Peter grew up in the Locust neighborhood of Middletown Township. He played high school football at Middletown High School South in Middletown Township and at Milford Academy in Connecticut.[1]
College career[]
Peter attended the University of Nebraska, and played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team from 1994 to 1997. As a senior in 1997, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.
Professional career[]
The Carolina Panthers selected Peter in the first round (fourteenth pick overall) of the 1998 NFL Draft, and he played for the Panthers from 1998 to 2001. His career was shortened by a recurring and chronic neck stinger that forced him to retire after the 2001 season.
Post-playing career[]
After ending his professional playing career, Peter was a defensive linecoach at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California, and then defensive line coach at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, California.
Peter was the co-host of The Spread, a local sports talk radio show on ESPN 1480 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He co-hosted the show with Jeff Wilkerson. The show was canceled in November 2009 when the station changed formats. He was also the co-host of a morning radio on 1620 the zone in Omaha, Nebraska, called "Sharp and Peter in the Morning", which aired from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM Monday thru Friday.
Peter's book, Hero of the Underground: My Journey Down To Heroin & Back was published by St. Martin's Press. The memoir chronicles Peter's addiction to heroin and cocaine, along with pain relievers and alcohol. Said Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight, "Hero of the Underground gives us a portrait of red-blooded jock as monster dope fiend. It's a savage, unsparing, eye-popping ride through the dark soul of big money, endless drugs, American manhood and our national past time -- self-destruction. Ex-Cornhusker Jason Peter writes like a soulful badass, and we're lucky he lived to tell the tale. Had Hunter Thompson been a football player, instead of a fan, this is the book he'd have written. Flat-out, mash-your-face-in-the-dirt amazing."
Personal life[]
Peter is the middle child of three sons and one daughter. His younger brother, Damian, signed a letter of intent to play football for the University of Notre Dame but never played a down due to a swimming pool accident, which he came out of nearly paralyzed. Peter's older brother, Christian Peter, also played in the NFL.
References[]
↑Ginley, Bill. "When the Cheers Aren't Enough", The New York Times, February 12, 2006. Accessed August 1, 2007. "Peter, who grew up in the Locust section of Middletown and played at Middletown South before moving on to the University of Nebraska and then to the Carolina Panthers, saw his life crumble."
