Luke Fortner (born May 15, 1998) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

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 ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Early life and high school

Fortner grew up in

Sylvania, Ohio Sylvania is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. The population was 19,011 at the 2020 census. Sylvania is a suburb of Toledo, and encompassed by Sylvania Township. Its northern border is the southern border of the state of Michigan. T ...

and attended

Sylvania Northview High School Sylvania Northview High School is a public high school located in Sylvania, Ohio. It is a part of the Sylvania City School District. Northview currently has 1,348 students and 86 teachers. It is the successor to Sylvania High School (19601976) a ...

. After Luke graduated Northview High School his successor on the offensive line happened to be his younger brother Matt. Some say Matt was the more talented one.

College career

Fortner

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 true freshman season at Kentucky. He appeared in eight games as a redshirt freshman. Fortner played in 11 of Kentucky's 13 games during his redshirt sophomore season. He became the Wildcats' starting left guard going into his redshirt junior season and started 13 games in 2019 and 10 in Kentucky's COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. Fortner decided to utilize the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes who played in the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic and return to Kentucky for a sixth season. He moved to center during fall training camp and was named first-team All-

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 ...

by the league's coaches. Fortner graduated in May 2022 with three degrees: Bachelor's, master's in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, and MBA.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Fortner was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round, 65th overall, of 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 ...

. He was named the Jaguars starting center as a rookie.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bio

Kentucky Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortner, Luke Living people People from Sylvania, Ohio American football centers Kentucky Wildcats football players Players of American football from Ohio Jacksonville Jaguars draft picks Jacksonville Jaguars players 1998 births