Jaguars' Jack Kiser Is Ready to Make Deposits

Not Curly Lambeau, George Gipp, Rocket Ismail, Tim Brown or Joe Montana. No one played more games in a Notre Dame golden helmet than new Jaguars linebacker Jack Kiser. And none of them have a more interesting backstory, either.

Long before James Gladstone called Kiser at his Indiana farm and told him the Jaguars were taking him with the 107th selection early in the fourth round, Kiser had already done the math.

“I knew I wasn't going to be a first-round guy, so Thursday night was fun being around family kind of seeing how the first round unfolded,” Kiser said after the Jaguars drafted him April 26, noting he followed Gladstone’s trade up to draft Travis Hunter as it happened.

“But I've just been so ready since this process has started to find that new home and find that new chapter in life. So, today, even though it was only a couple picks into the fourth round, it felt like a long time.”

Kiser’s college career felt like a long time, too. Limited to four games as a true freshman in order to preserve his redshirt year, he picked up an additional year when the NCAA awarded time to athletes whose careers were affected by the COVID season of 2020.

By the time Kiser donned shoulder pads for the 70th time, in the College Football Playoff national championship against Ohio State, he’d played six college seasons and earned two degrees. His master’s degree in accounting, however, endeared him to both his teammates and the community.

The elder statesman of the Notre Dame locker room, Kiser offered tax-preparation services to his teammates who had been paid NIL money, a concept that wasn’t in existence when he started college. More importantly, part of the coursework toward his accounting degree allowed him to offer those services to less-fortunate families.

“There’s no better way to learn something than actually doing it,” said Kiser. “Every Wednesday night from February to April, I would go down to the public library and do, I don’t know, six to eight tax returns and get to meet people and hear their stories.

“You get to meet a single mother and hear what she goes through on a daily basis, and then all a sudden, you get to show her the return she gets. She’s getting some money, her refund. You can just see how that impacts that month. Now, she doesn’t have to worry about the grocery bill to provide for her baby. It was really eye-opening. It was. I learned a lot and got to hear some incredible stories. So, it was more impactful on me than I think it was on the others.”

The Jaguars are now hoping the impact Kiser has on their defense is significant. One of two linebackers drafted by Jacksonville, he joins sixth-round selection Jalen McLeod from Auburn. That room includes returning starters Foye Oluokun and Devin Lloyd, who made news this week when the Jaguars opted not to exercise the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.

Chad Muma, Ventrell Miller and others will throw their hats in the ring in a competition to watch when Jacksonville begins training camp in July. But Kiser is not a typical rookie.

“I’ve played in some big games,” he said. “Even this last year, every game after Week 2 was a playoff game, essentially. So, learned a lot that way.

“And then being the old guy on campus and in the locker room, you learn how to be a leader and maybe you adjust. There are different ways to lead guys. Sometimes you can’t always push. Sometimes you have to kind of pat them on the back. There are a lot of different ways to lead, and I think I’ve learned that the more I got older in a locker room, that helped tremendously.”

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