Get to know the Jaguars’ new additions from draft weekend with our ‘3 things to know’ series
With the 2025 NFL Draft in the books, it’s time to reflect on how the Jacksonville Jaguars fared. Did rookie GM James Gladstone deliver a masterclass, or has he just set the Jags back five years? Truth is, we probably won’t know that for some time. But we can get to know the newest members of the team a little bit better. In the latest of our mini-series of deep dives, here are three things to know about Jack Kiser, LB, Notre Dame:
Agricultural Roots
A town with just 797 inhabitants according to the last count, Royal Center, Indiana is far from regal and isn’t particularly the centre of anything. Adopting it’s name from a place in New York, it came to be in 1846 after a railroad was built through the territory, and is surrounded by farmland. This is the home of Jack Kiser, one of four children to parents Aaron and Deborah, who would go on to star for one of the most prestigious football programs in America. But he had duties way before he put on pads and a helmet.
The Kiser family have owned a farm in this remote part of Indiana for generations. In fact, Jack could see his grandparents’ home from the doorstep of the house he grew up in, right across the cornfield. His grandma Frances still lives there to this day. And as is common in agriculture, this was a family business - and everyone was expected to contribute, no matter how big or small. That rule extended to Jack despite him being the youngest of the family, and is likely to have helped forge a strong work ethic that has served him well in football.
This serene brand of living has shaped Kiser in other ways too. He didn’t have a phone until he was 14 years old, and even then had to share it with his older sister. His family and his partner Meagan describe him as ‘chilled’ and ‘goofy’, someone who enjoys the outdoors for hikes as much as he enjoys movies and board games. The demeanor changes when he hits the gridiron, but the wristband he wears that says ‘don’t do anything stupid’ on it will tell you that there’ll be no off-the-field drama from the Jaguars’ new linebacker.
Playmaking Ability
Tiny Pioneer High School was where Jack Kiser made a name for himself on the football field. His father Aaron was the coach of the youth team, and allowed Jack to train with the third grade players despite being a year younger. Jack was allowed to train and suit up on gameday but not hit the field, his father believing it was unfair for him to take gametime away from his older teammates. Regardless his peers and other coaches did manage to smuggle him into the rotation for one play in the final game of the year - and Jack duly made a tackle, laying the foundations for a strong career.
Intriguingly, Kiser would predominantly play Quarterback and Safety for the Panthers throughout his time at high school, amassing an incredible 3,771 passing yards, 59 passing TDs, 7,364 rushing yards and 139 rushing TDs on offense, and 424 tackles, 32 pass breakups, 20.5 TFLs, 20 interceptions and nine forced fumbles on defense.
Kiser was regarded as a four-star prospect at linebacker, so a position change was always mooted for him before he headed to college. We sadly never saw him air it out at Notre Dame, but the ball skills were on show when he dropped into coverage; Kiser had four interceptions for the Fighting Irish, returning two of them for touchdowns in his junior year.
Split Loyalties
Nobody is more deserving of this opportunity!!
From Royal Center to Jacksonville—the best is yet to come for Jack Kiser! pic.twitter.com/LxUC4sjuuS
— Marcus Freeman (@Marcus_Freeman1) April 26, 2025
Every Indiana kid’s dream is to head to South Bend and wear the famous golden dome of Notre Dame. Just over an hour north from Royal Center, it was the obvious choice for Jack Kiser, who received eleven scholarship offers to play college football. But not everyone on the Kiser farm would have been happy with that decision, as easy as it was for the linebacker; turns out another D1 university, even closer to home, has much stronger ties to the family…
Kiser himself has admitted that he was raised in a Purdue household. Both his father and uncle attended the Lafayette university with scholarships as track and field athletes, as well as numerous other extended family members. The Boilermakers would likely have been confident of landing Kiser based on his family tradition, and was one of the schools to offer him a scholarship. But it appears Jack wasn’t as fixated on the black and gold as maybe they hoped. For most people choosing between Notre Dame and Purdue seems fairly straightforward. Loyalty can often adjust that perspective, but not in Kiser’s case - and the rest, they say, was history.
Kiser wasn’t shy in sticking it to his family school either. Notre Dame faced Purdue twice during his tenure there, winning both games by a bruising total scoreline of 93-20. Jack played his part too, with eight total tackles and one pass breakup across the two contests. Performances like those allowed him to leave South Bend as Notre Dame’s all-time leading tackler. That ruthless streak will very much be welcomed by the Jaguars as they look to bolster their linebacker corps.