Jaylin Reese is carving out a bigger role for Air Force’s defense
In the 2025 season, Jaylin Reese played in 12 games for Air Force and flashed playmaking juice with a sack against Colorado State and his first career interception at San Jose State, while also earning his first start and a career-best four tackles vs. Bucknell[2][3]. The appeal is his versatility and upward trajectory: a compact, physical linebacker with special-teams value, improving instincts, and enough edge to hint at a larger 2026 role; the big-picture context is that Air Force’s staff has also explored him as a defensive-end/edge piece, which speaks to his toughness and fit in a downhill, assignment-driven scheme[6][11].
