William Shakespeare once said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness," but what if you could have both happened to you?
That's kind of how life worked out for Tennessee Titans sack legend Jevon Kearse.
Kearse, who was nicknamed "The Freak" for his ability to bring quarterbacks and opposing defenders to the ground, recently shared how his nickname accidentally came about. '
"The first time I was called the Freak was my redshirt freshman year [at Florida], Kearse said. "Whenever you play in the game on Saturday, we were off on Sundays, and we would go to the facility on Monday to watch the film. And we'll probably start off in a team meeting with the whole team. And then we will break down to offensive-defensive groups, and then we'll break down to position meetings, and I would go into my position meeting with linebackers. And whenever I come out of there, you hear guys, like I remember one teammate specifically was Timothy Beauchamp, and he was always like laughing. He had a really like, crazy, crazy laugh. He was like 'dude, you're freak.' Then maybe a week or two later, someone else came out of the meeting room, like 'dude, you're a freak. How in the hell did you make that play? How'd you get all the way across the field like that?'"
Kearse explained how he didn't know how he was doing it, but it was clear that his natural-born instinct and athleticism, mixed with his hunger and drive played a huge role in his playmaking abilities.
"And I really didn't know what I was doing when I was doing it. Because I was just doing it. I was just running around having fun, Kearse said. "I was trying to keep my scholarship. I was trying to keep my uniform. Make sure they don't snatch my number from me. And I was trying to make sure I stay on the field. So whatever happened, I had to go back and look at it on tape because I did not know what was happening while it was happening. I guess it was a good thing. It ended up working out for me in the long run."
The nickname stuck with Kearse throughout his NFL career, where he logged 14.5 sacks his rookie year in Tennessee, which is still the most sacks made by any rookie nearly 25 years later.
Though retired Kearse may not be sacking any quarterbacks today, he remains involved with sacks or "SAXX" in a significant way.
The former NFL defensive end has partnered with men’s premium underwear brand SAXX and formed a NIL deal featuring six of college football's top defenders: defensive end Braiden McGregor (Michigan), defensive end Laiatu Latu (UCLA), linebacker Shane Lee (USC), linebacker Jamoi Hodge (TCU), defensive end Jahfari Harvey (Miami) and linebacker Jordan Domineck (Colorado).
For every sack made by the six players this fall, SAXX will donate $1,000 to the Testicular Cancer Foundation.
And at the end of the season, Kearse will crown the top sacker with the ‘Balls Not Stuck to Thighsman Trophy.’
Latu currently leads the group with 5.5 sacks.
While Kearse can't participate in the sacks himself, he still gets to sport the underwear, which he's a huge fan of.
"True story, these underwear are very, very comfortable, air-breathing, and they look cool too," Kearse said. "So many different designs and they just feel comfortable. They have the ballpark cup thing... keeps everything nice and snug. It keeps a sack nice and calm."
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