Jalen Geiger has been successful on and off the field at Kentucky

Junior defensive back Jalen Geiger believes Kentucky can reach the SEC championship game this year. (UK Athletics Photo)

Tony Geiger had big hopes for what Kentucky football would be like when his son, Jalen, decided to play for the Wildcats. Last season, Jalen Geiger had 18 tackles, one tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry and an interception return for a touchdown while playing in all 13 games with two starts.

Tony Geiger says coach Mark Stops has exceeded expectations with his son.

“Because of who we are as a family having a program that has structure and discipline and is very honest was important. It goes back to our military values,” Tony Geiger said. “He has more than displayed that to us on  more than one occasion.”

Tony served in the U.S. Army for 21 years with five combat deployments before retiring in 2011. Tony’s wife, Ramona, spent 25 years in the Army with three combat deployments before retiring in 2014. Jalen attended six different schools and lived in Seoul, South Korea, from ages 5-9 where he played flag football.

“Jalen gravitated to Kentucky and the blue-collar program that is family oriented,” Tony said. “UK stood out to him. I just cannot say enough about coach Stoops and the program.”

Jalen was one of 114 student-athletes nationally nominated for the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team because of his community service, academics and athletics.

“It was surprising to us when Jalen got that honor. He has done so much work off the field under the radar. He’s very humble. That’s how we raised him and we are very proud of him for the work he’s done in the community in Lexington and Columbia (S.C.)”

Jalen has done extensive volunteer work with Liberty Elementary in Lexington where he has been a mentor talking about bullying, academics and more with students. He also volunteered for service work when UK played in the 2021 Citrus Bowl and 2020 Belk Bowl. Jalen also packed food bags for God’s Pantry and prepared, cleaned and served meals to the homeless with Lighthouse Ministries.

“UK does a great job providing opportunities for athletes to do things bigger than football,” Tony said. “He loves working with the school. He spent time overseas, changed schools and was the new kid on the block when we settled in Columbia (S.C.)”

“At the school, it started with Jalen the football player and developed into a relationship with Jalen the person. Several times a teacher or principal asked him to speak to a kid having challenges. He was also asked to speak in front of the school before a huge (academic) placement test.”

Now Jalen’s focus is on helping UK win. The junior defensive back can play safety, cornerback or nickel back in certain coverages.

“I am not sure I have ever seen him this excited and locked in,” Tony said. “They want to go to Atlanta (for the SEC Championship) and he believes they are very capable of doing that. He played about 50 percent of the snaps last year and got a lot of quality reps. Everything has slowed down a bit for him but I think I am more impressed with his leadership ability both vocally and non-vocally. He’s just a team-oriented guy.”

Maintaining focus even with the high expectations for Kentucky is not a big issue for Jalen. His father say she is “not a big social media guy” and tunes that out. Tony also says playing in front of 80,000 or more fans does not distract his son.

“He’s not a rah-rah guy who gets too high or too low. He has a lot of poise on the field,” Tony said. “Me and his mom probably get more nervous than him. He’s really as cool as a cucumber and just wants to make plays to help his team win.”