed in 1936. •2018 4a Or ...

, but decided instead to play at Ole Miss under head coach

Billy Brewer Homer Ervin "Billy" Brewer (October 8, 1934 – May 12, 2018) was an American football player and head coach. He served as the head football coach at Southeastern Louisiana University from 1974 to 1979, Louisiana Tech University from 1980 to 1 ...

, the only Division I program to offer him a scholarship. In four years in Oxford, Herrod became one of the greatest defensive players in

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

history. A four-year starter, Herrod set school records for tackles in a single game (28) and in a season (128). He was a first-team All-SEC selection in 1986, and was named a second-team All-American by

The Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

in 1986 and 1987. His 528 tackles are still the most in Ole Miss history, and is second on the SEC's all-time tackles list behind only

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Andy Spiva Howard Andrew Spiva (February 6, 1955 – April 3, 1979) was an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He appeared in 13 games for the Falcons in 1977. He was killed in a car accident. Teammat ...

. He was named to the Ole Miss Team of the Century in 1993, and was selected as an SEC Football Legend in 2013. He was inducted into the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

in 2017 and will be inducted into the

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Jackson, Mississippi. The hall of fame was established in 1961 and is currently located in a museum that displays the achievements of Mississippi athletes. The museum opened on July 4, 19 ...

in July 2023.

NFL career

Herrod still planned on joining the Marines after college. However,

linebackers coach

Rick Venturi Rick Venturi (born February 23, 1946) is a former American football player, coach and current broadcaster. He served as the head coach at Northwestern University and as longtime National Football League assistant coach known for his defense. ...

happened to see footage from the 1987

Blue–Gray Football Classic The Blue–Gray Football Classic was an annual American college football all-star game held in Alabama, usually in late December and often on Christmas Day. The brainchild of Alabama college football legend Champ Pickens, the contest began in ...

and was intrigued by Herrod, who was the game's defensive MVP. Venturi had already planned to take a scouting trip to check out

Mississippi Valley State Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU, The Valley or Valley) is a public historically black university in Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi, adjacent to Itta Bena, Mississippi.Vincent Brown, but decided to take a detour to Oxford in order to see Herrod, who hadn't been invited to the

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 ...

despite his sterling numbers at Ole Miss. Years later, Venturi recalled that while Herrod was small for a linebacker at and only ran a 4.8 in the

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 ...

, he was so impressed with Herrod's heart that he wrote in his scouting report, "If we have a chance to draft this guy late, I guarantee he will make our team." The Colts selected Herrod as their ninth round pick (143rd overall), and he became the cornerstone of the Colts defense during the early 1990s. Although tackles were an unofficial statistic at the time, the Colts credited him with at least 131 tackles in eight consecutive seasons, including 200 in 1994. He led the Colts in tackles in seven out of eight seasons from 1989 to 1996. He described his playing style as "seek and destroy." Herrod was released by the Colts after the 1996 season. After one season with the

, he returned to the Colts for the 1998 season before retiring. He was unofficially credited with 1,443 tackles as a Colt, the most in franchise history. Although he was well respected in the locker room, he was largely unnoticed outside of Indianapolis because he played on teams that were mediocre at best and dreadful at worst. The Colts only made the playoffs twice during his two stints with the team, and only finished .500 or better four other times. According to Hall of Fame running back

Eric Dickerson Eric Demetric Dickerson (born September 2, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Dickerson played college football for the Mustangs of Southern Me ...

, who was Herrod's teammate during his first stint with the Colts, Herrod would have likely made "multiple

Pro Bowls The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

" had he played on a better team. Along similar lines, Venturi likened Herrod to Hall of Fame linebacker

Mike Singletary Michael Singletary (born October 9, 1958), also known by his nickname Samurai Mike, is an American professional football coach and former middle linebacker. After playing college football for the Baylor Bears, Singletary was drafted by the Chi ...

. In a 2022 interview with ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

,'' Herrod revealed that he is dealing with numerous health issues related to his football career. He believes he suffered hundreds of

concussions A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

, during his career, and one of his doctors estimated that those were sandwiched around "hundreds of thousands" of "sub-concussions" in which his brain crashed into his skull. Protective equipment (especially helmets) was inferior during his days at Ole Miss, and concussions were merely considered part of the game for much of his NFL career. He is certain that he has

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse o ...

(CTE), though that disease can only be definitively diagnosed in dead people; he has agreed to donate his brain to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

's CTE Center for study. He has dealt with

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

s since at least 2007, and has chronic pain so severe that he needs assistance to wear dressy clothes and can't bear sitting down for long periods of time.

References

External links

Official website
1966 births Living people Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American football linebackers Ole Miss Rebels football players Indianapolis Colts players Philadelphia Eagles players Ed Block Courage Award recipients {{linebacker-1960s-stub