No Jensen Beach High School Falcon will ever wear Jamien Sherwood’s No. 7
Nowadays he’s a Jet. But he’s immortalized as a Falcon.
New York Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood spent the team’s bye week back home, as his alma mater, Jensen Beach (FL) High School, retired the No. 7 he wore during his days on the football team. Sherwood is the first JBHS alum to play regular-season snaps in the NFL.
“This night compares to nothing. This is so amazing and I’m just blessed to be a part of it,” Sherwood said of the honor, per Bryan Cooney of Treasure Coast Newspapers.
“This is just something you believe can happen, you know you can achieve something like this but it doesn’t hit you until (it happens) … Most people don’t get to turn dreams into reality but the fact that I was one of the people who got the chance, I’m so grateful and I’m going to cherish every moment of it and just keep going.”
According to MaxPreps, Sherwood served as both a receiver and strong safety at his hometown school before eventually embarking on a collegiate career at Auburn.
The Jets chose Sherwood with the 146th overall pick of the NFL draft last spring. To date, he has earned 12 tackles over his first four games in green, including an early career-best six in last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons in London. He also threw a key block on special teams to spring Tevin Coleman’s 65-yard kickoff return to open the second half against Atlanta.
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Though Sherwood’s days as a Falcon are long behind him, his impact on the program was warmly remembered by JBHS head coach Tim Caffey, who was stationed in the same position during the modern Jets’ high school days.
“This kid put it all on the field, gave us everything he had and then some,” Caffey said in Cooney’s report. “This honor to me is well worth it and for anyone who played against him or played with him understood that No. 7 was just a number and he was No. 1 in Jensen Beach’s heart. I love him to death.”
Sherwood’s prescience, alas, couldn’t do JBHS any favors on the scoreboard: the modern Falcons were clipped by a 43-7 final at the hands of the American Heritage. The visiting Patriots are coached by former All-Pro defender Patrick Surtain, whose son Pat II was also chosen in the most recent draft (ninth overall by Denver).
Sherwood and the Jets (1-4) return to action next Sunday afternoon against the New England Patriots (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
