Jalen Jelks (born August 3, 1996) is an American football defensive end who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon.

Jelks attended Desert Vista High School. He played football in only 3 years. As a senior, he was a two-way starter at defensive line and left tackle. He registered 72 tackles (12 for loss), 10 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and one blocked field goal, while receiving All-state honors.

He finished his high school career with 113 tackles (17 for loss), 15 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries. A 3-star recruit, Jelks committed to play football at Oregon over offers from Arizona State, California, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin, among others.^[1]

Jelks accepted a football scholarship from the University of Oregon. After redshirting for a year, he appeared in 11 games as a backup defensive end, collecting 9 tackles (6 in the final three games) and 3 sacks as a freshman. As a sophomore in a reserve role, he contributed with 31 tackles (4 for loss), 2 sacks and 2 pass breakups in 8 games.

As a junior, he started all 13 games, recording 59 tackles 6.5 sacks (led the team), 15 tackles for loss (led the team) and 7 pass breakups. He had 9 tackles in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl. He was put on the watchlist for the Chuck Bednarik Award during the season.^[2] He was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference second-team, Pro Football Focus first-team All-Pac-12 and the Phil Steele second-team All-Pac-12 Conference.^[3]

Despite speculation that he could declare for the 2018 NFL Draft, Jelks announced that he would return to Oregon.^[4] As a senior in 12 starts, he registered 57 tackles (7.5 for loss) and 3.5 sacks.