Jeff Gee Gladney (December 12, 1996 – May 30, 2022) was 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 wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

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 majo ...

(NFL) for two seasons. 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at the

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Discipl ...

and was a twice all-conference selection in the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

. He was selected by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

in the first round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

. He signed with 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 th ...

in 2022, but never played for the team before his death.

High school career

Playing at New Boston High School in

New Boston, Texas New Boston is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States. Boston was named for an early storekeeper in the settlement, W.J. Boston. The coming of the railroads led to the location of two more Bostons. A depot was built about four miles north of ...

, Gladney was a three-star recruit and signed with

(TCU) to play

for the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

on February 5, 2015, after originally committing to the program on June 6, 2014. Gladney chose TCU over offers from

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, Texas State,

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, and UTSA.

College career

Gladney

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year due to a torn

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formati ...

sustained during his senior year in high school, but then was a four-year starter at

. During his junior season, Gladney made waves as a cover corner, earning first-team all-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

and second-team all-Big 12 by the coaches. He

injured Major trauma is any injury that has the potential to cause prolonged disability or death. There are many causes of major trauma, blunt and penetrating, including falls, motor vehicle collisions, stabbing wounds, and gunshot wounds. Depending ...

a meniscus before his senior season but played the whole year, waiting for surgery until after the conclusion of the season. Over his TCU career, he recorded five interceptions and was named to the

2020 Senior Bowl The 2020 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game played on January 25, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CST, at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2020 draft of the professional National Fo ...

roster after his senior season as well as garnering first-team all-Big 12 honors 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. new ...

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

evaluators praised Gladney for his physical style of play.

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Gladney was drafted by the

in the first round with the 31st overall pick in the

. Heading into his first training camp, Gladney competed for a starting job against Mike Hughes, Holton Hill, and fellow rookie

Cameron Dantzler Cameron Dantzler Sr. (born September 3, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State and was selected in the third round of the 2020 NFL ...

, and ended up starting every game of the 2020 season as cornerback from Week 2 onwards. In Week 6 against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcon ...

, Gladney recorded his first forced fumble on running back Brian Hill which was recovered by the Vikings during the 40–23 loss. Overall, Gladney finished the 2020 season with 81 total tackles, three passes defensed, and one forced fumble. Gladney was released on August 3, 2021, after his

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that ...

for

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

. In March 2022, he was found not guilty of the charges.

Arizona Cardinals

On March 16, 2022, Gladney signed with the

Personal life and death

Gladney had one son, born in 2021. Gladney was close friends with fellow 2020 first round draft pick and current

wide receiver

Jalen Reagor Jalen Armand Reagor (born January 2, 1999) is an American football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at TCU and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round ...

. On May 30, 2022, Gladney and his girlfriend, Mercedes Palacios, were killed in a car crash in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, at 2:30 am. Police reports indicated that Gladney's Mercedes SUV clipped a car, while traveling at an excessive speed; his vehicle then spun off the road, crashed into a brick wall, and ignited into flames. Gladney was 25 years old; Palacios was 26.

References

External links

TCU Horned Frogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gladney, Jeff 1996 births 2022 deaths 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American players of American football People from New Boston, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football cornerbacks TCU Horned Frogs football players Minnesota Vikings players Arizona Cardinals players Road incident deaths in Texas