Byron "Peewee" Jarrett Jr. (born October 12, 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 ...

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 ...

who is a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. 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 ...

Ellsworth Community College Ellsworth Community College is a public community college in Iowa Falls, Iowa. It was founded as Ellsworth College in 1890 by Eugene S. Ellsworth. Originally a private business academy, it later became a four-year college, a music conservator ...

, Iowa Central Community College, and West Florida.

Early life

Jarrett grew up in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. He attended Herbert Hoover High School in Des Moines, throwing for 2,364 passing yards and 18

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s as a junior and then 2,710 yards (second-best in Iowa) and 23 touchdowns as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He ended his high school career having thrown for over 5,000 yards and over 50 touchdowns, which included breaking the single-game Hoover passing yards record with 547. However, his team won only five games across his last two years and he had no offers to play

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

College career

Jarrett was ultimately able to enroll at

in 2018, where he appeared in seven games before missing the rest of the year due to injury. He then moved away to be closer to his sick grandmother, who died in February 2019. He underwent two shoulder surgeries and did not play in the 2019 season. Jarrett joined Iowa Central Community College in 2020, but the season was pushed to spring 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He said that, having not seen any playing time in over two years, "I was so set on quitting football." After discussing with the team's head coach and with his father, Jarrett ultimately decided to continue his football career. He played two seasons for the team – in both the spring and fall 2021 seasons – and totaled over 3,500 passing yards and 42 passing touchdowns, also rushing for close to 600 yards in the second season with 13 rushing touchdowns. He was chosen a first-team

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

(NJCAA)

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

selection. Having received attention from larger schools following his play at the NJCAA level, Jarrett committed to play for the NCAA Division I FCS

Western Illinois Leathernecks The Western Illinois Leathernecks are the teams and athletes that represent Western Illinois University, located in Macomb, Illinois, in NCAA Division I sports. The school's primary conference affiliation is with the Summit League; its football t ...

, but decided to transfer to the Division II West Florida Argonauts after only one semester. He won the starting job at West Florida, succeeding Austin Reed, and completed 165 passes for 2,719 yards and 33 touchdowns, throwing for a touchdown in all of the team's 14 games while leading them to 12 wins – second-best in program history – and an appearance in the semifinals of the Division II playoffs. In 2023, Jarrett threw for 2,989 yards and 32 touchdowns while running for 372 yards and three touchdowns. He became the first player in school history to throw for over 5,000 yards with over 1,000 rushing yards. He declared for the

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 ...

after the season.

Professional career

After going unselected in the 2024 NFL draft, Jarrett was signed 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 ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He was waived by the Jets on May 6, after the team signed

Andrew Peasley Andrew Peasley is an American football quarterback who plays for the Wyoming Cowboys. He previously played for the Utah State Aggies. Early life and high school Peasley was born in La Grande, Oregon and he attended La Grande High School. Peasle ...

and Colby Suits.

References

External links

Ellsworth Panthers bioIowa Central Tritons bioWest Florida Argonauts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarrett, Peewee 1999 births Living people American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Des Moines, Iowa Ellsworth Panthers football players Iowa Central Tritons football players West Florida Argonauts football players New York Jets players