Jimmy Lee Youngblood (born February 23, 1950) 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 ...

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 ...

(NFL) for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. 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 ...

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie ...

and was drafted in the second round of the 1973 NFL Draft.

Early life

Youngblood was born in

Union, South Carolina The city of Union is the county seat of Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,393 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Union Micropolitan Statistical Area (population 28,961 according to 2010 Census), ...

. He attended Jonesville High School in

Jonesville, South Carolina Jonesville is a town in Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 911 at the 2010 United States Census. History The McWhirter House and Means House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography Jonesvi ...

, where he was all-conference in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, 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 ...

College career

Youngblood attended

Tennessee Technological University Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie ...

from 1969–72, and set a school record with 476 tackles. The

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

named him Defensive Player of the Year in 1971 and 1972. He was selected 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 ...

as a first-team linebacker on the 1972 Little All-America college football team.

Professional career

Youngblood played in the NFL for twelve seasons. He became the Rams' starting left-side linebacker during the 1976 season. Youngblood was part of one of the steadiest linebacking corps in the NFL, with Jack Reynolds in the middle and

Isiah Robertson Isiah "Butch" Robertson (August 17, 1949 – December 6, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams (1971–1978) and the Buffalo Bills (1979–1982). He was selected to six Pro Bowls duri ...

and

Bob Brudzinski Robert Louis Brudzinski (born January 1, 1955) is a former American football linebacker who played 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Ohio State Brudzinski was a four-time letter winner and a three-year starter at defensive end for ...

patrolling the right side. Youngblood had a nose for the football, recording 14 career interceptions and returning four touchdowns, two in the 1979 season.

Personal life

Youngblood's father was a standout semi-pro baseball player, and his mother was a star basketball player in high school in Jonesville. Contrary to common belief he is not related to former teammate and Pro Football Hall of Fame member

Jack Youngblood Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

. However, since both Youngbloods had first names beginning with the same letter, the Rams had to include the entire names of both players on the back of their jerseys. Since their last names were so long, neither Jack nor Jim's first names could fit in the same line as their surnames, so the Rams simply put their first names above their last names when they ordered the jerseys.

References

External links

*
World News Inc.: Jim Youngblood

1950 births Living people American football linebackers Los Angeles Rams players Washington Redskins players National Conference Pro Bowl players Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees All-American college football players People from Union, South Carolina {{collegefootball-player-stub