Nakobe Dean’s jersey number retired at Horn Lake

Photo: Nakobe Dean speaks at his jersey retirement ceremony. (Courtesy photo)

A second Horn Lake High School football jersey number in about as many weeks has come off the board and is being added to the walls near the school gymnasium.  

State football champion, college football national champion and NFC champion Nakobe Dean saw his Horn Lake jersey 17 retired during an event at the school Thursday afternoon, April 20.

Dean was part of the Eagles’ undefeated MHSAA 6A state football championship team in 2018. He then went on to the University of Georgia, where he was part of the Bulldogs’ 2021 College Football Playoff national championship team.

He went on to the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles, where he was drafted in the third round of the 2022 draft. The Eagles won the NFC championship and reached the 2023 Super Bowl, where they were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.  

Dean was also a two-time winner of the Butkus Award, the award for the top linebacker in the nation. He won that award both as a high school and again as a college football player.  

He is the second former Horn Lake football player in recent weeks to have his jersey number retired from future use. 

Early in April, Darius Harris, a former Eagle who has won two Super Bowl championships as part of the Kansas City Chiefs, saw his number 8 jersey removed from future use by the Eagles.