Former All-America recruit, CFL safety, charged with murder

Janzen Jackson was once a very promising prospect, playing alongside Eric Berry with the Vols. (Joe Robbins/Getty) Janzen Jackson, a former five-star recruit

Janzen Jackson was once a very promising prospect, playing alongside Eric Berry with the Vols. (Joe Robbins/Getty)

Janzen Jackson, a former five-star recruit by Rivals who played safety at the University of Tennessee, has been charged with the murder of his mother's boyfriend, according to the Los Angeles Register.

Jackson, who briefly signed as a free agent with the NFL’s New York Giants in 2012, has been jailed since September in the death of [Frank] Herrera, his mother’s longtime boyfriend. Prosecutors say he strangled the 43-year-old Herrera on Sept. 11 and left his body to decompose in the back of a car for three days. Jackson entered a plea of not guilty Friday.

but the charges were later dropped

Knoxville News Sentinel cited anonymous sources

recording eight tackles last season