J.J.Hester

2025 – Graduate
• Transferred to Kentucky after three seasons at Oklahoma and two at Missouri
• Has played in 35 career games (21 at Oklahoma and 14 at Missouri) with seven starts (six at Oklahoma and one at Missouri)
• Has totaled 27 catches for 553 yards and three touchdowns

2024 – Senior (Oklahoma)
• Played in 12 games with six starts and caught 14 passes for 315 yards and a score
• Averaged a lofty 22.5 yards per catch
• Got his first 100-yard receiving game vs. Maine with 112 yards on four catches
• One of those four catches was a 90-yarder, marking the longest by a Sooner in Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium history and tied for the second-longest reception in school history
• Made a 50-yard catch vs. LSU

2023 – Junior  (Oklahoma)
• Missed most of the season with injury but saw action in six games
• Played in each of last five contests at Oklahoma State, vs. West Virginia, at BYU, vs. TCU and in Alamo Bowl vs. Arizona … Also saw action vs. Iowa State

2022 – Sophomore (Oklahoma)
• Played in the first three games before an injury ended his season prematurely
• Caught one pass for 13 yards vs. Kent State and also saw action vs. UTEP and Nebraska

2021 – r-Freshman (Missouri)
• Appeared in 13 games and made his first career start in the bowl game (current Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan was an assistant at Missouri during this time)
• Hauled in 12 passes for 225 yards and two scores for the season
• Averaged 18.8 yards per catch

2021 – r-Freshman (Missouri)
• Redshirt season
• Played in one game vs. Florida

High School
• A four-star prospect out of Booker T. Washington High School who ranked as the No. 3 recruit in the state of Oklahoma
• Considered Missouri’s highest-rated recruit in the 2020 class
• Totaled 69 career catches for 1,404 yards and 13 scores while also snagging six interceptions for 128 return yards as a strong safety
• Also competed in track and field as a sprinter and long jumper

Personal
• Full name is Javian Jamaal Hester
• Born in Clinton, Missouri
• Son of Carlos Hester and Chermaine Kemp
• Has one sister, Tanaesia Hester
• Graduated in the spring of ’24 from Oklahoma with a degree in sociology … Currently working on a undergraduate certificate in leadership studies

J.J. Says
• Three words to describe him are trustworthy, respectful and ambitious
• His sports hero is Sean Taylor because he was a dawg
• Hobbies include video games, fishing, watching movies and going four-wheeling
• The person who motivates him to work hard is his family but especially his mom
• The highlight of his life so far has been beating the odds