Jamaal Westerman

From NCAA College Football Information & Resource

Jamaal Westerman

Profile
College	Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
Position	DE
Jersey No.	90
Class	Senior
Career	2005 – present
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	265 lbs (120.2 kg)
Nationality	Canadian
B-date	February 21, 1985
B-place	Brooklyn, N.Y.
High School	Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School
Career Highlights
Awards
2008 Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List 2008 Hendricks Award Watch List 2007 BIG EAST All-Academic Football Team 2007 Phil Steele All-BIG EAST 3rd Team
Championships
none
Bowl Games
2008 International Bowl 2006 Texas Bowl 2005 Insight Bowl

Jamaal Westerman (born on February 21, 1985) is a defensive lineman for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights in the NCAA college football tournament. Westerman is a solid, all-around athlete. He was once one of the best players in Ontario and will probably be one of the finest defensive end products from north of the border. With his great speed and strength, Westerman became a vital cog in the Scarlet Knights' defense during his junior year after patiently waiting for his opportunity in his first few years upon arriving at RU. In 2007, Westerman paced the team and was tied for sixth in the conference in sacks and is closing in on the program's all-time list in that category.

1 Personal Life
2 High School
3 College
- 3.1 2004
- 3.2 2005
- 3.3 2006
- 3.4 2007
- 3.5 2008
4 Career Stats
5 Achievements
6 References

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Personal Life

Jamaal is the son of Peter and Angela Westerman. His parents' families originated in the Caribbean but later moved out, with his mother side going to Toronto while his father's migrating to New York. His parents eventually landed in Florida when his father got a job there as a letter carrier. In 1999, his parents separated and his mother took Jamaal and his younger brothers Jawann and Jabar with her to Canada. The Westermans resided in Brampton, a city of a little more than 400,000. During his time in Canada, he also got to play basketball for a couple of years but decided not to pursue it because it was tough to get recruited in Canada. Surprisingly, despite the country being more of a hockey nation, Jamaal has not gotten into the sport.

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High School

Westerman spent his freshman year of high school in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida playing for St. Thomas Aquinas, where he learned the basics of being a defensive end. Despite being only a freshman player, Westerman already earned the nod to start for his team. The following year, when the Westermans had to move to Canada, he enrolled at Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario where he continued to play defensive end. In 2003, he led Notre Dame in tackles and sacks and was tops in the league in both categories as well as in tackles for loss. The following season as a senior, he helped his team finish with a 9-1 record.

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College

Although he graduated in high school rated as one of the top players in Ontario, Westerman found it difficult to market himself to NCAA Division I universities because of his location. However, the 2-star prospect strived to get the attention of these major collegiate programs by making his own tapes and sending it to them. With the help of his mother, Westerman and his brothers would also travel to training camps and combines across the province and the United States in order to showcase his talent. Among the schools that caught his attention include Rutgers, Boise State, and Central Michigan, with all three offering him scholarships. He eventually signed his letter of intent with the Knights.

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2004

Westerman enrolled at Rutgers in January in order to get a semester under his belt before the rigours of football season begin. He took part in the spring practices but was later on relegated to a redshirt year, spending the season helping the Scarlet Knights prepare for their games as part of the scout team.

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2005

As a redshirt freshman, Westerman made his collegiate debut in the 3-point loss at Illinois but only registered his first career tackles the following week when he posted four in the 38-6 win over Villanova. In the two-touchdown win over Buffalo, Westerman recorded a season-high six stops with two tackles for loss in the win over the Bulls. He added two tackles, a TFL, and a sack in the 14-27 loss to West Virginia then contributed three solo tackles, including one TFL and a 10-yard sack in the 22-point blow-out victory over Syracuse. In RU's losses to South Florida and Louisville, Westerman chipped in a pair of hits each before making a big impact on the defensive end in the regular season finale against Cincinnati where the Scarlet Knights had a season high nine sacks. In that game, he had three tackles with two sacks for a combined loss of 15 yards---one of those sacks coming in the second quarter which resulted in a fumble and recovered deep in Cincy territory, eventually resulting into a field goal conversion as time expired in the first half. He made his postseason debut at the Insight Bowl and had a solo tackle in the five-point loss to Arizona State. He ended the year recording 28 stops while appearing in all 12 games.

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2006

During his sophomore year, Westerman has started to slid his way up into the starting line-up. In his first career start at North Carolina, he had one tackle for loss in the 21-16 win over the Tar Heels. He also contributed three tackles, including 2.5 sacks for a total loss of 15 yards in the shut-out victory over Illinois then added three more stops with two solos as the Scarlet Knights won by a huge margin over Howard. After contributing a 7-yard sack in the 10-point win at Pittsburgh, Westerman chipped in six tackles, including four solo stops, with a team-leading 2.5 sacks for 18 yards and a blocked punt (returned 20 yards) which set-up RU's final TD of the game against UConn to earn a BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors. In the upset win over 3rd ranked Louisville, Westerman had two quarterback hurries, then contributed four tackles, a tackle for loss, and a pair of QB hurries as Rutgers bounced back from a 19-point defeat to Cincy with a 31-point drubbing of Syracuse. He ended the regular season with five tackles, and a season-high 2.5 tackles for a loss of four yards as the Scarlet Knights fell two-points short at West Virginia. He made his second straight bowl game appearance in the Texas Bowl where he had 3 stops and a pair of sacks for 16 yards loss in the 37-10 win over Kansas State.

By season's end, Westerman was named as a second team All-Big East selection after recording 30 tackles, 13.5 for loss and eight sacks in 13 games, all starts. He was tied for team lead in tackles for loss and sacks, paced the team with 10 quarterback hurries, was tied for third in the BIG EAST and tied for 44th nationally with 0.62 sacks per game, and placed eighth in the BIG EAST and tied for 69th in the NCAA with 1.04 tackles for loss per game.

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2007

With the team's depth at the end position, Westerman shared some of his starting duties during his junior year although he still earned a lion's share in terms of playing minutes. Prior to the season, he also received a lot of hype in the form of All-Big East selections from several media publications. In the season-opener, Westerman produced two tackles and 2 QB hurries as the Scarlet Knights trounced Buffalo, 38-3. The following week against Navy, he was moved to the defensive tackle spot but still managed to tally five hits in the 41-24 victory. He switched back at his natural DE spot against Norfolk State and had 2 QB hurries and four tackles, including 2.5 TFLs and a key sack on a third-and-eight play for a loss of nine yards in the first quarter of the 59 point shut-out over the Spartans. The team suffered its first setback of the season against Maryland with Westerman contributing four tackles for the second straight game. In the team's second straight loss to the 20th ranked Bearcats, Westerman posted a season and career-high tying six tackles, including a 5-yard sack, a pass break-up, and a QB hurry that forced an interception from Cincy QB Ben Mauk which was returned for a TD in the first quarter. RU's first road game of the season resulted in a 38-14 win over Syracuse, as Westerman recorded two sacks to go along with five tackles. Against No.2 ranked South Florida, Westerman had four stops, a pair of sacks for 12 yards loss, and two QB hurries to help the Scarlet Knight escape with a three-point upset over the Bulls. However just as the team have worked their way back up to the national rankings, the team suffered back-to-back defeats to WVU and UConn, with Westerman contributing four stops and a key TFL to stop Pat White for a 3-yard loss (on third down in the second quarter to force a 42-yard field goal) against the Mountaineers, then was limited to a TFL against the Huskies on a reserve role which snapped a streak of 21-consecutive starts. He also came off the bench at Army and had four stops in the 41-6 victory, then returned on a starting role against Pitt to tally a career-high tying six tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a pair of QB hurries. In the regular season finale at Louisville, he had two assists and half-a-sack as RU suffered a 38-41 defeat.

In his third consecutive postseason appearance, Westerman had a homecoming of sorts as he returned to Canada to play in the International Bowl against Ball State. In that game, he had three solo tackles with 1 TFL in Rutgers' 52-30 win. He ended his junior year with 50 total tackles with 14 TFLs (2nd on the team), team-leading 8.0 sacks, and 11 QB hurries (2nd on the team) in 13 appearances, with 10 starts. He also tied for sixth in the BIG EAST and tied for 44th nationally in sacks per game (0.62), and tied for eighth in the BIG EAST in tackles for loss per game (1.08).

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2008

Entering his senior year, Westerman ranked fifth in Rutgers history with 20.0 career sacks. He was named into the Preseason All-Big East selections by Athlon and Phil Steele and was listed in the 2008 Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award and Bednarik Award watch lists. During the spring, Rutgers coaches have also experimented on shifting Westerman on the defensive tackle position in lieu of the departed two-year captain Eric Foster because of player shortage with the arrest of promising sophomore Justin Francis.

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Career Stats

	Tackles				Tackles for Loss			Sacks			Misc
Year	Solo	Asst	Total	Ttl/G	TFL	TFLYds	TFL/G	Sacks	SckYds	Sck/G	PBU	QBH	FF	Blk
2005	-	-	28	2.33	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
2006	18	12	30	2.31	13.5	68	1.04	8.0	56	0.62	2	10	2	1
2007	21	29	50	3.85	14.0	97	1.08	8.0	54	0.62	1	11	0	0