JaCoby Stevens (born June 19, 1998) is a former

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, ...

. 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 ...

, where he is now a coach.

Early life and high school

Stevens grew up in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

and attended

The Ensworth School The Ensworth School is a private school located on two separate campuses in Nashville, Tennessee. The original campus, with grades kindergarten (previously referred to as "pre-first") through eighth, opened in 1958 with 152 students. The school ...

before transferring to Oakland High School after his freshman year. Stevens played both wide receiver and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for Oakland and was also a member of the basketball team. As a junior, he recorded 84 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions, two fumbles recovered and scored two defensive touchdowns on defense and caught 32 passes for 806 yards with 11 touchdowns and had three rushing touchdowns on offense. As a senior, he recorded 61 tackles with 9 interceptions on defense with 34 receptions for 689 yards and 12 touchdowns on offense and was named Tennessee's Mr. Football. Stevens was rated a five-star recruit and initially committed to play college football at

over offers from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He decommitted during his senior season after the team fired head coach

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

, but ultimately re-committed.

College career

Stevens played both safety and wide receiver as a true freshman, appearing in six games with one start at wide receiver and catching two passes for 32 yards. Stevens moved permanently to safety before his sophomore year and started the last four games of the season, recording 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception with five passes broken up. In his first full season as a starter, Stevens recorded 85 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks with three interceptions and nine passes defended and was named second-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 and helped LSU win the 2019 National Championship. After Ja'Marr Chase opted out for the 2020 season, Stevens was selected to wear the #7 jersey, which goes to the biggest playmaker on the team.

Professional career

Stevens was selected in the sixth round with the 224th overall pick of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with Philadelphia on June 9, 2021, worth $3.6 million. He was waived on August 31, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. On January 2, 2022, Stevens made his NFL debut in the team's week 17 game against the

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

, collecting a tackle in the 20-16 victory. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on January 18, 2022. On August 30, 2022, Stevens was waived by the Eagles. On August 3, 2023, Stevens joined the

football coaching staff.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, JaCoby 1998 births Living people Philadelphia Eagles players LSU Tigers football players Players of American football from Tennessee American football safeties Sportspeople from Murfreesboro, Tennessee 21st-century African-American sportspeople The Ensworth School alumni