Jalen Redmond

Early life

Redmond was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He attended Midwest City High School, but only played basketball his first two years. Football coaches liked his size (6 ft 2 in, 230 lb) and convinced him to tryout for the team as a junior; during spring practice, he received his first athletic scholarship offer from Memphis, despite having not even played a varsity football game yet. That year, playing both defensive end and outside linebacker, Redmond posted 82 tackles and 14 sacks. Offers began flowing in at this point, and by the start of his senior year he had about 20 offers. He posted 87 tackles, 34 TFLs, and 19.5 sacks in his final season, being named first-team all-state by The Oklahoman. A five-star recruit and the 16th-best prospect nationally according to 247Sports, Redmond eventually announced his commitment to play college football for Oklahoma.

College career

At the University of Oklahoma, Redmond was in a position to compete for immediate playing time as a freshman in 2018, but a blood clot issue led to him being ruled out for the season. However, he returned midseason and appeared in three games, before then sitting out the rest, finishing the year with six total tackles. In 2019, he appeared in 13 out of 14 games and posted a team-leading 6.5 sacks and placed third in TFLs with 11. Redmond opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 and his blood clot issues.

Redmond returned to the team in 2021 and appeared in eight games, seven of which he started, and posted 19 tackles, eight TFLs, and 3.5 sacks despite missing five games due to injury. As a senior in 2022, he appeared in 12 games and posted 23 tackles, 10.0 TFLs and four sacks.