Tony Lynn Brackens, Jr. (born December 26, 1974) is a former American college and professional football player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

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 nine seasons. He played college football for the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, and earned All-American honors. A second-round pick in the 1996 NFL Draft, he played 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 pla ...

for his entire pro football career.

Early years

Brackens was born and raised in

Fairfield, Texas Fairfield is a city in Freestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,850 at the 2020 census, down from 3,094 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Freestone County and was founded as such in 1851. Geography Fairfield ...

. He attended Fairfield High School, and played for the Fairfield Eagles

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team.

College career

Brackens attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for the

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ...

team from 1992 to 1995. He developed a reputation as a ferocious hitter as a defensive end. As senior in 1995, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and was also a first-team All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

selection. He finished his career ranked eighth on the Longhorns' all-time list with 24 sacks. He was also a key contributor to the 1995 Longhorns team that went 10-1 and won the Southwest Conference and gained a berth in the 1996 Sugar Bowl against the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 v ...

Professional career

He was taken in the second round of the 1996 NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, for whom he played his entire professional career. His lone

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 ...

appearance came in 2000, after the 1999 season in which he had 12 sacks and 8 forced fumbles. As of 2011, he held the all-time Jacksonville Jaguars records for several categories: sacks (55), fumble recoveries (13) and forced fumbles (28). He is also the leading tackler (all-time) among Jaguars defensive ends. He was released in 2004, after a series of troubling leg injuries and operations. He ultimately decided to retire, saying that recent rule changes had made it impossible for him to play his style of football. He said, "Mentally and physically, I thought I could probably still do it, but I didn’t want to put up with all the rule changes. All the stuff they’re doing to players takes the fun out of the game." The moment in which he was let go was captured by NFL Films in "Jacksonville Jaguars: Inside the Training Camp", an unofficial version of the Hard Knocks TV series.

NFL statistics

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brackens, Tony 1974 births Living people All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football defensive ends Jacksonville Jaguars players Texas Longhorns football players People from Fairfield, Texas Ed Block Courage Award recipients