Jeremy Dashon Kerley (born November 8, 1988) 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 ...

wide receiver and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. 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 TCU and was drafted 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 ...

in the fifth round of the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

and has also had stints with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, and

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. ...

Early years

Kerley attended Hutto High School in

Hutto, Texas Hutto is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area. The population was 27,577 at the 2020 census. Geography Hutto is located at (30.544517, −97.545198), about seven miles (11&nb ...

, where he was a letterman in four sports, Kerley took his

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team to the state finals in 2005 where he and his team faced Tatum and lost by three points despite a great game performance by Kerley.. His letterman included

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. He played

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and

centerfielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ce ...

in baseball. At

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, Kerley led his football team to its first state championship game as a junior. As a standout

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

athlete, Kerley was one of the state's top performers in the jumping events. He was a four-time state finalist in the triple jump. He qualified for the state track meet in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

(7.26 m) and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

(14.76 m), winning silver medals in both events. He was also a member of the 4 × 100 m and

4 × 400 m 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

relay teams. He was recruited by the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

to play baseball, and by the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

to play football, but ultimately decided to play

for

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 (Disciples ...

College career

Kerley was converted to wide receiver and

at TCU after playing quarterback in high school. Following the 2009 season, Kerley was named

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

Special Teams Player of the Year after breaking the conference record for punt return yards in a season with 563 yards. He had ten touchdown catches, one touchdown pass, and two rushing touchdowns in 2010. He ranked second in the nation in punt returns and third in the nation in kickoff returns. He was named the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year for the second consecutive year in 2010, as well as second-team All-Mountain West honors at wide receiver. Kerley was one of three finalists in 2010 for the

Paul Hornung Award The Paul Hornung Award is a college football award that was created in January 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) with the support of Paul Hornung, a native and resident of Louisville, Kentucky and member of the College Football Hall ...

, which honors the most versatile college football player in the nation.

Professional career

Kerley was projected to be drafted in the fifth round of the

New York Jets

Kerley was selected in the fifth round with the 153rd overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He caught his first career touchdown pass from

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

against 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 ...

on October 9, 2011. During the home opener against the

on September 9, 2012, Kerley recorded his first career punt return touchdown. After Tim Tebow requested to be removed from the

wildcat formation Wildcat formation describes a formation for the offense in football in which the ball is snapped not to the quarterback but directly to a player of another position lined up at the quarterback position. (In most systems, this is a running back, b ...

, Kerley took his place, and threw a 42-yard pass, though the Jets lost to the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

17–27. On October 21, 2014, Kerley agreed to a 4-year, $16 million contract extension with $5.4 million guaranteed. Kerley ended the 2015 season with career-highs in punt returns (48) and punt return yards (411). On March 9, 2016, Kerley was released by the Jets.

Detroit Lions

On March 21, 2016, Kerley signed a one-year deal with the

San Francisco 49ers

On August 29, 2016, the Lions traded Kerley to the

in exchange for guard

Brandon Thomas Brandon Thomas may refer to: *Brandon Thomas (playwright) (1848–1914), English actor and playwright who wrote the hit farce, ''Charley's Aunt'' *Brandon Thomas (musician) (born 1980), American rock band singer *Brandon Thomas (American football), ...

. Kerley agreed to a three-year, $10.5 million contract extension on March 4, 2017. On September 2, 2017, Kerley was released by the 49ers.

New York Jets (second stint)

On September 5, 2017, Kerley re-signed with the Jets on a one-year deal. On November 6, 2017, Kerley was suspended for 4 games due to a PED violation. He was released by the Jets on December 18, 2017 after being reinstated from suspension.

Buffalo Bills

On April 16, 2018, Kerley signed a one-year contract with the

. He was released by the Bills on September 15, 2018.

Career statistics

Personal life

Kerley's parents are Charlotte and Donald Kerley. Kerley is married to Kristal Juarez and they have three kids, Dae'shon, Y'manni, and Ma'liyah. Kerley's younger cousin is

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

silver-medalist sprinter and 2022 World Athletics Champion

Fred Kerley Fredrick Lee Kerley (born May 7, 1995) is an American track and field sprinter known primarily for competing in the 400 meters distance but more recently the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in ...

References

External links

New York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerley, Jeremy 1988 births Living people People from Williamson County, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers American football return specialists TCU Horned Frogs football players New York Jets players Detroit Lions players San Francisco 49ers players Buffalo Bills players