K'Lavon Chaisson (born July 25, 1999) is 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 with ...

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 Jacksonville Jaguars 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 ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and was drafted by the Jaguars 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 d ...

Early life and high school

Chaisson was born and grew up in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and attended North Shore Senior High School. He quit playing football as a freshman in order to focus on basketball, but returned to football as a junior. He became an immediate starter at defensive end for the Mustangs, leading Texas high schoolers with 15.5 sacks along with 50 tackles, including 13 for loss, and forced three fumbles and helped lead North Shore to the Class 6A Division I state championship game and was named first-team All-State 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 ...

. Chaisson was named the defensive MVP of the game after recording two sacks, four tackles for loss, a blocked kick and a forced fumble in the game and making a game-saving tackle at fourth and goal to preserve a 21–14 win over Todd Dodge's Westlake High School. As a senior, Chaisson was named the 21-6A district defensive MVP as well as included on the ''

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'' All-Midlands team and was invited to the 2017

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the U.S. state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game was first played on January 5, ...

. In the game he recorded six tackles, five of which were for loss, and tied the game's record with three sacks. Rated a five star recruit by ''Scout.com'' and four star by ''247Sports'', ''ESPN'' and ''Rivals'', Chaisson committed to play college football at LSU over offers from Florida and Texas.

College career

As a true freshman, Chaisson started the first game of the Tigers' season against BYU and recorded his first two career sacks in the next game during a 45–10 win over

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. He was named to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

All-Freshman team after finishing the season with 27 tackles, two sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss in 12 games played (three starts). Named a starter at outside linebacker going into his sophomore season, Chaisson made five tackles with a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry in the season opener against

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

before suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter. He was diagnosed with a torn ACL the following day, ending his season and forcing him to use a medical

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. Chaisson was chosen to wear the No. 18 Jersey by the Tigers' coaching staff going into his redshirt sophomore season. He finished the season with 60 tackles and led the team with 6.5 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss, and six quarterback hurries along with two passes broken up and a forced fumble and was named first-team All-SEC. Chaisson was named the Defensive MVP of the

2019 Peach Bowl The 2019 Peach Bowl (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl) was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2019, with kickoff at 4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN. It was the 52nd edition of the Peach Bowl, and was on ...

after a six-tackle, two-sack performance against

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Chaisson had two tackles in LSU's 42–25 win over Clemson in the 2020 National Championship Game. On January 17, 2020, Chaisson announced that he would forgo his remaining two years of eligibility and enter the

. He finished his college career with 92 total tackles, including 19 for loss, 9.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.

Professional career

Chaisson was selected with the 20th pick in 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 d ...

by the Jacksonville Jaguars, using a pick previously acquired from 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 ...

in a trade for

Jalen Ramsey Jalen Lattrel Ramsey (born October 24, 1994) is an American football cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State Seminoles football, Florida State and was drafted by the ...

. He made his debut in the 2020 season opener against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

, making two tackles. Chaisson recorded the first and only sack of the season in the following week against the Tennessee Titans. On October 11, 2022, Chaisson was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. He was activated on December 10.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Chaisson's father, Kelvin Chaisson, played linebacker at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

. Kelvin Chaisson was shot and killed in 2014 at the age of 33 when K'Lavon was a sophomore in high school.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioLSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaisson, K'Lavon 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Houston American football outside linebackers American football defensive ends LSU Tigers football players Under Armour All-American football players Jacksonville Jaguars players