The Legacy of Jaylon Ferguson, American Football Player
How death can sneak up on the young and the old.
Death always catches someone off guard in sudden death or impending death. Some people feel the loss more than others. Being in old age seems to be the pre-requisite to death but that was from a naive youth perspective.
Just as the good die young, so does the old. It is all relative. When I heard of the passing of Jaylon Ferguson it reminded me of how fragile life is and how it’s like a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. No one is immune and death does not discriminate. It happens when it happens.
Jaylon O’Neal Ferguson (December 14, 1996 — June 21, 2022) was an American football outside linebacker and defensive end of the National Football League (NFL). After college football at Louisiana Tech, he played with the Baltimore Ravens for three seasons.
Attended West Felician High School in St. Francisville, Louisiana, the beginning that lead to his professional football career where he played football and basketball for four years. Early on he realized not only his talent but his gift to humanity by being a leading NFL player.
His legacy continued throughout the six years of his young life. It all began with redshirting his first year at Louisiana Tech in 2014 and in 2015 he played in 12 games with five starts and recorded 35 tackles and six sacks. He went on to break records for sacks for his school in 2016, with 14.5. His success continued in his junior year, 2017, where he had 38 tackles and seven sacks. I guess his success made him one of the greatest sackers ever.
Ferguson, in 2018 at Louisiana Tech, broke the school record for career sacks and broke his own school record for sacks in a single season with 17.5. This was monumental. When someone breaks your record that is one thing but when you break your own record, the sky is the limit.
His other credits included being the NCAA FBS career sack leader during the 2018 Hawaii Bowl and being named the winning-team MVP of that game. Talent and opportunity took him to the mountain top and back.
During the 2019 NFL Draft, Ferguson was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and suffered a hamstring injury that was placed on the NFL reserve list for two days. The handwriting was on the wall that Ferguson was embarking on an even more successful NFL career.
On September 22, 2019, Ferguson made his NFL debut with 18 snaps against the Kansas City Chiefs. This guy was unstoppable and was a magnet to success. His reputation always preceded him and open more and more opportunities.
More success continued with his first career tackle two weeks later against the Pittsburgh Steelers and made his first NFL start on November 3 against the New England Patriots. On November 17, recorded his first career sack against the Houston Texans. Three weeks later, his second sack against the Buffalo Bills.
Opportunity and talent led the way for Ferguson, the 2020 season against the Washington Football Team, recorded his first sack of the season during a 31–17 win. Ferguson sacked his way to stardom and success and the rest is history in the hearts of his family, friends, fans, sports world, and history books.
In conclusion, longevity is not promised to any one person and death is a certainty but the important thing is to make life count. Ferguson made his life count in a recognizable manner and left footprints for others to follow May he rest in peace. Gone too soon, but never to be forgotten.
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