Jessie Floyd Tuggle, III (born April 4, 1965) is a former professional

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 wi ...

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, ...

who played for the Atlanta Falcons his entire career from 1987 to 2000. He graduated from Valdosta State College in Valdosta, Georgia. He appeared in the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

five times, and played in

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...

. His nickname is "the Hammer", because of the impact of his tackles.

Early years

Tuggle played at Griffin High School, where he experienced success playing football. He received two Division II scholarship offers. Taking a scholarship at

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...

, Tuggle played four years and finished with a school-record 340 tackles. He was a three-time All-

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selection and his No. 88 was retired less than a decade after Tuggle left. In 2007, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Professional career

After going undrafted out of Valdosta State, Tuggle signed with the Falcons through a chance encounter. During training camp, myriad injuries at linebacker gave Tuggle playing time and a shot at making the roster (which he did). After being a role player his rookie season, he recorded 108 tackles by virtue of eight starts. Becoming a bona fide star on the Atlanta defense, marked by the 1989-1993 period in which Tuggle racked up 969 tackles. During that stretch, he made his first

appearance in 1992. Even while the Falcons languished, Tuggle never thought of leaving in free agency, even when he would meet former teammates like

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...

. This endeared him to many Atlanta fans, who consider him one of the greatest and most beloved Falcons of all time. After being with the Falcons through some tough years, the high point in Tuggle's career was 1998, when he played in

and was voted to the Pro Bowl. Tuggle retired during training camp in 2001 after injuries plagued the end of his career. In his 14 seasons, he recorded 1640 tackles (164 assisted), 21 sacks, 6 interceptions, which he returned for 106 yards and a touchdown, 10 forced fumbles and 37 pass deflections. He also recovered 10 fumbles, returning them for 155 yards and an NFL record 5 touchdowns. Tuggle also holds the record for most tackles from 1990 to 1999 with 1,293. At the time of his retirement, he held the NFL record for touchdowns via fumble recoveries with five.

Personal life

His son, Justin Tuggle, played at Kansas State University and currently plays defensive end for the

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in the

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. His other son, Grady Jarrett, played college football at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

and was selected in the 5th round of the 2015 NFL Draft by his father's former team, the Atlanta Falcons. Tuggle has experienced some concussion-related symptoms like memory loss.

References

External links

Pro Football Reference Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuggle, Jessie 1965 births Living people People from Griffin, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football middle linebackers Valdosta State Blazers football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Atlanta Falcons players National Conference Pro Bowl players Ed Block Courage Award recipients