DJ Jacobs Joins Guardian Sports as Our First-Ever NIL Athlete
Guardian Sports is proud to welcome DJ Jacobs, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in the 2027 class, as our first-ever Guardian NIL Athlete. The partnership centers on the Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap, putting the game’s top prospect behind the protection Guardian is known for.
Get to Know DJ Jacobs
Jacobs is an edge rusher out of Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia, and he’s been rewriting the record book since he stepped foot on the field. Jacobs has earned many accolades including Georgia’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Class AAAA Defensive Player of the Year, MaxPreps Sophomore All-American, and became the first Blessed Trinity player named to the AJC’s “Super 11” team.
Not only has he been making waves in the high school football community, but Jacobs has also committed to play football at The Ohio State University.
I wear the Guardian Chinstrap because there’s life after football and I want to be ready for whatever comes next while also setting an example for the next generation.
Why Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap
The Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap is built to reduce the force of impacts to the facemask, hydraulic technology in a chinstrap NFL players already trust on Sundays. Putting the No. 1 recruit in the country behind that same protection isn’t a coincidence. It’s proof that the athletes with the most on the line, at every level, choose Guardian.
Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap
Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap is an impact-reducing football chinstrap developed by Guardian Sports in partnership with SoftShox. Powered by SoftShox hydraulic impact-reduction technology, Guardian Chinstrap is engineered to help reduce head acceleration during facemask impacts while providing the secure, comfortable fit expected from a football chinstrap.
In independent laboratory testing, Guardian SoftShox Chinstrap reduced HARM (Head Acceleration Response Metric) by up to 35% more than the other chinstraps tested under specific test conditions. At a test speed of 7.4 m/s, Guardian Chinstrap ranked #1 in HARM reduction among six chinstraps evaluated.
Research highlighted by the NFL has also shown the prevalence of facemask impacts in professional football, with approximately 50% of impacts evaluated in research occurring at the facemask — reinforcing the opportunity for continued innovation in equipment designed to help address forces associated with facemask contact.
HARM is a metric used to evaluate head acceleration response during football helmet impact testing. Lower HARM values indicate lower measured head acceleration response under the specific conditions of the test.
Safety Disclaimer
No helmet, headgear, chinstrap or other piece of protective equipment can prevent or eliminate the risk of concussion or other serious head injury. Researchers have not reached agreement on how impact-attenuation test results relate to concussions or other injuries. No conclusions about a reduction in concussion risk, injury risk or injury severity should be drawn from HARM or other impact-attenuation testing.
