Maurice Jones-Drew
Maurice Christopher Jones-Drew (born March 23, 1985), often called "MJD", is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and earned unanimous All-American honors. Jones-Drew was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft, 60th overall, was named to the Pro Bowl three times, and led the NFL in rushing yards in 2011. He played his first eight seasons with the Jaguars, through 2013. In his final season in 2014, he  played for the Oakland Raiders. Following his retirement, Jones-Drew entered broadcasting, serving as a football color analyst for "NFL Now" and other shows on NFL Network, in addition to hosting for CBS Sports their Monday Night studio show for their UK networks. He is currently the color analyst for the Los Angeles Rams. Early years. Born in Oakland, California, Jones-Drew was raised in Antioch and graduated from De La Salle High School in Concord. De La Salle owns the longest winning streak in high school football history at 151 games. The Spartan football teams that Jones-Drew played  on never lost a single game during his 3-year varsity career. He was an elusive, high-scoring running back and return specialist on offense and a punishing linebacker on defense. He also played four official college games as a cornerback. Jones-Drew somersaulted into the national consciousness as a high school junior in 2001 when he scored all four of De La Salle's touchdowns in a 29-15 nationally televised victory over Long Beach Poly on October 6. It was the first game that ever matched up the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked high school  football teams. On the Spartans' opening drive, Jones-Drew received a short pass in the right flat on third-and-eight from the Poly 25-yard line. He broke a tackle and then sprinted down the right sideline before launching a spectacular forward somersault into the end zone. Drew next scored on a 29-yard reception on fourth down in which he ran a circle route out of the backfield down the left sideline and hauled in an over-the-shoulder touch pass at the goal line from quarterback Matt Gutierrez. Drew’s third touchdown came in the second quarter  when he burst through the line, shook off two tacklers, before hitting paydirt 17 yards later. Drew’s final score salted away the historic De La Salle victory. It was a similar effort to his third touchdown and came on a 22-yard run with just under 7 minutes remaining. Drew finished with nine carries for 86 yards and three catches for another 79 yards. During his junior season, Jones-Drew rushed for nearly 2,000 yards, averaged nearly 12 yards per carry, and scored 26 touchdowns. He was rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 1  all-purpose back in the nation in 2003 by Rivals.com. He is pictured outrunning a slew of defenders on the cover of the book "When the Game Stands Tall", which chronicles the De La Salle Spartans' all-time-record 151-game winning streak. Jones-Drew also ran track for the De La Salle track team and was a member of the Spartans' 4 x 100 metres relay state championship meet team of 2002, which posted a non-finals-qualifying time of 42.20 seconds during the meet's prelimaries. At the age of 16, he posted a personal best time of  10.80 seconds in the 100 meters. He also ran for the Bruins' track team at UCLA. College career. Jones-Drew accepted a football scholarship to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he played for the Bruins under head coach Karl Dorrell from 2003 to 2005. Despite being undersized, Jones-Drew led the Bruins in rushing all three years he was on the squad and showed good pass catching ability and big playmaking skills as both a punt and kickoff returner. He was the fifth player in Bruins history to lead the team in rushing in three seasons. In 2005 , Jones-Drew set an all-time NCAA single-season record with a 28.5 yards per return average on 15 punt returns, breaking the previous record of 25.9 yards per return held by Bill Blackstock of Tennessee in 1951. His career average of 23.2 yards per punt return ranks second in NCAA history. Jones-Drew also established a number of UCLA records, including the career all-purpose yardage record (4,688 yards). As a sophomore against Washington, Jones-Drew set UCLA's all-time record for yards rushing in a single game (322 yards) and also scored a school-record five touchdowns . On his first carry of the game, he burst to the outside and raced 47 yards to tie the game at 7–7. On his second carry, with UCLA trailing 24-7 and 2:30 remaining in the first quarter, he raced 62 yards for another touchdown. On his fourth carry, a third-and-12 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, he sped 58 yards for his third touchdown. In the first quarter alone, he rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns on four attempts. He gave the Bruins the lead for good (27–24) with 4:16 remaining in the first half  when he scooted around right end for a 15-yard touchdown. In the third quarter, he broke numerous tackles en route to his school-record fifth touchdown, a 37-yard run on the Bruins' first possession of the half. His total of 322 yards rushing was the 3rd most in the history of the Pac-10 Conference, and his overall performance earned him several National Player of the Week awards. His final year in college, his junior year, he was a first-team All-Pac-10 selection as a punt returner, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American as an all -purpose back and kick returner. He was also the first Bruin since Jackie Robinson to lead the country in punt returning. Additionally, Jones-Drew was named second-team All-Pac 10 as a running back. Jones-Drew gave a sign of things to come when, as a freshman, he rushed for 176 yards on only 18 carries against Arizona State, including an 83-yard scamper down the left sideline to the end zone which put UCLA ahead in the game for good in the third quarter. The run was the longest ever by a Bruin true freshman and ranked ninth  (tied) overall on the school's list of long runs. His 176-yard day ranks No. 2 on UCLA's all-time list for true freshmen. Jones-Drew led the Bruins in rushing that season, becoming the first true freshman to lead the Bruins in rushing since DeShaun Foster in 1998. He was also named first-team All-Pac 10 as a kick returner by "The Sporting News". In his collegiate career, Jones-Drew had 16 touchdowns of 40-plus yards. Outside of football. Jones-Drew appeared in a 2007 ESPN commercial as an inductee into the "ESPN Fantasy Hall  of Fame". Jones-Drew appeared in a commercial for the "Madden NFL 09" video game. Jones-Drew hosts a two-hour radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio titled "Runnin' With MJD" which focuses on fantasy football talk and strategy. In 2011, Jones-Drew appeared as himself along with fellow NFL players Brent Grimes and Sidney Rice in an episode of the FX comedy "The League". In 2013, Jones-Drew joined the list of other tattooed athletes who have appeared in PETA's "Ink Not Mink" ads, posing shirtless in support of their anti-fur campaign. At age 28, Jones -Drew resumed his studies at UCLA in 2013 to complete his bachelor's degree, and lived in a dormitory. Personal life. Born to Sidney Gayles and Andrea Drew, Jones-Drew was raised by his maternal grandparents, Maurice and Christina Jones. At the height of his college career in 2005, his grandfather suffered a heart attack while walking into the Rose Bowl to see Jones-Drew play against Rice University on September 10, 2006. Coach Dorrell broke the news to Drew on the sideline during the game, and he ran to the locker room and left to go to the hospital . To honor the man who raised him, he had his entire legal surname affixed to his jersey, making him "Maurice Jones-Drew." Jones-Drew is a father of three with two sons (Maurice II and Madden) and one daughter (Alayah). He is married to Ashley Jones-Drew (2012–present) He is also a cousin of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety T. J. Ward. Since retiring from the NFL, Jones-Drew has become a vegan.