Tony Brackens

Tony Lynn Brackens Jr. (born December 26, 1974) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire nine-year career as a defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, earning consensus All-American honors. A second-round pick in the 1996 NFL draft, Brackens was named a second-team All-Pro and selected to the Pro Bowl with Jacksonville in 1999.

Early life Brackens was born and raised in Fairfield, Texas. He attended Fairfield High School, and played for the Fairfield Eagles high school football team.

He was named to the Texas High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

College career Brackens attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1993 to 1995. He developed a reputation as a ferocious hitter as a defensive end. In 1993 he broke Tim Campbell's school record for most tackles for a loss by a freshman in school history with 16 and also led the team in the stat. He also led the team in sacks with 10, the 2nd most in a season by a freshman in school history. He was named to the All-Southwest Conference team.

During his sophomore year in 1994, he helped lead the Longhorns to a share of the Southwest Conference Championship, victory in the 1994 Sun Bowl and an end-of-year ranking of #23. He tied linebacker Tyson King to lead the team in tackles. He again led the team in tackles for a loss and sacks, and also led in blocked kicks. he was also named to the AFCA Good Works team for efforts on the field and in the community.

He elected to forego his senior year to enter the NFL draft. He finished his career ranked fifth in tackles and eighth in sacks in Longhorns' school history. His lone Pro Bowl appearance came in 2000, after the 1999 season in which he had 12 sacks and 8 forced fumbles. When he retired, he held the all-time Jacksonville Jaguars records for several categories: sacks (55), fumble recoveries (13) and forced fumbles (28) and was the leading tackler (all-time) among Jaguars defensive ends.

He was released in 2004, after a series of troubling leg injuries and operations. He ultimately decided to retire, saying that recent rule changes had made it impossible for him to play his style of football. He said, "Mentally and physically, I thought I could probably still do it, but I didn’t want to put up with all the rule changes. All the stuff they’re doing to players takes the fun out of the game." The moment in which he was let go was captured by NFL Films in "Jacksonville Jaguars: Inside the Training Camp", an unofficial version of the Hard Knocks TV series.

NFL statistics Regular season Year Team GP Tackles Fumbles Interceptions Comb Solo Ast Sack FF FR Int Yds Avg Lng TD PD 1996 JAX 16 55 45 10 7.0 5 3 1 27 27.0 27 0 9 1997 JAX 15 41 38 3 7.0 5 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 7 1998 JAX 12 39 27 12 3.5 1 3 0 0 0.0 0 0 8 1999 JAX 16 66 53 13 12.0 8 2 2 16 8.0 16 1 8 2000 JAX 16 61 53 8 7.5 2 2 1 7 7.0 7 0 8 2001 JAX 12 42 39 3 11.0 5 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 6 2002 JAX 5 11 9 2 1.0 0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 2003 JAX 15 38 32 6 6.0 2 0 1 4 4.0 4 0 2 Career 107 353 296 57 55.0 28 13 5 54 10.8 27 1 49

Postseason Year Team GP Tackles Fumbles Comb Solo Ast Sack FF FR 1996 JAX 3 8 6 2 1.0 1 0 1997 JAX 1 6 4 2 0.0 0 0 1998 JAX 1 2 2 0 1.0 0 1 1999 JAX 2 7 7 0 2.0 2 2 Career 7 23 19 4 4.0 3 3 Later life After retiring from football, Brackens moved to a ranch near Fairfield, adjacent to the property on which he was raised by his parents.