Jesse Shimba Luketa (born January 15, 1999) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

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, ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

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 ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

Early life and high school

Luketa was born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and grew up in the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Heron Gate Heron Gate or Herongate is a neighbourhood in Alta Vista Ward and Gloucester-Southgate Ward in the south end of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the Herongate Tenant Coalition as being bounded on the north by Heron Road (Ottawa), ...

neighborhood. He was raised in a single parent household by his mother, who immigrated to Canada from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. When Luketa was 14 years old, he enrolled at

Mercyhurst Preparatory School Mercyhurst Preparatory School, commonly called Mercyhurst Prep or MPS, is a Catholic, coeducational secondary school located in Erie, Pennsylvania. In the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, the school is located behind Mercyhurst University on East ...

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

for his final three years of high school. Luketa was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at Penn State from over 40 scholarship offers.

College career

Luketa played mostly on special teams during his freshman season. He saw more significant playing time as a sophomore, and made 24 tackles with four passes broken up. Luketa was selected as a team captain going into his junior year and finished the season second on the team with 59 tackles along with 2.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and three passes broken up. Luketa played both linebacker and defensive end as a senior, and was named to the third-team All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Following the end of the season, he declared that he would be entering the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

College Statistics

Professional career

Luketa was drafted in the final round (256th overall) of the

by the

. He was ranked as the #2 Canadian prospect ahead of the

2022 CFL Draft The 2022 CFL National Draft was a selection of National players by Canadian Football League (CFL) teams that took place on May 3, 2022, at 8:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 74 players were chosen from among eligible players from ...

, where he was drafted in the second round (20th overall) by the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

as a territorial draft pick. He was waived on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 27. Following Week 16 of the

2022 NFL season The 2022 NFL season is the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion Los Angeles Rams falling to Buffalo in the NFL Kickoff Game, and will end on Ja ...

, Luketa underwent dental surgery; upon learning about teammate

J. J. Watt Justin James Watt (born March 22, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Central Michigan and Wisconsin and was drafted by the Houston Texans i ...

's retirement announcement, Luketa attempted to contact Watt (who was unaware that it was Luketa contacting him). Luketa, with cottonballs and slurred speech after surgery, sent a photo and voice memo to Watt requesting a signed jersey at the end of the season, which both later joked about in the press.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioPenn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luketa, Jesse 1999 births Living people Canadian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Black Canadian players of American football American football defensive ends Penn State Nittany Lions football players Sportspeople from Edmonton American football linebackers Arizona Cardinals players Gridiron football people from Alberta