Early Career
Josh Jacobs lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended McLain High School. Through his early career, Josh and his family struggled. He has been open about being homeless and talks about how it helped shape his work ethic and mentality. Josh graduated with the class of 2016 and had a standout high school football career. He was overlooked by D1 football schools and had trouble getting a good offer until his highlights were posted to social media. Alabama jumped and convinced Josh to join the Crimson Tide. Josh Jacobs finished his college career with 1,491 yards on 251 attempts and 16 touchdowns.
NFL Beginnings
Despite the slow start in being recruited for college, Josh was considered in the upper echelon of Running
Backs coming out of school and met with a number of NFL teams before the draft. He was picked 24th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the then Oakland Raiders. The first game of the season just happened to be a Monday Night Football game where Jacobs rushed for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. He helped the Raiders to a week 1 win and would go on to have a fantastic rookie season. He was named as the PFWA Offensive Rookie of the Year and named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.
Injuries and the Ed Block Courage Award
In 2021 alone Josh Jacobs suffered two big injuries. To start off week 1 he hurt his ankle during the game. Earlier, he had been dealing with a pedal toe sprain. In week 7 he suffered from a chest rib bruise but didn’t miss any significant time. As a lead back in the Raiders offense he was always making contact with a defender. He dealt with all of those injuries and managed to return every time to help lead the Raiders offense. Because of his courage and grit, he was voted by his teammates to receive the 2022 Ed Block Courage Award for the Raiders.
