Brandon Jacobs (born July 6, 1982, in ) is an
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
running backA running back is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield...
for the
New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
. He was drafted by the Giants in the fourth round of the
2005 NFL DraftThe 2005 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23-24, 2005. The league also held an supplemental draft that year, which was held after...
. He played
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
at
Southern IllinoisSouthern Illinois University is a state university located in southern Illinois with two institutions and multiple campuses. Glenn Poshard is President of Southern Illinois University.-Southern Illinois University Carbondale:...
.
Brandon Jacobs attended Assumption High School in Napoleonville, Louisiana, where he rambled for a state-best 3,032 yards in 2000. He earned Class 4A Offensive MVP honors while averaging 215 yards per game and totaling 35 touchdowns.
Brandon Jacobs started his college career at Auburn University, along with first-round draft picks Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Jason Campbell.
Brandon Jacobs (born July 6, 1982, in ) is an
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
running backA running back is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield...
for the
New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
. He was drafted by the Giants in the fourth round of the
2005 NFL DraftThe 2005 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23-24, 2005. The league also held an supplemental draft that year, which was held after...
. He played
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
at
Southern IllinoisSouthern Illinois University is a state university located in southern Illinois with two institutions and multiple campuses. Glenn Poshard is President of Southern Illinois University.-Southern Illinois University Carbondale:...
.
Early years
Brandon Jacobs attended Assumption High School in Napoleonville, Louisiana, where he rambled for a state-best 3,032 yards in 2000. He earned Class 4A Offensive MVP honors while averaging 215 yards per game and totaling 35 touchdowns.
College career
Brandon Jacobs started his college career at Auburn University, along with first-round draft picks Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Jason Campbell. Jacobs was the third-string running back behind Williams and Brown. After the completion of the 2003 college football season, Jacobs transferred to then Division 1-AA Southern Illinois. Jacobs gained 446 yards on 72 carries and 2 touchdowns in 2003.
Jacobs also attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, KS prior to attending Auburn University. Jacobs ran for 927 yards and 13 touchdowns as a freshman for Coffeyville
Jacobs's one year at Southern Illinois was a great one. He led the team with 150 carries for 992 yards (6.6 avg) and 19 touchdowns, one less than the school's all-time leader, Muhammad Abdulqaadir. All-American first-team selection by The NFL Draft Report and All-Gateway Conference first-team choice. Named Gateway Conference Newcomer of the Year, led the conference and ranked tenth in the nation in scoring, averaging 9.5 points per game, had eight receptions for 83 yards (10.4 avg) and returned six kickoffs for 140 yards (23.3 avg), including five 100-yard rushing games, including the playoffs.
New York Giants
Going into the 2006 season Jacobs stated that he studied film of famed power running back
Eddie GeorgeEdward Nathan George, Jr. is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He played for the Tennessee Titans both in Tennessee and in Houston when the franchise was known as the Houston Oilers, and spent his final season with the Dallas Cowboys...
in an effort to refine his running style. Eddie George, like Jacobs, was a large, power running back, though it should be noted that Brandon Jacobs is at least 30 pounds heavier than George at his peak. In the 2006 season, Jacobs carried the ball 96 times for 423 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. He added 11 receptions for 149 yards.
With the retirement of
Tiki BarberAtiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is a sports broadcaster, author, and former American football running back for the New York Giants. He is the identical twin brother of Ronde Barber, a cornerback who plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers...
, Jacobs took over the starting running back spot for the Giants in the 2007 season. He injured his knee in the first game of the season against the
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team that plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . They are headquartered in suburban Irving, Texas, which lies between Fort Worth and Dallas...
, but returned four weeks later against the
New York JetsThe New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the Northeastern New Jersey part of the tri-state New York metropolitan area. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays its home games in East...
to rush for 100 yards and a touchdown. Jacobs would miss two more games later in the season with a hamstring injury, but finish the regular season with rushing totals of 1,011 yards and four touchdowns on 201 carries. He also added 23 receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns. In the playoffs, Jacobs started every game during the Giants' run to
Super Bowl XLIISuper Bowl XLII was an American football game that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
, which they would win over the previously undefeated
New England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the...
. On January 13, 2008, Jacobs scored the winning touchdown against the #1 seeded
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team that plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . They are headquartered in suburban Irving, Texas, which lies between Fort Worth and Dallas...
in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.
Jacobs underwent wrist surgery during the 2008 offseason. He returned to play all of the preseason, but missed two games in the regular season due to recurring difficulty with his knee. He finished the 2008 regular season with 219 carries for 1089 yards and 15 touchdowns, similar yardage to 2007, but many more touchdowns. In 2008, he and
Derrick WardDerrick LaRon Ward is an American football running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State University and Ottawa.Ward has also played...
became the fifth pair of
teammates to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
He is the "Earth" in the running back corps of the Giants nicknamed "Earth, Wind, & Fire" with
Derrick WardDerrick LaRon Ward is an American football running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State University and Ottawa.Ward has also played...
(Wind) and
Ahmad BradshawAhmad Bradshaw is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. He played college football at Marshall....
(Fire). He also is nick-named
JuggernautThe Juggernaut is a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men #12 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby....
because of his ability to break multiple tackles and the difficulty in bringing him down.. Similarly, he has been dubbed "The Creator" by the satirical sports website Ramon Hernandez Put Down The Gun, and is considered complimentary to
Justin TuckJustin Lee Tuck is an American football defensive end for the National Football League's New York Giants...
, who is known as "The Destroyer."
On February 13, 2009 the Giants placed the
Franchise TagIn the National Football League, the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are met. Each team has access each year to only one franchise tag or one...
on Jacobs. He signed a four-year, $25 million dollar contract with the Giants a week later and currently slated to have most of the carries this upcoming season.
External links