Jalen Ramsey

Early life

Ramsey was born on October 24, 1994, in Smyrna, Tennessee, to Lamont and Margie Ramsey. Lamont was a District Chief in the Fire Department and later became Jalen's training coach. Jalen's older brother, Jamal, participated in football, basketball, and track at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tennessee, and played quarterback at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where their father had once played football. Jalen improved his football skills playing with much older boys at a local park. He grew up cheering for the Miami Hurricanes in a family of Florida Gators fans.

Ramsey attended Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee, as a freshman. He then transferred to Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee, where he was a two-sport star in football and track & field. Ramsey was rated by both Rivals.com and Scout.com as a five-star recruit and one of the top overall recruits in his class. Ramsey originally committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football, but later changed to Florida State University.

Ramsey had a highly decorated high school track career. On May 24, 2013, in his final high school track meet, Ramsey shattered the Tennessee state record in the long jump with a mark of 25 feet 3.25 inches (7.7026 m), breaking the 16-year-old record set in 1997. As of 2016, no other athlete in TSSAA history has surpassed the 25-foot mark. Ramsey competed in events ranging from the 100 meters to the shot put. As a sprinter, he recorded personal best times of 10.50 in the 100-meter dash, 21.44 in the 200-meter dash, and 48.02 in the 400-meter dash. Ramsey established personal bests in the high jump at 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) and the triple jump 47 feet 7 inches (14.50 m). He also posted a top throw of 49 feet 11 inches (15.21 m) in the shot put.

Football

Ramsey started all 14 games for the Florida State Seminoles as a true freshman in 2013. He was the first true freshman to start a game at cornerback for the team since Deion Sanders in 1985. Ramsey wore jersey #13 during his freshman year when Florida State won the National Championship over Auburn. He later switched to jersey #8 for his sophomore and junior seasons. Ramsey also chose the #17 jersey for kick returns during his junior year, a number that had been retired in honor of former superstar Charlie Ward, who granted Ramsey permission to wear it. He recorded a 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the 59–3 victory over Wake Forest on November 9, 2013. Ramsey finished the year with 49 tackles, an interception, and a sack.

As a sophomore, Ramsey played 14 games with 80 tackles, two interceptions, 12 passes defended, three forced fumbles, and two sacks.

As a junior, Ramsey played 13 games with one sack, nine passes defended, and one fumble recovery on 52 tackles. On September 18, against Boston College, he recorded a 36-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the 14–0 victory. Ramsey was named as a Consensus All-American for his performance in the 2015 season. After his junior year, Ramsey announced his intention to forgo his senior season and enter the 2016 NFL draft.

Track and field

Ramsey competed in track & field at Florida State as a relay sprinter and long jumper. He was a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honoree as a member of the Florida State Indoor and Outdoor championship track and field team in 2013. He placed third in the long jump at both the indoor and outdoor ACC T&F Championships and ran a leg on the conference champion 4×100 relay team at the outdoor meet.

During the 2014 season, Ramsey's best outdoor long jump mark was 25 ft 0 in (7.62 m) and his top indoor jump was 24 ft 11 in (7.59 m), ranking second nationally among NCAA Division I football players. Ramsey qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary meet in the long jump. He placed third at the 2014 ACC Indoor Championship in the long jump 7.46 metres (24 ft 6 in).

In March 2015, Ramsey recorded his personal best jump of 26 ft 1.75 in (7.9693 m) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In May 2015, Ramsey won the ACC Long Jump Championship with a leap of 26 ft 1.5 in (7.963 m),

Personal life

Ramsey is a Christian. He frequently mentions his faith on his social media accounts.

In July 2018, Ramsey and Breanna Tate, the younger sister of retired wide receiver Golden Tate, had a daughter together. The pair had a second daughter in September 2019, though they had broken up earlier that summer.

Ramsey was known for his trash talk both on and off the field, primarily during his time with Jacksonville. Notable examples include Ramsey's altercation with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A. J. Green in 2017, which was caused by his trash talk, and banter between him and Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill prior to a 2018 matchup between the Jaguars and Chiefs. In an August 2018 interview with GQ, Ramsey also offered his unfiltered opinions of several NFL quarterbacks, criticizing Joe Flacco, Josh Allen, Andrew Luck, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, and Jared Goff, among others. During a game against the rival Seattle Seahawks in 2019, Ramsey engaged in an altercation with Seahawks’ then-rookie receiver DK Metcalf. Ramsey was not charged for the penalty nor fined by the league after the incident, but Metcalf was given a penalty.