Jerry Joseph Mackey is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 who is currently a free agent

Free agent

In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Syracuse.

Mackey has also been a member of the New York Jets

New York Jets

The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Early Years

PrepStar All-American … Rated the No. 8 prospect in New York by SuperPrep … New York Sportwriters’ Association First-Team Class AA All-State as a senior and junior … All-Nassau County and All-Long Island as a senior … Received the Bill Piner Award as outstanding linebacker in Nassau County in 2001 … Had 85 tackles, 51 solo, one sack, two forced fumbles and three fumbles recoveries as a senior

College career

Mackey was a 3 year starter at Syracuse at the Linebacker position. His sophomore year he posted a career high 106 tackles. Though Mackey suffered a major shoulder injury late in his junior campaign and registered just 29 tackles that year. Mackey wore jersey #57 at Syracuse.

Personal

Jerry is the nephew of former NFL tight end

Tight end

The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

 John Mackey

John Mackey (American football)

John Mackey was an American Football tight end who grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island and played for the Baltimore Colts and the San Diego Chargers . He played college football at Syracuse University...

.

External links

• Syracuse Orange bio