Jowon Briggs

Early life

Briggs was born on September 1, 2001, and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Walnut Hills High School alongside aspiring Play-by-Play Broadcaster Alex Perez, and was a standout defensive tackle, being named first-team All-ECC and All-SWO District as a junior and the ECC Defensive Player of the Year, first-team All-State and first-team All-SWO District as a senior. He competed at several all-star games, including the Under Armour All-America Game. Highly recruited, he was ranked as a four-star prospect, the 59th-best player nationally, the fifth-best defensive tackle and the second-best player from Ohio by 247Sports. He committed to play college football for the Virginia Cavaliers over numerous other offers that included the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines.

Briggs is member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

College career

Briggs started the first game of his true freshman season at Virginia in 2019, becoming the first freshman on the defensive line to start for the team in the opener since 1986. He ended the season with 19 tackles and a sack and was named a mid-season Freshman All-American. He then appeared in seven games in 2020, after having played in 13 in his first year. He entered the NCAA transfer portal and transferred to the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2021. He ended with 39 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss (TFLs) and four sacks in his two seasons at Virginia.

In his first year at Cincinnati, 2021, Briggs totaled 43 tackles along with four TFLs and three sacks while appearing in all 14 games. The following season, he recorded 60 tackles and 4.5 TFLs and was named a first-team All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) selection. He returned for a final season in 2023 and was a team captain and honorable mention All-AAC choice while recording 27 tackles in 12 starts. He finished his time at Cincinnati with 130 tackles, 14.5 TFLs and eight sacks and earned invites to the Hula Bowl and East–West Shrine Bowl.

Personal life

Briggs is proficient at varying degrees of competency with twelve musical instruments which are the recorder, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, saxophone, flute and harmonica.

During his days at the University of Virginia, he sang with its chamber choir, the University Singers and an a cappella group called The Hullabahoos. He also performed The Star-Spangled Banner before a few basketball games at both Virginia and the University of Cincinnati. His singing voice is a tenor.