Jayron Kearse

High school career

A native of Fort Myers, Florida, Kearse transferred to South Fort Myers High School in January 2012 after playing mostly quarterback three years at Cypress Lake High School. There, he played defense in his freshman season and switched to the offensive side as a junior and totalled 1,600 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He played as a safety, running back and wide receiver at South Fort Myers as a senior in 2012, helping lead his team to an 11-2 record after rushing for 528 yards (12.3 yards per carry) and five touchdowns to go along with five more receiving scores while averaging 18.9 yards per reception; as a safety on defense, he also recorded 87 tackles, three sacks and an interception. Following his senior season, he was invited to play in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl in Houston, Texas. Kearse also participated in track & field for the Wolfpack.

Frequently listed as an "athlete" by most recruiting services, Kearse was rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, as well as the No. 16 athlete in the nation according to both Rivals and 247Sports.com. He was viewed as the seventh best outside linebacker in the class of 2012 by Scout.com, while MaxPreps listed him as the fifteenth best athlete in the nation and considered him a four-star recruit.

Kearse originally committed to play college football at Auburn University on August 2011, but on January 2012, he verbally committed to the University of Miami after the Tigers lost coach Gus Malzahn to Arkansas State. Kearse posted a picture of himself on his Twitter feed holding a Miami helmet and wearing a Hurricanes sweatshirt standing next to Hurricanes coach Al Golden. However, after attending camp at Clemson in June, he de-committed from the Hurricanes and ended up committing to Clemson University on August 2, 2012. Kearse stated: "I chose Clemson because the coaches are genuine people that care about their athletes, and is just a great place to be with a group of guys who all want the best for you."

College career

Kearse attended Clemson University, where he played as a strong safety under head coach Dabo Swinney's Clemson Tigers football team from 2013 to 2015. He amassed 164 total tackles (11.5 tackles for loss), seven interceptions, 11 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two recovered fumbles in 1,998 snaps over 40 games with 29 starts in his career. Following his junior season, he declared early for the 2016 NFL Draft.

Freshman season (2013)

Two weeks before his freshman season began, Kearse was a candidate to play nickel back in Clemson’s five-DB formations, but a shoulder injury caused him to miss the end of fall camp and the Georgia opener, so fellow freshman strong safety Korrin Wiggins moved to nickel and Kearse settled in as Travis Blanks’ backup. In the following three games of the season, Kearse logged some spare playing time in home blowouts over South Carolina State in week 2 and Wake Forest in week 4 until he was thrust into 75 snaps during Clemson’s 49-14 win over the Syracuse Orange in week 5, recording eight tackles and his first career interception. The following week, he started against Boston College and contributed with 4 tackles. However, in week 7, Kearse played just three snaps against Florida State. In the next two weeks, at Maryland and Virginia, a knee injury to Travis Blanks gave Kearse more playing time and he recorded 2 interceptions. In the season finale against South Carolina, he played all 81 snaps and had 10 tackles. In his true freshman season with the Tigers, Kearse played in 12 games and made three starts, compiling 41 tackles (29 solo), four interceptions and a forced fumble.

Sophomore season (2014)

As a sophomore in 2014, he started 12 of 13 games, recording 67 tackles, two interceptions, and three sacks.

Junior season (2015)

After the 2016 national championship game, Jayron announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft, with many mock drafts projecting him as a late 1st round selection.

Professional career

Kearse was drafted 244th overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft, joining his teammate on the Tigers' defense cornerback Mackensie Alexander, who was taken by the Vikings in the second round. Kearse, who watched the NFL draft with his family back in his hometown, watched hopelessly as he was passed on by NFL teams round after round. "I threw the caps on the ground after I was drafted." Kearse said. "The Vikings gave me a shot. 31 passed on me, so 31 got thrown on the ground. The Vikings are the lucky ones. I'm definitely going to make the other 31 pay.”

2016 season

Kearse saw his first significant action of the season in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles, playing 52-of-58 snaps and recording two tackles after starter Andrew Sendejo went down with an ankle injury after intercepting a pass.

Personal life

Kearse has family ties to the NFL, as Jevon Kearse, former Florida Gators All-American and longtime Tennessee Titans defensive end is his uncle, and his cousin, Phillip Buchanon, played college football at Miami and was taken in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. At the age of 14, Kearse was out of football and in the summer of 2008 got arrested on a felony charge of robbery with another minor in Fort Myers, Florida, according to WBBH-TV. Kearse called that a “turning point” in his life.