Jeffrey David Lageman (born July 18, 1967) 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 ...

player and current

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

. 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 ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

and was signed as a

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 ...

by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

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) in the first round of the

1989 NFL Draft The 1989 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 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marq ...

. In 1994, he was signed by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

; he retired after an injury in 1998. Though considered small for a defensive lineman, he distinguished himself on the field, recording a total of 47 career

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

s. Following his retirement from sports he went into

sports broadcasting The broadcasting of sports events (also known as a sportscast) is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing events as they happen. ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

Early life

Lageman was born in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

. He attended Park View High School in nearby Sterling. He attended the

for college, where he played both

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 ...

and

for the

Virginia Cavaliers football The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia in the sport of American football. Established in 1888, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the Academi ...

team.

Professional career

Although considered undersized to play

in the NFL, a fact that was pointed out by

Mel Kiper Jr. Mel Kiper Jr. (; born July 25, 1960) is an analyst covering American football for ESPN. He has appeared on ESPN's annual NFL draft coverage since 1984, providing in-depth information on the nation's potential draft picks. Career Kiper said th ...

during

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's coverage of the

, Lageman was taken in the first round by the

. Lageman's NFL career spanned 10 seasons, the first six with the Jets, and the final four with the

. His best year came in 1991 when he made ten

quarterback sacks In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the ...

. He made a career total of 47 sacks in the NFL. In 1995, Lageman was signed by the

in their inaugural year. With Lageman playing a key role, the Jaguars made the 1996 playoffs and upset the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

and the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

on the road before losing to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in the AFC Championship Game. Lageman's playing career ended on the first game of the 1998 season in Chicago. Although the Jaguars won on a last second touchdown pass from

Mark Brunell Mark Allen Brunell (born September 17, 1970) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played in the NFL for nineteen seasons and is best ...

to Jimmy Smith, they lost Lageman to a torn muscle in his arm. He never played again.

Retirement

During his time in Jacksonville, Lageman, an avid hunter and fisherman, began his broadcasting career with a radio show titled "The Outdoors Show" along with Captain Kevin Faver and Captain Kirk Waltz. After his playing career, Lageman continued his broadcasting career as a football

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

television. By 2001, "The Outdoors Show" had moved from an all-sports station (WBWL-AM) to a 50,000 watt news-talk station (

WOKV WOKV may refer to: *WOKV (AM) 690 in Jacksonville, Florida *WOKV-FM 104.5 in Jacksonville, Florida *WGRR WGRR (103.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Hamilton, Ohio, and serving the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It broadcasts ...

) and soon after, Lageman joined the play-by-play man Brian Sexton in the booth of the Jaguars Radio Network as the color analyst. He also serves as co-host of the weekly "Jaguars This Week" radio show along with Sexton, Jaguars.com senior writer John Oehser and former Jaguars teammate

Tony Boselli Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American former football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at USC, where he received th ...

, and is a castmember of the weekly television program, Jaguars All Access. Lageman lives in Jacksonville with his wife, Tera Lageman, and their children Taylor and Dylan.

References

External links

Jeff Lageman statistics at DatabaseFootball.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lageman, Jeff 1967 births American football defensive ends American football linebackers New York Jets players Jacksonville Jaguars announcers Jacksonville Jaguars players Living people National Football League announcers Virginia Cavaliers football players Players of American football from Virginia Sportspeople from Fairfax, Virginia People from Sterling, Virginia