Article first published in 2016

Joshua Perry is an outstanding athlete. The thumping Ohio State linebacker is well-built, measuring 6-foot-3, 253 pounds, but he moves well for his size. His NFL Combine results, which include a 4.68 40-Yard Dash, are proof of that. He was part of the 2014 National Championship team.

However, Perry’s greatest attribute cannot be measured with a stopwatch—his leadership. Besides being named a captain for the Buckeyes in his senior season, Perry was selected as a finalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, an award that gives “equal weight to personal character as well as athletic performance.”

Joshua went on to play for San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.

STACK chatted with Perry to discuss leadership, and he offered up three keys for any player who aspires to become a leader on their team.

1. Gain Trust

“To be a leader you have to gain trust. You do that by opening up your perspective a bit and getting to know the guys that you want to lead,” Perry said. “Throughout my career, I always wanted to get to know the guys and be able to connect, whether it was an incoming freshman or a guy in my own class who I’ve been around for four years.”

College football is unique in that roster sizes typically total over 100 players—much bigger than those in sports like baseball and basketball. When you have that many teammates, you’re surrounded by lots of people with different personalities and backgrounds. It might be easy to find a group of teammates you naturally gravitate toward and always hang out with them, but Perry advises you to build relationships with everyone on the roster.

2. Make Those Around You Better

Making your teammates better is a key aspect of being a leader, but how does one go about it? To Perry, getting the most out of your teammates means always bringing your A-game. From the practice field to film study to the weight room, Perry prides himself on approaching every aspect of football with intensity and focus. This rubs off on his teammates and helps everyone work harder.

“To take that next step as a leader, you have to make those around you better. So maybe that’s always being on your A-game, because people are always going to watch you and try to mimic what you do,” Perry said. Fellow OSU linebacker Darron Lee told Buckeye Extra that he views Perry as a role model. “I model myself after Josh, him being the big brother to me,” Lee said. “He does the right thing at every given moment. He’s a guy you never really have to worry about. And he works his tail off, day in, day out.”

According to Perry, making your teammates better also means knowing how to push them, which comes from a place of friendship. “When you get to know guys, you know how to push them to that place, you know what makes them tick, and you know how to bring the best out of them,” he said.

3. Be Accountable

“I think the biggest part of leadership is all-around accountability. If you’re going to be a leader, you’ve got to be on-point. You have to hold yourself to the highest level of accountability, and you’ve got to hold guys accountable,” Perry said.

Over time, consistency gets noticed and it gains the respect of everyone involved with your team. If you do the things you’re supposed to do day in and day out, you’ll slowly build a reputation as a reliable, accountable player. If you blow an assignment on a play, take responsibility and vow not to make the same mistake again. Beyond holding yourself accountable, a leader hold others accountable as well.

He’d arrived at Shiloh High School aspiring to be the face of the Generals’ offense.

He’d chosen jersey number four and pictured himself scoring touchdowns at quarterback or running back.

When the team decided to play him at linebacker, he swallowed his pride and got onboard. He even grew to love the position.

But defensive line?

That seemed a bridge too far.

“I think it was my junior year. Our D-coordinator said, ‘You know, I see you as more of a D-lineman.’ I’m still thinking, ‘I’m not a d-lineman; I play linebacker.’ We butted heads on it for a little bit,” Sample recalls with a smile.

You can’t fault him for his hesitance.

At the time, Sample weighed roughly 210 pounds.

He also desperately wanted to play big-time college football. On the surface, suddenly changing positions before his crucial junior season seemed like a surefire recruiting blunder.

But his coaches at Shiloh saw something. They were new staff who came to the program without preconceptions. While Sample wasn’t built like a true hog molly, he wasn’t exactly small, either. He also had a unique blend of speed, power, quickness, and tenacity. Some of that came from his basketball background — growing up, he often played against cousins twice his age.

Sample’s coaches believed moving him closer to the line of scrimmage would help him make a bigger impact. They also showed him the numerous defensive linemen around Georgia’s Gwinnett County — often referred to as “The SEC of High School Football” — who were receiving college offers. They believed Sample could be just as good, if not better, than most of them.

That sold him. Sample began transforming his body and honing the abilities he’d need to thrive in the trenches.

“This new coaching staff really saw the opportunity for a bunch of us to play at the next level. Workouts started ramping up. We started having 5:00 a.m., 5:30 a.m. workouts,” says Sample.

“Our D-line coach, he and his friend owned a gym about 15 minutes from the school. So I’d have morning workouts, go through my whole school day, then ride over and meet him to train for another two hours. It’d be film, weights, position drills — things like that. We kind of stuck with that grind for the rest of my high school career.”

Sample played as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker his junior season. He put enough flashes on tape that year against the elite competition to earn him several 1-AA offers.

Despite his hard work, Sample still weighed roughly 230 pounds heading into his senior season — a far cry from the prototypical college defensive lineman.

Shiloh also struggled to notch many wins in a fiercely competitive region.

Yet Sample focused on controlling what he could control and winning his individual battle each play. That mindset led him to rack up 50 tackles, eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and two forced fumbles as a senior.

But the big boys of college football never came knocking.

Many believed Sample was either too light or too short of having a natural position at the next level.

Tulane, however, came through with an offer. Head coach Willie Fritz would later say the program “took a chance” on Cam.

Sample jumped on the opportunity.

Though he’d trained intensely in high school, the first couple weeks of college workouts were still a jolt to his system.

“(I remember) coming in and getting shocked those first weeks of workouts seeing how tough it was going to be. The freshmen started doing some extra conditioning on our own because we didn’t want to be too far behind the older guys,” Sample says.

Sample quickly proved he played bigger than his weight. He appeared in 11 games for the Green Wave and tallied 26 tackles as a true freshman. He was also named to the AAC All-Academic Team.

Before the next season, Fritz gushed about Sample’s potential.

“(Cam’s) what we call a Tulane guy — he checks all the boxes,” Fritz told reporters. “He is only going to get bigger and better. He’s got a chance to be a great one — he really does.”

Sample got off to a scorching start to his sophomore season.

An early game took the team to Columbus to battle the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. OSU’s offense boasted talented playmakers like J.K. Dobbins and Dwayne Haskins.

Though the outcome wasn’t in Tulane’s favor, Sample was extremely disruptive, racking up 9 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and a sack.

“You see (Ohio State’s) one of the top two or three best teams every year growing up,” says Sample.

“I had some excellent production. Mentally, that (game) said for me, ‘I can really do this. I can play football at this level.’ I still had a long way to go, but just being able to go out there and perform like that against a team really did a lot for my confidence.”

The next week, Sample tallied two sacks and two tackles for loss in a win over Memphis.

Yet his momentum was soon derailed by a torn meniscus. The sample elected to put off surgery and play through the pain only to have a sprained ankle further compound the damage. He persevered but ultimately finished the season with middling production.

The ordeal led Sample to realize every snap was precious. He vowed to do all he could to stay healthy and play to his full potential from that point forward.

“Battling through that knee injury was really difficult for me. I knew I wasn’t 100% healthy out there, but I was fighting for my team. It changed my mindset. (I realized) these chances are minimal, and there’s no guarantee you’re going to have a healthy year,” says Sample.

“My thought process going into that next off-season was to get as healthy as I could so I could take advantage of my opportunity.”

He leaned into his preparation and studied the art of trench warfare and learned how to dissect film under the tutelage of former Tulane defensive line coach Kevin Peoples, who’s now at Indiana.

“Coach Peoples is probably the most technical guy I’ve ever come across. Seeing how he broke down film and how it could give us an edge during the game (made me) want to pick his brain and see what he saw and what he was looking for. Once I saw how much it helped, I was sold on it. I started becoming a film junkie,” says Sample.

The coaches at Tulane were impressed by Sample’s hard work and team-first attitude.

So much so that they accommodated Sample’s request to switch from jersey number 55 to the glitzier number 5.

Numbers carry meaning in every sport. In football, if you weigh over 280 pounds (which by that point, Sample did) but rock a single-digit number, you better make some plays.

The sample proved himself worthy.

He started every game for Tulane in 2019 and finished with 44 tackles. While his numbers weren’t gaudy, he brought a disruptive presence to the defense and helped the Green Wave win consecutive bowl games for the first time in program history.

He was well-respected inside the program, yet he still hadn’t received much national attention. He knew his senior season would need to be special to draw real interest from the NFL.

Then Covid-19 shocked the sports world.

Tulane canceled in-person classes. Students were sent home for several months. Sample refused to use it as an excuse.

The year prior, he’d occasionally found himself gassed during long drives or crunch-time sequences. He knew that improving his conditioning could help him level up on the field.

“(When) we got sent home, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. I knew conditioning had to be a thing for me. That was definitely something I wanted to improve going from junior to senior year and taking the next step to the NFL. When I’m out there, I want to be going a hundred miles an hour. I don’t (want) me not being in shape to be the reason my production is falling, or I’m not playing at the level I should be. That was really important for me,” Sample says.

While at home, Sample began jogging around his neighborhood and running sprint intervals on a treadmill in his humid Georgia garage. The regimen helped him improve his body composition and get down to a muscular 275 pounds.

In the summer, Sample and his teammates returned to Tulane to enter an off-season “bubble” that allowed them to work out and practice together.

Yet, the dark possibility of a canceled season loomed over every rep.

Meanwhile, preseason accolades trickled in for Sample.

Phil Steele tabbed him as a 2020 preseason All-AAC selection. He was also added to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl top 250 list, meaning a productive season would likely earn him an invite to the prestigious NFL prospect all-star game.

Tulane’s coaching staff also approached Sample about an expanded role.

While he’d primarily played as a defensive end in a three-person front up to that point, the Green Wave staff thought deploying him as a stand-up edge rusher, as well, could give their opponents headaches.

“(Cam’s) a smart football player,” Fritz told reporters in August.

“He’ll play inside the tackle and outside the tackle. He’s big and strong enough and plays with great technique to play inside the tackle and play big boy football. He’s also quick and got such a good change of direction and speed that he can play outside the tackle. It’s a different ballgame. Not a lot of guys can do that.”

Fellow Tulane defensive lineman Patrick Johnson predicted a breakout season for his close friend.

“A lot of guys don’t realize how explosive (Cam) is. His pass rushing is going to be huge for us this season,” Johnson said.

“There are no limits for him … I can see him being an All-American this year.”

When Tulane met South Alabama for their first game of 2020, the program released a collective sigh of relief. They would have a season after all.

And Sample’s new role combined with his continued physical and mental development proved to make for a perfect storm.

In a sign of things to come, he rampaged over the South Alabama offensive line to total
seven tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two QB hits, and a forced fumble. On the back of Sample’s heroic performance, Tulane pulled off a narrow win.

Sample’s improved play was as much about his increased mental aptitude for the game as his physical ability. He’d learned how to quickly identify an opposing lineman’s plan of attack and how to maximize the effectiveness of the many weapons in his pass-rush arsenal.

“There are a variety of things an offensive lineman can do (after the snap) — they can jump set you, deep-set you, kind of short set you. So being able to diagnose that quickly and respond to it is a big thing for me,” Sample says.

“From film study, they kind of show where they shoot their hands or different things they do like that. So me working on my hands and being able to knock those hands down, or show a fake and get underneath them, or fake one way then go inside — (I really started to) play that chess game with the offensive lineman.”

Sample recalls how that sort of intel led to a banner day for himself and the rest of the Green Wave D-line in the team’s victory over Memphis.

‘We did our usual things studying the offensive linemen and the offense. We had a perfect game plan for how the o-linemen would set, how they would protect, and the downs and distances where the quarterback would hold the ball and give us a perfect time to get pressure,” says Sample.

In an authoritative victory, Tulane’s “trench dawgs” feasted on the Tigers’ offense, helping force four turnovers and holding Memphis to a meager 300 yards of total offense.

When the dust settled on Sample’s 2020 season, he’d tallied 51 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and five sacks. Yet, the vast majority of his production didn’t show up in the box score.

According to Pro Football Focus, Sample’s 22.6% win percentage ranked number one in the nation among defensive linemen with at least 250 snaps while his 48 total QB pressures ranked fourth.

Sample earned first-team All-AAC honors for his efforts, and PFF ranked him the 60th-best player in college football.

But perhaps most importantly, Sample secured his invite to the 2021 Senior Bowl.

The Senior Bowl is an all-star game where the best NFL Draft prospects who have completed their college eligibility can showcase their talents. A week of practice followed by the game itself would give Sample ample opportunity to prove himself in front of key NFL personnel.

While he arrived intending to show his caliber as an edge defender, the opportunity quickly presented itself.

“We had a couple of injuries on our side in practice. Our coach said, ‘Look, a bunch of guys is going to have to play both (inside and outside). So get your mind ready for it.’ I bounced from one day playing defensive end to the next day playing inside and three-tech,” says Sample.

“Then, as the game’s approaching, (coach) said, ‘Y’all can get more reps if you want to kick inside. If any volunteers want to get out there and get seen, go for it.’ My mindset was that I’m a football player. Just line me up, and I’ll make something work. I just took on his challenge and started cooking from there.”

One big winner this pre-draft process has been @GreenWaveFB versatile DL Cam Sample. Won consistently during Senior Bowl 1-on-1’s with great cross-face quickness. Most teams had @cameron_sample graded in 4th/5th rounds back in the fall but now feel he won’t make it out of Day 2. pic.twitter.com/IsAv0uCaNW

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 15, 2021

The sample was dominant during every stage of the event. He utilized his dizzying blend of speed, power, and technique to torment opponents in one-on-one drills, leading the offensive linemen in attendance to name him Defensive Lineman of the Week for the American team.

Sample hunted down seven tackles along with a half-sack during the Senior Bowl to earn Defensive Player of the Game honors.

“He’s so disruptive,” ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said of Sample after his impressive performance.

“He plays with an attitude and plays hard every play. He doesn’t have any lack in his ability to show consistency in terms of motivation and hustle. Some guys take plays off. Cameron Sample doesn’t.”

Kiper recently mocked Sample to the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 95th overall pick.

While Sample can’t predict where he’ll land, he’s straightforward when he sums up what he’ll bring to an NFL franchise.

“They’re getting a guy who wants to come in and work and win. I’ll just put on my boots every day, come in the office, and work,” says Sample.

He classifies himself as a “lead-by-example” guy who’ll speak up when necessary. On Twitter, he often hashtags accolades with #AGTG — short for “All Glory to God.”

Sample can recall when big-time college programs weren’t interested in him. Even though he’s suddenly receiving prestigious awards and massive hype, he still knows it’s the work outside the spotlight that truly matters.

When he reflects on his own past searching for advice to share with young athletes, Sample comes to a simple conclusion.

“Block out the noise and work,” he says.

“Ignore what people are tweeting and ranking, the stars, things like that. If you’re putting in the work and you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you’ll get rewarded for it.”

Photo Credit: Tulane Athletics

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It didn’t matter he’d graduated from high school with exactly one offer.

It didn’t matter he was going to play at 1-AA Northern Iowa rather than his dream school of Minnesota.

It didn’t matter he was a defensive end who weighed 190 pounds soaking wet.

Smith believed he was bound for the NFL.

“I thought I was good enough. I knew once I got the size, I’d be able to play pretty well. I knew there were opportunities out of Northern Iowa,” says Smith.

“But it was going to take a lot of work.”

That belief fueled one of the most remarkable physical transformations you’ll ever find in an athlete. Smith added nearly 70 pounds to his towering frame and became one of the strongest players in college football.

Today, he ranks as one of the top edge prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft class.

Adrian Peterson inspired Smith to play football.

As a kid growing up in Minneapolis, Smith was transfixed by AP’s transcendent play.

“I remember seeing (Peterson) early on in his career and I was like, ‘Okay, there’s something different about this dude.’ It just sparked a love for it at that point in my life. Watching Adrian Peterson really made me go and beg my parents to play football. So in sixth grade, they let me play football,” says Smith.

Smith wanted to emulate his idol and play running back, yet he was already among the tallest kids in his grade. He first played linebacker and quarterback before he migrated to defensive line at South High School (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

South hadn’t sent a player to the D1 level since the mid-1980s.

But Elerson was a special athlete. He was already well on his way to standing over 6-foot-6. What he lacked in bulk he made up for in raw talent. Smith also took the old-school route of athletic development, lettering in four different sports at South.

“Growing up, I always knew football was my sport and it was what I wanted to play in college. I liked track, but I was going to track because it could help with my top-end speed for football. I liked wrestling, but I thought that wrestling could help me with my leverage and my tackling for football. You just become an overall better athlete (by doing that) and you also don’t get burnt out on one sport,” says Smith.

“You get the opportunity to play all those sports in high school and spend time with your friends, too. Like basketball — I wasn’t the best at basketball, but I was part of a team, I worked to contribute and help that team, and I got to spend time with my friends doing it. So I think (playing multiple sports) was huge for me, both physically and mentally, throughout high school.”

Smith also brought a growth mindset and a positive attitude to his athletic career. He credits his stepfather, Joe Morgan, for helping instill that mentality. Morgan is also the long-time wrestling coach at South.

“One thing he always preaches is to just have fun and get better. So I’ve been trying to do those two things my whole career. I make sure I’m having fun, because if I’m not, it’s pointless,” says Smith.

“Then getting better. I always focused on one thing I wanted to get better at in practice. You know, ‘My first step looked pretty crappy the last game. So today in practice, all I’m focused on is my first step.’ You start stacking those days and you’ll eventually make those weaknesses into your strengths. That’s what worked for me.”

As a junior, Smith totaled 14 sacks while also starring at tight end for the Gallant Tigers. Yet he was barely a blip on the radar of big-time college programs. His recruiting was limited by two key factors. One, he was painfully thin for an athlete purporting to be a defensive end. Two, South won few games and competed in a conference that was far from a recruiting hotbed.

“I had ridiculous production numbers, but it was in a smaller inner-city football conference. So a lot of teams doubted those numbers,” says Smith.

“We weren’t a football factory school. Colleges coaches weren’t stopping there to see what we were doing. So getting my name out there was more about college camps … (I had to) get into camps and do it against guys who were held up with an expectation that they were gonna be future college players.”

Smith attended a camp at the University of Northern Iowa prior to his senior year.

While UNI is a 1-AA program, they’ve sent a surprising number of players to the pros — 21 different Panthers have gone on to play at least three years in the NFL to date. The program also has a reputation for uncovering overlooked players and helping them transform their bodies to unlock their true potential. In Smith, they saw their next potential project.

Smith led the state of Minnesota in sacks his senior season, but the hometown Golden Gophers never showed much interest. In fact, UNI was the only school willing to take a shot on him. The Panthers wound up as his lone offer.

Smith journeyed to Cedar Falls, Iowa with a scrawny frame and a chip on his shoulder. Since he desperately needed to gain strength and mass, a redshirt year was a given.

Jed Smith, UNI’s strength and conditioning coach, recalls Smith’s initial physique.

“My initial impression was I laughed. I looked at Elerson, and he’s a nice kid, but oh my goodness. I thought, ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do here.’ He would’ve been small for a basketball player we were recruiting and this was a D-lineman,” Jed says.

“There were times throughout that first year where Elerson would double-day. He’d come in during the AM and come back during the PM. It was sometimes eight or nine lifts a week. He put in the time in the weight room … He’s a hard worker and just a really good human being.”

Elerson’s potential was obvious despite his gangly physique. For an athlete of his stature, he was an exceptionally smooth mover, beating skill players in agility and conditioning drills from day one. Smith also added pounds to his max power clean in rapid fashion, indicating special fast-twitch ability.

He says the training “shocked” his body. Smith’s meal plan required him to devour five meals a day. When he found himself in a calorie-crunch, he’d down peanut butter & jellies to ensure his body remained in an anabolic state.

His strength numbers ballooned as slabs of muscle gradually filled in his frame. Yet Smith still had a ways to go with his technique and football IQ.

UNI defensive line coach Bryce Paup recalls Smith having a “deer in the headlights” look as a redshirt freshman.

When Smith wasn’t physically pushing himself to the limit in practices and workouts, he was attempting to master the complexities of the game while also handling a full academic course load.

Yet he persevered.

Smith credits his late biological father, Robert, for teaching him the right way to power through adversity.

“My dad was paralyzed for the last three years of his life. He had an aneurysm that paralyzed him from the neck down. I think the way he handled it is what really inspired me. I never saw him disrespect any nursing staff or doctors or anything like that. For someone in his position to have everything stripped away and still have high character and be the man that he was, that was extremely inspiring,” says Smith.

“He was fighting through a lot more than anything I’ve had to go through. In times of struggle on the football field, it puts things in perspective. Maybe I’m tired because it’s my eighth gasser, but my dad had to fight to try to move again. It always puts things in perspective and makes things easier than they are both on the football field and throughout life.”

By 2018, Smith had gained roughly 50 pounds without losing a step. He was ready to see game action.

Deployed mostly as a third-down specialist, Smith totaled 10 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and a forced fumble that season. Versus Iowa, he got the chance to test himself against Tristan Wirfs, the Hawkeyes’ ultra-athletic, 320-pound offensive tackle. Wirfs would later be drafted 13th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Smith noted Wirfs’ immense talent and used it as motivation for improvement. Lucky for him, he had a comparable talent lined up across from him every day in practice.

Spencer Brown arrived at UNI alongside Smith.

Both received zero FBS offers and had to gain significant amounts of mass before they received meaningful playing time. While Brown had been a tight end in high school, UNI decided to mold him into an offensive tackle.

Day after day, Smith and Brown fought it out on the practice field. The fact their physical development almost perfectly mirrored one another made them ideal sparring partners.

“Spencer’s a freak athlete. He’s 6-foot-8 but he’s super athletic. He can bend and play with great leverage at the point of attack,” says Smith.

“We’ve been going at it since he was a 240-pound tight end and I was a 200-pound defensive end. That was huge for us because we’re both so competitive. There was never a day we let up on each other. I remember he came back for camp before (our) redshirt junior year and he felt twice as strong as he did the camp before. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to have to check myself,’ because he was beating my a— a little bit. (Spencer) was big for me — he motivated me to get better.”

Brown, who Smith calls an “awesome dude,” is now projected as a potential first-round draft pick. His Relative Athletic Score (a composite score of a prospect’s size and athleticism) is the highest of any offensive tackle in NFL history.

In high school, Smith relied almost entirely on raw athleticism to make plays.

Against better competition, he quickly realized that approach led to limited success. Smith looked to Paup, a UNI alumni who won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1995 and racked up 75 career sacks as a pro, to help him hone his craft.

“Coach Paup did a great job spending extra time with me and making sure he gave me all the help I needed — whether it was my first step, (defending) the run, or adding new moves to my pass rush arsenal. But I think the biggest one was understanding the film room and the schematics behind the game,” says Smith.

“I probably took my biggest step when I locked in on that and really made a full-hearted effort to try and learn the game in and out. I was lucky enough to have a coach like Coach Paup who he knew everything.”

Smith had a monster season in 2019.

UNI’s first game pitted them against Iowa State. The Cyclones entered the intrastate showdown ranked the 21st-best team in the FBS.

Smith was a one-man wrecking crew, totaling 5 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a QB hit, and a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown. The Panthers took the Cyclones to the brink before falling in triple overtime.

The performance only strengthened Smith’s conviction that he could play at the highest level.

Later that year, Smith matched up against North Dakota State and Dillon Radunz, an offensive tackle who’s now receiving first-round buzz. Smith finished the game with five tackles, a sack, a QB hit and a pass deflection.

His season totals were staggering — 63 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 5 deflected passes. That was good enough to earn Smith AP FCS All-America honors.

By that point, Smith weighed roughly 255 pounds and measured in taller than 6-foot-6. His bench and squat numbers had nearly doubled over the previous four years. All the while, he’d maintained his incredible speed and flexibility.

With another season of eligibility left to boost his draft stock, the sky was the limit.

Then Covid-19 happened.

Smith’s first priority? Find a gym.

“I was on campus so I was lucky enough to have a weight room set up across the street from me in another football player’s house. Every day I was getting up and lifting and doing something,” says Smith.

Then a different tragedy hit close to home.

On May 25th, George Floyd was murdered by police at the corner of E. 38th and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.

Smith was outraged. The fact the incident occurred at an intersection he’d driven through hundreds of times made it all too real. Smith returned home to participate in peaceful protests and do whatever he could to help.

“That happened five minutes from my house where I grew up. So to have something like that happen right in your community hits home pretty hard,” Smith says.

“(I’d like to use my NFL platform) to bring awareness to that and help the community in any way I can, because I think the community of Minneapolis really needs it.”

In July, Phil Steele named Smith the FCS Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

A month later, word came down the Missouri Valley Conference had cancelled their 2020 football season.

Smith was devastated. He briefly explored transferring to a different school so he could play his redshirt senior season and did receive an offer to join an SEC team.

However, NCAA transfer rules at the time would’ve still required he sit out a year before being eligible to play.

Smith ultimately chose to set his sights on the 2021 NFL Draft. He hired an agent and returned to Minneapolis to start preparing.

This photo from UNI Strength & Conditioning shows Smith’s incredible transformation

There, he linked up with Roy Palmer of In-Tension Training. Since max strength was no longer a weakness for Smith (he could squat nearly 600 pounds by that point) their approach focused on making him a more complete athlete.

“Elerson was already very strong when we first started training together,” says Palmer.

“We wanted to improve his ability to produce force rapidly in order to maximize transfer to the football field. In addition, we really trained everything needed to improve his performance, help him move well, and reduce his risk of injury … (He’s) an absolutely stellar athlete and one of the most kind, humble people I know.”

Smith arrived at the 2021 Senior Bowl still somewhat of an unknown. He hadn’t played a 2020 season and had only two years of college production — both of which came at the FCS level.

Smith quieted such concerns when the pads began popping. The fact four other players from the Missouri Valley Conference were also in attendance helped calm his nerves.

“It’s a legit conference. Maybe it’s dudes who weren’t 240 and 6-foot-5 coming out of high school — (but) it’s a lot of guys like me who just took longer to progress. That doesn’t mean I’m any worse than any of these other (prospects) because they were bigger than me at 17,” says Smith.

“I think it showed at the Senior Bowl. We had five dudes there and we all did pretty well. That actually helped me a lot (that week) because a few plays in, I was like, ’These guys aren’t any better than the guys I faced every week.’”

One of biggest risers out of Senior Bowl week is @UNIFootball EDGE Elerson Smith. @ElersonSmith has elite tools (6064v, 262v, 1048 hand, 8300 wing), will blow up his pro-day, and was arguably most impressive physical specimen at weigh-ins. Oh, and he can rush inside & outside. pic.twitter.com/FYuLzCLicA

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) February 12, 2021

Smith followed up his phenomenal Senior Bowl with an awesome Pro Day. Highlights included a mind-boggling 41.5-inch vertical jump, a 1.60 10-yard split and 26 reps on the bench press.

Some analysts believe Smith will need to add another 10-20 pounds of mass before he can become an every-down player at the next level. Yet his physique and skillset have also drawn comparisons to Jason Taylor, the slender six-time Pro Bowl selection who currently ranks seventh on the NFL’s all-time sack list.

Wherever Smith lands, he plans to use the same approach that helped him go from an obscure high school recruit to a likely NFL Draft selection.

“I’m just going to contribute wherever they need me. I think that’s what I’m excited to do. I understand it’s a team game and everyone has roles, so whether my role is just a third-down specialist right away or special teams, I’m going to compete and do my best to exceed (expectations) in my role,” says Smith.

“I’m going to do that by working hard and getting after it every day.”

Photo Credit: AP Newsroom, Minneapolis South High School, UNI Athletics

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He’d just finished his first D1 football camp. The long-limbed defensive back had done his best to separate himself amid the roughly 1,400 attendees.

His English wasn’t great. He often had to watch other campers run through a drill before he understood exactly what to do.

But now, the head coach was speaking only to him.

“The first big camp I ever did was at Michigan. I had zero ideas about four-stars, five-stars, offers — all that stuff. Coach (Jim) Harbaugh said, ‘Yeah, I’m offering you a full scholarship to come play here.’ I was like, ‘Alright, cool.’ I didn’t speak proper English, so some of the words and sentences didn’t resonate with me,” St-Juste recalls.

“I didn’t even know what I had at first … (But) that kind of sparked the whole thing. I was like, ‘Oh, I can really make this happen.’”

Once he understood the magnitude of Harbaugh’s offer, St-Juste quickly gave a verbal commitment to Michigan. He also realized football was no longer just a hobby, triggering a journey that’s led him to become one of the top defensive back prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft.

Growing up as kid in Montreal, St-Juste believed a D1 or NFL career was beyond outlandish. Few kids made it to the big time out of Quebec in any sport but hockey.

Indeed, St-Juste started his athletic career with a stick in his hand and skates on his feet.

But football was in his blood. His dad, Wilbert, had played the sport and once received an invite to training camp with the Miami Hurricanes.

When Benjamin began playing football at age eight, he knew he’d discovered his true passion.

“I was just gifted. I was smooth out there on the field. And I liked the team bond, I liked being around my friends,” St-Juste says.

“Where I’m from, everybody was playing hockey. Everybody wanted to make it to the NHL. I wanted to be that kid that was different.”

But his dreams were limited. He envisioned a standout high school career and then, perhaps, a playing career at a university in Canada.

“Going to play D1 football and going to the NFL is a far, far dream where I’m from. So as a young kid, you were kind of humbled all the time. People around you would say, ‘It’s too hard. You’re not going to make it.’ And I kind of listened to that when I was younger. I just played football for fun (and) to kill some time,” says St-Juste.

“When I was 16, my parents said, ‘You watch all these Nike camps and Rival camps on Youtube. But you never sign up for one. Why don’t you sign up for one?’ My parents saw the potential in me … So I said, ‘Alright, I’ll sign up.’”

Soon enough, he and his parents were making the ten-hour drive from Montreal to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He left with a full-ride offer to one of the most prestigious programs in college football.

Then things got serious.

St-Juste joined the track team and began lifting weights. He went to the practice field every day to work on his drops, plants and ball skills. He started watching movies in English rather than his native French, determined to become fluent so he could hold meaningful conversations with future coaches and teammates.

He also continued to test himself against American athletes by signing up for more camps.

St-Juste soon found every coach wasn’t willing to gamble on a raw defensive back out of Quebec. Many questioned his level of competition and feared the potential backlash of offering him a scholarship over a “safer” American recruit.

Yet St-Juste also possessed freakish talent.

At 6-foot-3, he was gargantuan for a defensive back. Long arms helped him suffocate receivers and compensate for any lack of polish. St-Juste’s hockey background had also gifted him superhuman agility and loose, fluid hips.

And though some coaches doubted the caliber of his competition, the rules of Canadian football put defensive backs at a distinct disadvantage.

The field is wider, defenders must play at least one yard off the line of scrimmage, and the rules around offensive motion are far less prohibitive. In Canada, offenses can send multiple players buzzing in motion at any time, and legal forward motion means receivers can build a full head of steam prior to the snap.

“The fact the receiver can run with a 10 or 15-yard head start means you’ve really got to have your feet activated and be quick. Imagine Julio Jones coming in with a 15-yard head start against a corner. That’s just crazy. So playing (Canadian rules) definitely made me a little bit better,” says St-Juste.

“Also, all the motion helps prepare you to understand what’s going to happen pre-snap.”

Back in Canada, St-Juste also often played against athletes three or four years older than himself.

Quebec’s distinct education system allowed him to graduate high school early before enrolling in a “collège d’enseignement général et professionnel,” or CEGEP.

The concept, unique to Quebec, is similar to a junior college but with little or no tuition fee. St-Juste enrolled at Cegep du Vieux Montreal at age 16. This allowed him to earn college credits and play football against older competition.

Every time St-Juste resurfaced at another American camp, he looked sharper and more refined. The legend of the towering, lockdown defensive back with a French-Canadian accent continued to grow.

St-Juste decided to sign up for The Opening Regionals in New Jersey as a way to both test and prove himself. He knew the top performers would receive an invite to the most high-profile recruiting event in America — The Opening Finals.

“My recruiting process was so quick nobody knew me,” St-Juste told MLive in 2016.

“I was a kid from Canada who committed to Michigan and all that. (People wonder), ‘Is he good, is Michigan doing a good thing of keeping this guy?’ I need to go to these camps and clear all the doubts”.

At the New Jersey Regionals, St-Juste tied for the fourth-highest composite athletic rating of any attendee and popped during competitive drills. He received an invitation to The Opening Finals just a few days later.

“I was super hype. I’d been watching those camps for (the past) three years. I really wanted to make it, and being the first one ever out of Montreal and Quebec to do it was great,” St-Juste says.

“There was a lot of doubt. A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, can you compete with us?’ I knew I could and I tried to show it. So being on that big stage and being an all-star selection at the end of the tournament proved I was one of the top defensive backs.”

Still, St-Juste felt disrespected. While he’d earned a four-star rating from 247Sports, he’d received offers from just three schools — Michigan, Virginia Tech and Rutgers. Most American four-star defensive backs boasted 20 or 30 different offers.

St-Juste’s commitment to Michigan ultimately held. He enrolled early and quickly proved the talent he displayed on the camp circuit was no illusion.

“He’s 6-foot-3, he’s long, he’s athletic, he’s fast,” Don Brown, UM’s defensive coordinator at the time, said of St-Juste early in his college career. “I’m very confident as to where he’ll end up.”

St-Juste went on to appear in 12 games as true freshman and earned his first varsity letter.

However, a hamstring injury suffered shortly thereafter would prove problematic. Rehab wasn’t immediately effective and St-Juste was sidelined for the entire 2018 season. Disagreements about the extent of the injury and its impact on St-Juste’s athletic future led him to ultimately seek a transfer.

St-Juste thanked Michigan and officially announced he was entering the transfer portal on May 7th, 2019.

Joe Rossi, the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota, messaged him almost immediately.

Within 14 days, St-Juste was officially a Golden Gopher.

“I met coach (P.J.) Fleck, who’s a young, energetic, super-honest coach. He said, ‘I’ve got one scholarship. I need a corner right now. I need you to come in and be a starter and be a captain. Can you do that for me?,’” St-Juste recalls.

“I liked that straightforward approach. I said, ‘Okay, let’s roll with it.’”

It didn’t take long for Fleck, Rossi and the rest of the Gophers staff to realize they pulled off a recruiting coup.

“We heard nothing but good things about (Benjamin) at Michigan … He’s incredibly long, incredibly athletic. His flexibility for his size is uncanny. And then he’s a smart kid who cares with great character,” Rossi told The Minnesota Daily midway through the 2019 season.

St-Juste started nine games that year, recording 45 tackles and and 10 pass break-ups (tied for the team lead) on his way to All-Big Ten Honorable Mention status. He helped the Gophers go 11-2. It was their most wins in a season since 1904.

Minnesota anoints game captains rather than season captains, and it wasn’t long before St-Juste found himself wearing the C on his chest.

“I’m one of those guys who’s pretty quiet. I’d talk when I needed to talk, but when I didn’t need to talk, I wasn’t talking. I led by example because I was giving everything I had in practice, in the weight room, and on game day. When you do that on a consistent basis and you’re on top of things and you’re trustworthy, people see that more than the people who talk,” St-Juste says.

The Big Ten played a shortened schedule in 2020 due to Covid-19. St-Juste appeared in five games, making 14 tackles and breaking up three passes.

He then faced a decision.

While he had a season of eligibility left at Minnesota, NFL teams had token note of his special skillset.

For the past two years, St-Juste had gone head-to-head with Rashod Bateman, a potential first round talent, during practice. He knew he could guard elite receivers.

St-Juste had also already obtained both his bachelor’s and his master’s degrees in sports management thanks to years of hard work.

And he believed NFL evaluators would only think more of him after seeing him up close during the pre-draft process.

St-Juste declared for the 2021 NFL Draft on December 20th, 2020.

Talent evaluators got a first-hand look at St-Juste at the Senior Bowl.

His measurements alone (a tick over 6-foot-3 in height with a sprawling wingspan over 80 inches) were enough to generate buzz.

On the field, St-juste used his rare size to consistently spoil would-be receptions and proved he was nimble enough to shadow smaller, shiftier receivers.

But it was his performance at Minnesota’s Pro Day that proved he was a true football unicorn.

St-Juste clocked a blazing 4.00 in the 20-Yard Shuttle and an astonishing 6.63 in the 3-Cone Drill.

NFL Combine data gives context to St-Juste’s outlier status. Dating back to the year 2000, just 17 cornerbacks matched or beat his times at the NFL Combine.

Among those 17, just four measured 6-foot-1 or above. And none were taller than St-Juste.

St-Juste points to his hockey-playing roots as a key contributor to his freakish agility.

“The fact I was able to grow up playing multiple sports, especially hockey, gave me those great results. That’s really unique about me. Being a 6-foot-3, 200-something-pound defensive back, (people) expect me to be stiff and to not be able to move,” St-Juste says.

“My agility going side to side and being able to bend and move I got from playing hockey. My ability to high point the ball and jump over people I got from playing basketball. Running track helped me understand my running motion and my stride and how to use my speed.”

St-Juste’s 4.51 40-Yard Dash was also impressive for his size and his physique passed the eye test with flying colors. He didn’t bench or squat much during high school, so committing to a legit weight training program in college helped him back on 20 pounds of muscle.

St-Juste quickly admits he’s not a finished product. He only played about 15 games at cornerback in college. There’s speculation he may eventually transition to safety.

His motto is to simply get 1% better each day and let the rest take care of itself.

“I’ve just got to be a new Benjamin, a better Benjamin, every day,” says St-Juste.

“I have potential to be great, to be legendary, in what I do on and off the field. I fear missing that opportunity or being a shoulda-coulda-woulda type of person. I don’t want to be that person.”

While St-Juste may still have a world of potential to unlock, he’s already pretty darn good. Bateman said his Minnesota teammate was “definitely, by far, the best DB” he’d faced in his career — no small feat when you consider Bateman went up against teams like Auburn, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State in college.

St-Juste also envisions an NFL impact beyond the box score. He wants to utilize his platform to stand up for social justice issues and hopes to prove to kids in Quebec that football can take them farther than they might think. He aims to establish a camp in Montreal and bring in fellow pros to help out as counselors.

He also wants to help the next generation of athletes realize that dreams are meaningless without action; that aspirations ring hollow without sacrifice.

“My advice is consistency and motivation. The dream is free but the hustle is sold separately. My dream of going D1 and going to the NFL? That’s fine. But I had to put in a lot of work and sacrifice to be where I am. So you might have to sacrifice going out, going to parties, the girlfriends, the other friends that maybe don’t play football who want you to do some of that stuff. Sacrifice a lot so you can focus on your dream and take advantage of anything,” St-Juste says.

“I reached the NFL, but in the process, I was able to graduate with a 3.0 from Michigan and get a master’s from Minnesota with a 3.7. Maximize your opportunities. Football isn’t going to be there that long, and you’ve got to be somebody after that. So maximize your opportunities and create your identity.”

Photo Credit: AP Newsroom, Scout.com, Student Sports, Minnesota Athletics

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Bad luck and a string of devastating injuries had previously kept the sixth-year senior outside the spotlight.

Then, suddenly, Hilliard found himself starting at linebacker during the Buckeyes’ most important stretch of games in over half a decade.

Across the Big Ten Championship, the CFP Semifinal, and the CFP National Championship, Hilliard rampaged his way to 25 tackles, five tackles for loss, an interception and two fumble recoveries.

Project that production over a full season and it’s a surefire Butkus Award campaign.

“I feel like for years, I was able to play at a high level every time I got on the field. I think the thing that changed was the opportunity,” Hilliard says.

“I kept a goal of being the best linebacker in the country my entire career. That was a challenge … (There was a time) where I wasn’t able to play because of injuries and other things, and I almost tried to convince myself I didn’t love football just so I could have a good night’s sleep and get through the day easier. I tried to convince myself I didn’t care that much. I think the biggest thing (to take from my story) is: don’t try to convince yourself that you hate the things you love just to make it easier. Go through that pain, but don’t lower your goals. Just keep at it.”

The legendary conclusion to Hilliard’s Buckeye career also greatly improved his odds of being selected in the NFL Draft.

It’s a dream that begun more than 16 years earlier.

Justin always played on the same sports teams as his older brother, C.J. Their age gap made for a rough introduction to football.

“That first year of football was just me getting absolutely tossed around. I think I weighed 20 pounds less than everybody else and was probably three inches shorter. But I fell in love with it,” says Hilliard

“After two or three years of that, I finally moved down two grades. That’s where it started taking off for me.”

His parents attended every game. Hilliard’s dad, Carl, wasn’t afraid to feed his son quiet motivation from the sideline.

“My dad was super into it. He developed hand signs during the middle of the game. So if (he) saw me out there loafing in second grade, he would do one of these,” Hilliard says, turning up an invisible dial.

“Or if I needed to hit hard, he’d do a (big clap). It was hilarious, but I think the years of that constant support got it ingrained in my brain to always give effort and always look to hit somebody.”

Hilliard once dreamt of being the next great running back. But by the time he arrived at St. Xavier High School (Cincinnati, Ohio), the universe seemed to be telling him otherwise.

St. X was loaded at the position and an adolescent growth spurt had left Hilliard clumsy and uncoordinated.

“I was that awkward kid still developing into his body. So I guess the place to put someone in that category is linebacker. I think the biggest frustration that year was I was putting in the effort, but I didn’t feel like the results were showing,” Hilliard recalls.

“At St. X, if you weren’t a one or a two, you were on the B team. So I actually played on the B team my freshman year.”

It was the first real dose of adversity in his football career. Hilliard responded by taking his training up a notch. While he knew he needed to be bigger and stronger, he identified a lack of explosiveness as his number one weakness.

“That off-season between my freshman and sophomore year is where I saw the biggest gains of my life. I really dove into (training). I even read a decent amount of STACK articles to find an edge,” says Hilliard.

“The next season, I was starting on varsity.”

At St. X, starting on varsity as a sophomore is an achievement. The Bombers are one of the nation’s premier football programs. Hilliard recalls how brutal team workouts helped build his body and bulletproof his mind.

“We did a finisher called Bomber Builders. You grabbed either a 25- or 45-pound plate then started with Overhead Triceps Extensions, then Front Shoulder Raises, then Chest Presses. There were another one or two movements in there and I think we did a minute of each exercise. And we probably did that at least 5-10 times,” says Hilliard.

“So by the third round, you’re dead. But I think those types of drills where you get to that point where you think you can’t do more but you still do it build toughness. I just wasn’t tough (enough) early in my high school career. To be a great football player, I think you’ve got to be tough.”

Hilliard’s potential at linebacker was soon unmistakeable. With prototypical size, preternatural instants and dazzling athleticism, he looked born to play the position.

Hilliard had collected over ten D1 offers by the end of his sophomore year.

Fast forward another year and he was ranked the best outside linebacker in the entire 2015 class. Offers poured in from the blue bloods of college football.

Yet Hilliard often found himself hearing the same spiel amidst the recruiting frenzy.

“They literally tell you everything you expect to hear. ‘You’re going to be starting the first day you get on campus. You’re gonna be a captain. The weightlifting’s not that hard. Classes are gonna be easy.’ You start hearing that, and no one stands out with that type of message,” Hilliard says.

Playing for the Buckeyes is a boyhood dream for just about every boy growing up in Ohio. Hilliard was no different. But he also had options. Him going to Columbus was by no means a foregone conclusion.

What really swung him was that Ohio State didn’t sugarcoat the extraordinary demands and expectations of their program.

“I started talking to Ohio State, especially (football performance coach) Mick Marotti, who’s become one of my biggest mentors in life. He said, ‘Justin, these are going to be the absolute hardest years of your life. Training at Ohio State is that much different than anything you’ve ever done. But by the time you’re out, you’ll be tougher. You’ll be a better football player. You’ll be a better person,’” Hilliard recalls.

“If were to go to these other schools, I knew that I wouldn’t be as good of a football player as if I went to Ohio State and (went) through some of those things. (The choice) became obvious after that.”

Hilliard kept leveling up on the field in the meantime. He earned the elusive five-star recruit rating and became the top-ranked player in Ohio. One recruiting analyst saw Hilliard “as a guy who could come in to just about any program and play early, potentially growing into an All-American candidate and NFL Draft pick.” That seemed to be the consensus.

The Buckeyes won a National Championship just a few weeks before Hilliard finalized his commitment to Ohio State.

The script was written: Hilliard would become a Buckeye, enjoy an outstanding career, and then maybe opt out early to go to the NFL — perhaps with a championship ring to show for it.

Little did he know what life had in store for him.

The first thing that struck Hilliard was the intensity of Ohio State’s practice. Drills moved at warp speed, coaches barked instruction, and the constant assault of competitive drills left zero room for loafing.

“There’s really no period where you’re just kinda walking around trying to get things right. For literally two hours, you’re sprinting to a drill, (then) when you get to the drill, you’re sprinting in that drill. And when you’re done with that drill, maybe a quick sip of water, then you’re sprinting to the next drill,” Hilliard says.

“Both Coach (Urban) Meyer and Coach (Ryan) Day are huge on one-on-one competition. So a lot of the drills we did, you’re going up against some of the best players. The guys you go up against in practice are probably that much better than the guys you see on Saturday. You do continuous reps going against the best in the nation, and you can only get better.”

Future pros Raekwon McMillan, Joshua Perry and Darron Lee held down the linebacker room as Hilliard redshirted his freshman season.

By spring ball, he was itching to make an impact.

Then came the first bicep tear.

The injury sidelined Hilliard for several months, but he was back in action for the season-opener against Bowling Green. He flew around the field and tallied four tackles, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Then, just a couple weeks later, the unthinkable happened — Hilliard tore his other bicep.

Meyer announced the injury at a press conference before lamenting, “That’s when you shake your head like, ‘How the hell did that happen?’”

The same body that had helped Hilliard become one of the nation’s top recruits had suddenly failed him.

Suffering two significant injuries in such quick succession left him in a dark place.

“(It) was the hardest time in my life. I wasn’t mentally prepared for not playing football for two whole years and being injured that long,” he says.

But Hilliard refused to quit. He attacked his rehab and gradually got healthy, clinging to his enduring goal of one day being the best linebacker in the country.

Yet he soon discovered not everyone shared his same high standard.

“(I’d feel like) I was in a decent mindset, but there were some people who were able to bring me down. Because when you’re injured, expectations go down so much more. Maybe your friends have expectations (lower than your own), your coaches, your family,” he says.

“I think a lot of people in my life were probably just happy for me to get a rep on special teams or a tackle on kickoff or something.”

When Hilliard returned, the coaches weren’t quite sure what to make of him.

He’d missed hundreds, if not thousands, of practice reps.

Other linebackers on the depth chart had momentum and continuity on their side, and Ohio State’s recruiting machine had continued to score talent at the position while Hilliard was on the mend.

He had to adopt a more selfless approach to the game in order to stay on a positive growth trajectory.

“(I started) changing how I viewed playing the game of football. Before it was, ‘Oh, I just want to make big plays.’ But I think Coach Meyer changed that to adding as much value as (I) can and really just having fun playing and competing,” Hilliard says.

“Every time I’d get any rep, whether on kickoff or defense, I would try to add as much value (as possible) and be the best player at any point when I’m on the field.”

That attitude helped Hilliard appear in every game for the Buckeyes in 2017 and earn his first varsity letter. It also won him a ton of respect inside the program.

“(He’s) one of my favorite guys because he just goes as hard as he can,” Meyer said the following March. “I’m a Justin Hilliard fan. I hope he continues to grow as a defensive player.”

Hilliard’s momentum continued to grow over the next season. He tied for the team lead in special teams tackles. He received his first career start. He made several outstanding plays during the Buckeyes’ win over Michigan, earning himself ‘Player of the Game’ recognition. The performance prompted Meyer to proclaim Hilliard was “as good a special teams player” as he’d ever been around.

Hilliard remained hungry for more.

Heading into 2019, it looked like he may get it.

Day had recently been appointed the team’s new head coach. He’d revamped the defensive coaching staff, which gave Hilliard something of a clean slate.

While he’d played mostly as a rotational linebacker up to that point, his feel for the game had vastly improved. He was fit, strong, smart and healthy.

That fall was set to be Hilliard’s redshirt senior season.

He’d always wanted to be the best linebacker in the country. It was time to prove it.

Hilliard entered spring ball with a killer mentality.

Then, while matched up against J.K. Dobbins in one of the Buckeyes’ signature competitive drills, Hilliard felt a smack against the back of his left leg.

He looked with an incredulous hobble, thinking a teammate or coach must’ve accidentally kicked him.

The reality was far worse — Hilliard had just ruptured his achilles tendon.

“At that time, I thought, ‘Did I just practice my last football practice?,’” Hilliard says.

“That was obviously really tough for me because I still had those high, high aspirations of playing at the level I knew I could.”

After the initial shock wore off, Hilliard worked with the coaches and training staff to devise a comeback.

His injury history meant he’d have a case to petition the NCAA for an ultra-rare sixth year of eligibility.

In the meantime, he’d need to overcome an injury once considered a kiss of death for elite-level athletes.

But sports medicine had advanced, and Hilliard needn’t look further than his own linebacker room for proof a comeback was possible.

Tuf Borlad had torn his achilles almost exactly one year earlier. A freaky-fast recovery allowed him to return for the fall season and achieve impressive production. That benchmark helped give structure to Hilliard’s master plan.

“I knew I still wanted to be the best linebacker in the country. I knew to get there, I’d probably have to get a sixth year, and I’d have to rehab in six months so I could play the first or second game of the next season,” says Hilliard.

His mentality was now fortified by the hardships of previous rehabs. He had zero doubt he’d be successful.

That positive outlook helped Hilliard nearly match Borland’s recovery timeline. By September 14th, he was making a tackle during a win over Indiana.

He’d yet to regain his full explosiveness, but Hilliard continued to solidify his standing as a special teams ace and key defensive contributor. 

When the Buckeyes deployed a four-linebacker front against Wisconsin, Hilliard made his second career start and helped hold the Badgers’ vaunted rushing attack to a meager 2.4 yards per carry.

When Penn State was threatening an upset in Ohio Stadium, Hilliard made a crucial interception to seal the victory.

His third and fourth career starts came during a win over Michigan and a second triumph over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.

It wasn’t until December when he finally heard back from the NCAA regarding his petition for a sixth season of eligibility. Hilliard’s case was compelling — he’d spent a combined 24 months of his college career rehabbing injury. His petition was granted.

It was a long-deserved reward for Hilliard’s perseverance; a merciful stroke of good fortune for a standup guy who’d endured far too many tough breaks.

Then, Covid-19 happened.

The off-season was dominated by uncertainty. But amidst the tumult, Hilliard displayed the kind of poise and leadership you’d expect from a sixth-year senior. When the Buckeyes elected captains — still unsure whether they’d have a season at all — Hilliard was one of them.

The moment he told his father says it all:

.@JHilliard47 has been through a lot.

The moment he got to call his dad to tell him he’d been voted captain made it all worth it.#GoBuckeyes #H2 pic.twitter.com/WyRXRpdDoC

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 4, 2020

“Calling my dad was super emotional. Because in the past, if a coach was calling him, there was probably a 50% chance I just had a season-ending injury or something like that. So for him to get that call and get some really good news was a really cool moment,” Hilliard says.

“Out of all the accomplishments I’ve had, that’s probably number one on the list. It was obviously a goal I had coming in. Then looking back at all the setbacks I had, to finally get back to the point of (achieving) probably the biggest goal I had when I came in was so satisfying.”

On September 16th, it finally became clear the Buckeyes would indeed have a season — an eight game, conference-only schedule. Hilliard quickly tweeted his approval.

Yet more adversity awaited.

A positive Covid-19 test derailed what would’ve been Hilliard’s season debut against Penn State. It was later revealed as a false-positive. Day called the twist of fate “heart-wrenching”.

Hilliard then performed well against Rutgers, Indiana and Michigan State, but he didn’t get his first start of the season until the Big Ten Championship Game versus Northwestern.

Buckeye nation was lucky he did.

The Wildcats had a 10-6 lead early in the third quarter and were deep inside Ohio State territory. Another touchdown could’ve been a de facto knockout punch.

Hilliard lined up across from Northwestern tight end John Raine, who was flexed out as a wide receiver. Northwestern sent Raine on a fade — they believed he could outmuscle Hilliard for six points.

But Hilliard’s technique was immaculate. He mirrored Raine off the line, crowded him towards the sideline, and snatched the pass for an interception.

Later, with Ohio State nursing a three-point lead, Hilliard smashed an offensive lineman into Northwestern quarterback Peyton Ramsey, helping force a key fumble.

The Buckeyes pulled out the comeback victory. It couldn’t have happened without Hilliard.

Next up: the CFP Semifinal against Clemson, a team who’d already beaten the Buckeyes twice during Hilliard’s tenure.

Hilliard again played like a man on a mission. In just 34 defensive snaps, he totaled eight tackles and a tackle for loss while securing a crucial fumble recovery. His one-on-one tackle on Travis Etienne was absolutely textbook.

Six years earlier, Hilliard watched Ohio State play in the National Championship as a recruit. He’d now helped them return to that grand stage as a player and captain.

Alas, Hilliard’s Buckeyes did not win it all.

But Hilliard, playing against one of the greatest offenses in college football, proved to be a force.

He tallied eight tackles and two tackles for loss. Watch him shoot the gap on the goal line to crush Najee Harris:

Impressive play by Justin Hilliard shooting the gap and tackling Najee Harris in the backfield. Beats the slot receiver tasked with the block to the spot. Experienced backer who trusts his eyes! pic.twitter.com/TCwQT90aOg

— Lorenz (@ScoutingLenz) February 15, 2021

When the dust settled, Hilliard had proven he was among the best linebackers in the 2021 draft class. A standout performance at the Senior Bowl only further bolstered his stock.

Hilliard’s resume includes an incredible 732 career special teams snaps — the most of any prospect in this draft class. Such expertise should not be overlooked in a league where the third phase of the game often determines the outcome.

“I think the rush of adrenaline you get on special teams is like no other,” Hilliard says.

“Kickoff’s fun as hell. I think that’s the most pure football play in the game. There’s no other play where a guy’s running full speed at a guy running full speed. So it’s really like guerrilla warfare.”

But his goal to the best linebacker in the country hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s only intensified.

Hilliard’s also passionate about the potential platform that comes with an NFL career. After persevering through so much, he wants to help ensure other kids get a fair shot in life.

“I did a ton of community service and different things with education at Ohio State. Because of my background, I was able to see the disparities in education,” says Hilliard, who was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

“I went to public schools, I went to schools where they didn’t have proper textbooks. But I also went to a school like St. X where you had no choice but to succeed. I think (we need) to level that out and give kids who don’t have the opportunity to go to a St. X-type school more of an even playing field.”

Hilliard’s journey shares many parallels with former Ohio State receiver Terry McLaurin.

McLaurin was a recruit in the class of 2014 — one year ahead of Hilliard.

He, too, struggled to earn significant playing time early on.

But he bought into Ohio State’s culture, made a name for himself on special teams, and built a reputation for doing the right thing.

McLaurin finally broke out as a fifth-year senior. A strong Senior Bowl showing proved his breakout was no fluke, and he ultimately wound up being selected by the Washington Football Team in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Today, McLaurin’s one of the best young receivers in the NFL.

Could Hilliard chart a similar path?

“Terry is a guy I’ve always looked up to. Maybe people saw Terry as just a special teams player, like they may see me right now,” Hilliard says.

“But my goals are still crazy.”

Photo Credit: AP Newsroom, Ohio State Athletics, Student Sports

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• Losing Your Black Stripe: Inside One of Ohio State Football’s Coolest Traditions
• The Pro Factory: How Ohio State’s WR Room Churns Out Beasts
• A Challenge From Urban Meyer Set Terry McLaurin on the Path to Greatness

“I had three dropped passes. I had three passes thrown to me, and I dropped all three,” recalls Jordan.

“(After that), I didn’t have confidence in myself. I didn’t think I was a good player. I mean, I was considering moving to linebacker. But the coaches at Bishop Gorman never gave up on me. They kept pushing me to be great. I’m so grateful for that.”

Jordan soon evolved into one of the top high school tight ends in the country before storming his way to a standout career at the University of Miami.

Today, he’s a top-ranked prospect for the 2021 NFL Draft.

“Jordan brings an exciting blend of size, athleticism and ball skills that make him dangerous at all levels of the field. He’s a monster after the catch and challenging the seam,” writes Joe Marino of The Draft Network.

“He has a chance to be a dangerous weapon if used correctly.”

During his early days on the sunbaked fields of the Nevada Youth Football League, Jordan was dangerous at a different position — running back. With the ball in his hands nearly every play, opposing fans weren’t shy to voice their frustration.

“People used to be like, ‘This kid’s a beast. Where’s his birth certificate?,’” says Jordan, who was in fact young for his age group.

“But we were just a football family. My father was drafted into the NFL. My older brother’s passion for football rubbed off on me, then it crept down to my younger brother. My mom used to bring sandwiches up to the fields because we’d be there all day.”

When it came time to attend high school, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nevada) was a natural choice.

Not only had Jordan’s father and older brother both attended Gorman, but the school boasted strong academics and a dominant football program — at the time of Jordan’s enrollment, the Gaels had won five consecutive state championships.

Jordan also realized a position change was in order. After sprouting to a lanky 6-foot-3, his body no longer befit that of a running back. He also knew the shelf life of the average running back was painfully short. In his mind, a switch to wide receiver made all the sense in the world.

But Rod Burgman, head freshman football coach at Bishop Gorman, didn’t see it that way.

“Coach Burgman said, ‘Man, screw (receiver). We’re going to move you to tight end,’” recalls Jordan.

“At the time, I’m only like 200 pounds. I move like a skill dude. Tight end? What are you thinking?! But it’s all thanks to Coach Burgman, because, without him, I don’t think this process would’ve gotten started. Tight end is a great position because when you drop a ball or make a mistake, you’ve got room to just throw somebody to the sideline or take your anger out on a block. I think it was the perfect position for me.”

Jordan’s development wasn’t without growing pains.

His aforementioned drop-ladened varsity debut dented his confidence, and he finished his sophomore season with a modest 10 receptions.

Yet a closer look at the box scores revealed flashes of future brilliance.

Four of his ten receptions had gone for touchdowns, and he’d averaged an eye-popping 16.6 yards per reception. He’d also found the end zone during Bishop Gorman’s state championship victory.

And though Jordan didn’t know it at the time, Gorman was in the midst of the most remarkable four-year stretch in high school football history. During his time there, the Gaels won four state championships and captured three “mythical” national titles.

This wasn’t just a winning culture — this was a laser-focused, take-no-prisoners, we-should-be-mad-if-we-don’t-win-by-50 culture. That atmosphere played a crucial role in Jordan’s development.

“Bishop Gorman helped shape me into the man I am today. It was like a college program. If a young cat came in with the wrong attitude, saying he didn’t want to practice that day or something, he was going to really hear it from somebody,” says Jordan.

“We felt like we were going to outwork everybody, nobody was going to keep up with us. We used to run bleachers all the time, we did Duck Walks all the time. We focused on doing all the little things right. That attitude translated to our games and I still carry it with me.”

By the summer preceding his senior year, Jordan had grown into a four-star tight end.

That status afforded him an opportunity to attend The Opening Finals, the most high-profile high school football camp in the nation. The list of invitees reads like a who’s who of the 2021 NFL Draft, punctuated by names like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Ja’Marr Chase, Penei Sewell and Kyle Pitts.

For Jordan, The Opening was an opportunity to see just how far this whole tight end thing could really take him.

“I knew I was going up against the best. I went up there and dominated. That opportunity gave me a lot of confidence that I was actually pretty good and that I could make it far with this position,” Jordan says.

Amidst an avalanche of recruiting attention, one school stood out — the University of Miami. Jordan felt the Hurricanes showed him the most love throughout the process, and he could envision being part of something special there.

He committed to the U and arrived on campus in early summer. The first few months were dizzying and downright exhausting.

“I came in as a 17-year-old pup. That summer, the game was just moving super fast. But over time, it gradually slowed down. We really started competing when we got to fall camp. I was in there with the ones going against Jaquan Johnson, Sheldrick Redwine, Michael Pinckney — going against the straight dogs of the team,” says Jordan.

“And the game just slowed down completely. By the time I got to LSU for the first game of the season, I was good to go.”

Jordan made a quick impact, snagging 32 passes for 287 yards en route to second-team All-ACC honors as a freshman. He followed that with a sophomore campaign that saw him grab 35 receptions for 495 receiving yards, earning him first-team All-ACC recognition and consideration as a finalist for the John Mackey Award.

Jordan was deployed as a pro-style tight end during the first two years of his collegiate career.

He put his hand in the dirt and was frequently expected to win at the point of attack on run plays. During practice, that often meant blocking one of the nastiest edge defenders in college football — Gregory Rousseau.

“Greg was a problem in practice, bro. This was primetime Greg,” Jordan recalls with a chuckle.

With Jordan as his sparring partner, the 6-foot-7 Rousseau racked up 15.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 2019.

When Rosseau opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns over the coronavirus, Jordan found himself blocking Jaelan Phillips.

Phillips had been forced to sit out the prior year after transferring in from UCLA. It wasn’t much of a respite, as Phillips promptly went on to an All-America campaign of his own.

Both Phillips and Rousseau are now forecast as first-round talents.

“I blocked the best of the best in practice every day. If you look at Greg and Jaelan, they’re huge dudes. Strong, athletic, fast. That process I had to go through in order to get better helped shape my career,” says Jordan. “It made the games a lot easier.”

In 2020, Jordan saw his role expand with the arrival of new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and his ‘Power Spread’ offense. The two found quick chemistry.

Lashlee, dazzled by Jordan’s dynamic skillset, began deploying him as a slot receiver and H-back in addition to a traditional in-line tight end.

Despite playing a mere eight games in 2020, Jordan set new career highs for receptions (38), receiving yards (576) and touchdowns (7). Extrapolate those figures over a full NFL season and you have a potential All-Pro campaign.

A little more than five years after his painful varsity debut at Bishop Gorman, Jordan declared for the 2021 NFL Draft as one of the top tight end prospects in the class.

He’s most often compared to Jonnu Smith, the man Bill Belichick recently assessed as a “really good tight end” who is “probably the best (tight end) in the league after the catch” shortly before he brought him to New England on a $50 million contract.

But as with any prospect, there’s not a consensus on Jordan’s ability among the many wannabe GMs on social media.

“I’m getting messages like, ‘Kyle Pitts is better than you,’ or ‘Pat Freiermuth is better than you,’ or just, ’You’re short.’ I get it all the time,” says Jordan.

“I do absolutely use it for motivation, but to me, it’s all a joke. I’m just blessed to even be in a situation where people think they can DM me about my football skills.”

However, when more respected football analysts question Jordan’s willingness and tenacity as a blocker, it does strike a nerve.

“People who say (I can’t block) obviously don’t watch the film. I blocked my first two years at Miami. That was a true, pro-style offense where I was a true Y tight end. I had power schemes running to me, I had counter schemes where I had to block D tackles … It was all I did my first year. To be honest, I think (I was) underutilized at Miami because of those situations,” says Jordan.

“My role expanded this past year with Coach Lashlee. He loved my athleticism so he kept me in the slot a lot more.”

Perhaps the insinuations behind the critique also get under Jordan’s skin.

Effort is perhaps the most essential ingredient to blocking success, so when an otherwise capable athlete can’t or won’t do it, it can raise questions about their character — e.g., if they’re not willing to do the dirty work required to win, can you truly count on them?

That’s not Jordan’s game. Just ask Greg Rousseau.

“For me, the thing that stands out about (Brevin) is he’ll pull around and hit a 320-pound D-tackle and smack him,” Rousseau once told the Miami Herald.

“Blocking D-ends, linebackers — he will put his nose in anything.”

The athletic genes of Jordan’s late father, who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1990, have undoubtedly served him well, but it’s his mother, Beverly Jordan, who he counts as his greatest inspiration.

Beverly was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer when Brevin was just four years old.

Doctors believed she had just a few years to live.

Beverly refused to accept that prognosis. She endured chemotherapy and a double mastectomy with indomitable optimism and unfathomable courage.

And she won.

After a long fight, Beverly’s cancer went into remission.

The head of a single-part household, she’s since forged a career as a successful Las Vegas realtor and put her three boys through private school.

“My mom is a warrior. If you asked me how she’s done it, I couldn’t tell you. She sent the three of us to private school, she raised three God-fearing men. It’s unbelievable,” says a glowing Jordan.

“Her smile, her humility and her passion live in me every day. This game of football, I think this is all for her. I love the game of football, obviously, but this is for her because she deserves it all.”

On her Twitter account, Beverly is every bit the loving mom you’d expect, telling Brevin he “makes (her) soul smile” and occasionally reminding him to make sure he eats enough.

Jordan’s inner fire is also fueled by a desire to represent his hometown.

Bishop Gorman may be a high school national power, but Las Vegas is still slept on in the football world. Jordan hopes his career inspires the next generation of athletes out of the desert.

“It’s a city that doesn’t get a lot of respect for the football talent. There are a lot of guys flying under the radar in Las Vegas. To be part of the fraternity that makes it all the way to the NFL, it’ll mean a lot. It’s a huge deal for me,” says Jordan.

He’s also excited to use his platform as an NFL player to stand up for what he believes in.

“I want to use my platform to highlight social injustice. The Black culture fighting against police brutality. I’m Korean, too, so fighting the Asian hate that is going on in America right now. I stand for all that stuff, man. The NFL is a huge platform, and I can use my platform to influence a lot of people and get other people’s voices heard,” says Jordan.

Deep down, he’s also seen the incredible possibilities that often lay on the other side of doubt. He now has a desire to find out how great he can truly be.

“To all the young athletes out there, just keep going. Because it’s going to get hard. You’re going to have doubts. You’re going to have times where you’re not confident in yourself,” Jordan advises.

“But keep going. Because I was right there with you guys. I’m just a kid from Vegas and I still can’t believe I’m going to the NFL. It’s totally surreal to me. So just keep going.”

RELATED:

• Inside Look: Training With Bishop Gorman’s Powerhouse Football Program
• Old-School Strength with All-Pro Tight End Travis Kelce
• Rob and Dan Gronkowski’s Training Tips for Tight Ends

Photo Credit: AP Newsroom, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Student Sports

The Las Vegas Raiders selected dual offensive threat Lynn Bowden, Jr. with the 80th pick in April’s 2020 NFL draft, despite the fact that Bowden had to skip all running drills at the 2020 NFL Draft Combine in February due to a hamstring strain. Scouts had to rely on his film to make their decision. And what film it was.

Few players in this year’s NFL draft class are as versatile as Bowden, who began his junior season with Kentucky last fall as the Wildcats top receiver. He ended the year as Kentucky’s starting quarterback, racking up a whopping 1,468 rushing yards and a 6-2 record in eight starts. In his last two games alone, he rushed for 517 yards, and also led the Wildcats in receiving yards with 350. His efforts earned him first-team Associated Press all-purpose recognition, as well as the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s top all-purpose player. And if you ask Bowden, he might have won the Heisman, too, if he had started the season at quarterback.

At Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, just north of Youngstown, and at Kentucky, Bowden did everything a player can do for a football team. He caught passes, ran for touchdowns, threw touchdowns and returned kicks and punts.

“He could have played defensive back for us and started,” Kentucky co-offensive coordinator Eddie Gran told BleacherReport. “That’s the kind of athlete he is. I haven’t said that about anybody, and I’ve coached for 34 years.”

Bowden wanted to work out at every position at the combine, just to show how versatile he really is, but his body of work speaks for itself.

“My football IQ level was probably through the roof because I get to play every position,” Bowden says. “I’ve probably played every position on the field and throughout all my life. And I just know different things, different schemes and the stuff that they teach me, I really soak up and use it.”

Bowden is a quick study indeed, as he didn’t play receiver until he got to college. But as a freshman, he caught 17 passes for 201 yards and was named to the SEC all-freshman team. As a sophomore, he led the Wildcats with 67 receptions, 745 receiving yards and 5 touchdown catches. Bowden says he wasn’t even really comfortable as a receiver until four games into that sophomore season. “I was pretty raw,” he says. “As I was learning, everything started to slow down for me. I learned how to be patient. I learned how to just let things come to me and not try to make the big play right then and there.”

Then, in his first game at quarterback, he threw for 78 yards, had one touchdown and no interceptions, and ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns to lift Kentucky over Arkansas. And after that, he only got better.

Though Bowden grew up admiring Michael Vick when he was quarterback for the Falcons and De’Anthony Thomas as a combo running back and wide receiver at the University of Oregon, he now compares himself more to San Francisco 49ers wide receiver and occasional wildcat-offense quarterback Deebo Samuel. Still, others compare Bowden to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who in 2019, set a record for rushing yards in a season by a quarterback and also led the league with 36 touchdown passes.

For their part, Raiders GM Mike Mayock and head coach Jon Gruden have a plan for Bowden, but the plan involves a good bit of freelancing. “Lynn Bowden, we announced as a running back,” Mayock said over conference call following the end of the third round of the draft. “Ultimately, he’ll probably be what we call a ‘Joker,’ which I love in Jon’s offense. Somebody that’s able to do multiple jobs. But day one, he’s going to come in and be a running back.”

Bowden says it doesn’t matter what position he plays, and that he’d play tight end if the circumstances warranted it. He just wants the chance to make something happen.

“My mindset is I’m coming to take someone’s job,” Bowden told ESPN. “And my first year there, not three years down the line.”

STACK sat down with Bowden, who was training at EXOS in Pensacola, Florida, to prepare for the NFL combine. Here is a transcript of that interview, which has been edited for brevity and clarity.

STACK: What are some of your earliest memories of playing football and where did those take place?

LYNN BOWDEN JR: Some of my earliest memories playing football are on the Northside of Youngstown, Ohio, in my grandma’s side yard. The house is still there today. That’s where I grew up. I just remember getting slammed by my cousins. They’re more like brothers, and we call each other brothers, but they’re really my first cousins. I was always the youngest out there playing with them. They made me as tough as can be.

What did you like about football as a kid?

I liked winning. I was always a winner, never a loser. I hate to lose. Growing up, especially in Little League, I won all eight years of playing in the championship. I think I lost two games in all eight years. I just love to win.

Was there any one person who made a big impact on you and shaped you as a young athlete?

The person who had the most impact on me is my uncle. He put me in organized sports when I was five years old. He made me running back. And he always told me never give up and always keep focused on your dream. And I never looked back after that.

You also played basketball growing up. What was your game like?

When I played basketball growing up, I really wasn’t that good until around the sixth or seventh grade. I was a pass-first guy and sometimes the coaches would get on me because I had a good three-point shot. And I’d go right past people because I had a fast first step. But I was always past first and shoot later. If you ask people back home, they’ll probably tell you I’m better in basketball than football, which is hard to believe. I’m a multi-talented athlete. I can play any sport there is on the planet.

When did you start getting serious about training for football and get in the weight room?

Well, I really can’t even throw an age out there because this is my first time ever in my life training. Even though I went through weight lifting and stuff like that for college, I never had a training session until I got down here at EXOS. So everything is really kind of new to me.

What athletes did you admire growing up?

The athletes I grew up admiring were Michael Vick, when he played for the Falcons and De’Anthony Thomas when he went to Oregon. I was a real big Oregon guy. At the time, I was playing quarterback and running back, so I was looking up to Marcus Mariota and Thomas when they were on teams together. I wanted to be just like them.

What do you think made you a great quarterback?

What made me a great quarterback is that I was always patient and I know how to go about talking to people about what they’re doing and how to hold them accountable. I like to look at myself as a leader, and as a leader, you want to be able to take that leadership role on the team.

Where does your confidence come from?

My confidence comes from the inner me. I’m a very confident guy. I think I’m the best at whatever you put in front of me. I don’t care who’s in front of me. I’m always going to think I’m the best at it.

What were your goals in high school?

The goal I had in high school was to win a state championship. We came close every year, but we never won. The second high school I went to was Warren G. Harding, home of the great Maurice Clarett. I wanted to break all his records and I did, in just two years.

What was the recruiting experience like for you?

The recruiting experience for me was very hectic. I had a lot of schools coming and I went with Kentucky because it was just home. It was a little school but I wanted to make it into the school it is today and I am glad to say I had a part in doing it.

How has your son, Lynn III, changed your life and maybe shifted your perspective on things?

My son changed my life dramatically. I was going down the wrong path, just hanging out and doing things I shouldn’t have been doing in high school. I even thought about giving up football just to be out there and live free. Because I knew back then, as a football player, I really didn’t have any freedom to do things like go to parties. So I kind of fell in love with that. But when I found out I was having him, my whole drive and way of thinking about life changed. I had to provide for him and I knew I had to go out there and go get it. I’m where I am today because of him.

Looking back at where you were as a freshman and where you are now, how far have you come?

I became a man. I grew a long way. I was a little selfish. I was a little, childish kid coming in as a freshman. I used to Tweet about my problems and not playing early on. I honestly wanted to transfer, but coach sat me down and talked to me and I learned patience. I learned how to be patient and everything worked out for me.

How different is your body now from when you were a freshman?

When I came in my freshman year, my body weight was probably 175. My sophomore year I played at 195, so that was a big difference, and I probably played my junior year at 205 the whole season. I like to eat peanut butter and jelly, but the strength coach was on me. They made sure I did what I needed to do to be able to maintain taking the hits in the SEC.

Was there a point in your career where you felt like everything came together for you on the football field?

It was the fourth game of my sophomore year. I was a pretty a raw receiver. It was only my second year playing the position. And as I was learning, everything started to slow down for me. I learned how to be patient. I learned how to just let things come to me and not try to make the big play right then and there. So the game itself just slow down for me.

Tell us about last season, when you made the move from running back to quarterback.   

Last season was kind of crazy for me and for the program as a whole. In the first game, we go out and play Toledo. We win. The second game, we go out and midway through the third quarter, starting quarterback Terry Wilson goes down, and we’re hearing from inside that he’s probably going to be out for the rest of the season. The third game, we play Florida. Sawyer Smith, our quarterback, is trying to play through a broken wrist. They end up coming back and beating us at home. And it felt like, from that point on, we drastically went down.

During the South Carolina game, there’s a couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter, and I tell coach, ‘What else we got to lose? Just let me go in for a drive at quarterback.’ So we ended up scoring on five plays in 35 seconds when I was at quarterback. Going into the bye week, they gave me the opportunity to lead the team as a quarterback. And I never looked back.

In my first game against Arkansas, I had three total touchdowns, one pass and two rushing.  After Terry went down, they never thought we would win four games. We ended up winning six games with me at quarterback. I was 6-2 and I rushed for over a hundred yards every game besides the Georgia game. I ended up being an SEC leader in rushing. And I ended up leading all of the NCAA with 7.9 yards per carry.

Kentucky coach Vince Marrow said you were the smartest player they had a UK. How do you think your football IQ developed throughout the years?

Coach Marrow always talks highly of me, and I always do what he asks me to do. My football IQ level was probably through the roof because I got to play every position. I’ve probably played every position on the field and throughout all my life. And I just know different things, different schemes and the stuff that they teach me, I really soak up and use it.

Is there anything you have to do on game day to feel like you’re ready to go?

I don’t care if it’s snowing, raining or whatever, I take a lap around the stadium to get my mind right. Then I go to the goal post and breathe. I have this App on my Apple watch and I breathe for a minute and listen to the music in my headphones and then I’m ready. I listen to little sleep lullabies. It’s weird, but it relaxes me.

What do you do to escape from football?

My escape from football is playing video games. Fortnite. That and my son and my family at home. I like to spend time with them and watch movies. We are always watching Baby Shark because of my son. That’s what he loves.

How would you describe your leadership style?

I’m very vocal. I know how to talk to guys. I’m going to say how I feel and I’m going to listen to how you feel. And we’re going to figure it out and correct it and go. Sometimes we might not agree. Sometimes we’re going to agree. But I never leave someone without having them know that I care.

When it comes to NFL prospects, people often say the film speaks for itself. What does your film say about you?

If you turned on my film, you’ll see I’m a competitor first. I’m a dog at heart and I’m always fighting. Fight to the end.

How much progress would you say you’ve made since you arrived here at EXOS?

Since I arrived at EXOS, I think I have made a lot of progress. I’m buying in. Like I said, it’s my first time ever training in my life. So a lot of things they’re doing here are new to me. I’m slowly but surely getting it.

When things get tough or you feel like you might want to give up or quit, what do you think about to keep you going?

When things get rough, I just think about my son. How he going to eat? If I don’t take care of him, who will?

You have over 70 tattoos. Are there any tattoos you feel have really special significance to you?

I got one a couple of months ago. It says, ‘hate it or love it and the it is me.’ I feel like the world is going to either hate me or love me, but I’m still going to be me.

Why do you love football today?

What I love about football is it’s me. I get away. It takes all the pain away. It takes all the outside noise away. I just know when I have a football in my hands, I can do no wrong.

If you give one piece of advice to high school athletes, what would it be?

If I gave one piece of advice to athletes in high school, I’d just tell them to take their school work seriously and never give up on anything they want to accomplish.

Prince Tega Wanogho was called “Prince” because his grandfather was the king of his village of Warri, in Delta State, Nigeria. Young Prince grew up playing soccer, but it was basketball that stole his heart. He wanted to be a basketball star; specifically, the next Lebron James. He was 6-5, the seventh of nine children in his family, and he looked at basketball as his path to a better life.

When Todd Taylor, a high school basketball coach at Edgewood Academy in Elmore, Alabama, north of Montgomery, saw videos of Tega Wanogho at a basketball camp in Nigeria, Taylor quickly offered Tega Wanogho a scholarship to come to the United States. He would live with Taylor, whom he called “Papa T,” and his wife Christy, whom he called “Mama T,” throughout his high school career. But he would quickly realize basketball wasn’t the only game in town.

Edgewood’s football coach saw Tega Wanogho and another basketball player tossing a football on the sidelines at basketball practice, and asked if he wanted to try out for the team. Tega Wanogho’s only football knowledge came from the movies The Longest Yard, The Waterboy and Remember the Titans, but he decided to give it a shot. The school had no cleats to fit his size-16 feet, so he laced up his Jordans, put on a helmet and stepped on the field for his tryout as a defensive tackle.

“On defense, the game plan was just to get the quarterback,” Tega Wanogho says. “For a long time, I couldn’t differentiate the running back and the quarterback, so I’d just tackle whoever got the ball.”

Tega Wanogho learned quickly, and by his junior year in high school, he was being heavily recruited by college football powerhouses Georgia, Florida, Oregon and Kentucky. But he decided on nearby Auburn, where he was moved from defense to offense. By 2017, just a few short years after taking up football, he was starting for the Tigers at left tackle. He started 25 of 26 games as a junior and senior and earned second-team all-SEC honors in 2019. And, he fulfilled the promise he made to his mother, who passed unexpectedly in 2017, so many years ago in Nigeria. He graduated with not one, but two degrees; the first in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in sport coaching, and the second in human development and family studies.

Tega Wanogho missed the NFL combine with a meniscus tear in his right knee, an injury through which the 305-pounder played most of his senior year at Auburn. He was initially projected to go in the third round of April’s NFL draft, but his injury likely caused his stock to fall and allowed the Eagles to get him as a late-round steal, at No. 210 overall in the 6th round. Other teams may have been worried about Tega Wanogho’s general lack of football experience, but Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn disagrees.

“His best days are ahead of him,” says Malzahn of Tega Wanogho, who has the feet of a soccer player and the massive body of an All-Pro tackle. “You are talking about a guy who has only played the position for two and a half years. I think the sky is the limit for him and he may end up being the steal of the draft when everything is all said and done and you can fast forward a few years.”

Tega Wanogho, who faced some of the most talented pass rushers in the country while at Auburn, is confident in his own abilities as well.

“I didn’t give up a sack last year,” Tega Wanogho told NJ.com. “And I feel like that’s something most of the coaches worry about, thinking about I’m a newcomer; but at the same time, I’m a guy who takes pride in whatever I do. I stay hungry at all times, and I’m going to come in there ready to go to work.”

STACK sat down with Tega Wanogho, who was training at EXOS in Pensacola, Florida, to prepare for the NFL combine. Here is a transcript of that interview, which has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Tega Wanogho Interview Transcript

STACK: Tell us a little bit about where you originally grew up.

PRINCE TEGA WANOGHO: I originally grew up in Delta State, Nigeria. I moved to the United States when I was 16, in August, 2014. The dream originally was to come here and play basketball, with the hope of being the next LeBron James. It turns out I was actually better at football. I was out there watching kids practice football at my high school, Edgewood Academy in Alabama. The coach asked me if I wanted to play. I had seen movies about football, The Longest Yard and Waterboy, but aside from that, I didn’t know much about it. But I said OK. I remember going to the tryouts and they didn’t have size 16 cleats for me, so I had to practice in my tennis shoes, and they helped me put the pads on and gave me a helmet. It felt so different.

For Americans that might not be familiar with the Delta State region, what is it like?

It’s not as developed as the United States. Delta State has a total of 40-something million people. Warri is the city I grew up in, and it’s the biggest city in Delta State. The capital is Asaba. Everything is way different, especially talking about construction or building-wise or road-wise. It’s not as developed. You still have people selling food on the roadside. Coming to the United States is a big eye-opener because you see movies of the United States and you always say to yourself, “I want to be able to to go there someday. I want to be able to see stuff like that some day.” So, it’s crazy to be here.

What other sports did you play growing up?

Growing up, Soccer was our football. That’s what we play. I always wanted to play the striker position, but they always asked me to go to the back because I was taller than my age group and I always played center back playing soccer. I played soccer until I was 13 or 14, when I started seeing myself as taller than every other kid. I was invited to a basketball academy in Nigeria, and I fell in love with it. I was a power forward and a center, but I always actually wanted to play the point guard because I thought I had the best hands on the court. I always wanted to bring the ball up court, but I wasn’t a very good shooter. I was pretty good in mid-range and at the rebounding game, and I was good at dunking the ball.

How’d you feel about going to America to try and play basketball?

It was something I always dreamt about. I always thought I was going to be the next LeBron James. It was a big change, leaving my family and coming to the United States. I was the only one who came over. My family was still back home in Nigeria. It was tough, but at the same time my family understood this was actually a big chance for me to become something in life, and realized I was actually doing something not for just myself, but also for my family back home. They knew it was the right decision to make.

How was the adjustment of living with an American family in America?

I lived with the Taylor family. At first, I wasn’t comfortable, and they weren’t really comfortable, but Mama C – I called Christy Taylor Mama C and Todd Taylor Papa T – tried so hard to make sure she pleased me and to provide for me, because she told my mom she was going to take care of me. But living with a new family in a new land was an adjustment. I felt like an invader in their home. But now, they’re my family.

What position did you play when you started football?

They had put me on defense and I remember they were trying to teach me how to get in the three-point stance, which was hard. They actually put me on tight end on offense also. The coach told me if they actually were going to pass the ball to me, just run straight 10 yards. I didn’t even know what 10 yards was on the football field. So, I was just running, and they’d tell me to go left or right. On defense, the game plan was just to get the quarterback. For a long time, I couldn’t differentiate the running back and the quarterback. So, all I’d just tackle whoever got the ball. That’s how the whole football thing started.

What was the recruiting process like?

As a kid who grew up in Nigeria, I didn’t know what it was supposed to be like. Kentucky made an offer, and the Florida Gators and Georgia and other bit schools. I remember my coach measuring me in the door frame of the field house so they could see how big and tall I was. These big-time coaches were flying in or driving over to come see me at my school, and my friends were like, “Bro, you don’t know what’s going on.” I thought if you played football, that’s how it was supposed to be, that it was like that for everyone else. I didn’t understand it.

How did you ultimately decide that Auburn was the right place for you?

I only visited LSU and Auburn. I had broken my leg playing basketball, and I went to Auburn for my visit in a wheelchair. It just feels different when you go to a place and it feels like home to you. And it was just 35 minutes away from my new family. So, that made my decision easy.

The weight room is such a big part of college football. How did you adapt to that at Auburn?

When I got to Auburn, I wasn’t lifting that much, but I was doing it somewhat in high school. When I go to college, I wasn’t allowed to do much lower body-wise because I was rehabbing my broken leg. I was just doing upper body stuff, which was crazy because when I got to Auburn, I was around 245 or 240 pounds, and by the fall, I was 285 or 290. I wasn’t on a special diet or restricted in my eating. It all just came from being able to be in the weight room and practicing all the time.

How and when did you make the switch to offensive line?

I remember it was after the 2016 spring game. We would go to go talk to the coaches for an evaluation and they would tell you what you need to do to get better. I had just talked to my D-line coach, Coach G – Rodney Garner. He told me a couple of things I need to work on, then told me to go meet with Coach Malzahn. And he said, “What do you think about offense? We’re going to switch you to offensive tackle.” I didn’t grow up playing football, so I didn’t really know a lot about it, so I told him I was open to whatever he wanted me to do. But he didn’t tell Coach G, and when he came back from recruiting and found out, he was like, “What’s going on?” He still teases me to this day. He says, “I went out for a little while and you switched on me.”

What was the learning curve like for you at offensive tackle?

I knew I wasn’t going to start that first year when I had made the switch because we had a lot of good guys returning. I was put on the right side. Robert Leff was like a big brother and a mentor to me, and he played right, so I was under him. My mindset was that I was going to bring my effort every day to be able be in the second string, and that’s what I did. I didn’t really actually know much about the offense or know about the play calling. So, I sat back there and watched Robert, tried to see whatever he did and tried to do it. That’s how I practiced, that’s how I learned. I was doing that on every play and during practice and during walk-through. I tried to ask questions and he kind enough to actually explain everything to me. And by the end of full camp, I was the second string, which was actually pretty cool.

When did everything kind of come together for you and you feel like you really saw a big jump in your play?

My first year starting was 2017, so I would say 2018. At first, I was learning from watching and taking mental reps. Then, I got to start, so I was no longer watching anybody else. I got to watch myself on whatever tape they provided for us. And, it was tough, because even though I started that year, I wasn’t really ready. I thought I was, but I really wasn’t, and it showed against Clemson. So, I would say ’18 was the year I was able to sit down and actually watch a film and critique myself and was able to see a wider picture of the game. I think that’s where experience actually comes in. You start to understand what some players might do, and start to see those little tendencies. I feel like 2018 was the year everything started really slowing down for me.

You listen to music before you play. Who are your favorite artists?

I listen to Nigerian music a lot. Burna Boy is actually Afrobeat. I listen to country too. I’m a big Luke Combs guy. I’m not really a big fan of rap, but I do listen to it sometimes, too.

What is your leadership style?

I’m not a rah-rah guy. I’m not going to be there yelling and trying to make everybody do whatever I’m doing. My style is just leading by example. Just doing the right things all the time. I feel like there’s always someone watching you, even though you don’t know it, and they’ll see you and say, I want to be like that guy. So, I try to lead by example. I try to not make a mistake. I know I’m going to make some mistakes in life, but I try to make the right decision at all times because I know guys are watching me.

Why was graduating from college something that was really important for you?

Growing up in Nigeria, I promised my mom I would graduate, and that was on of the reasons she let me come to the United States. She knew coming here would give me a better education. She wasn’t a big fan of football because she had seen rugby and thought it was dangerous. But she let me come because they were going to pay for my school, and I told her school will come first and everything else will come second. So I owed it to her to graduate.

When did it dawn on you that the NFL was an actual possibility?

When I started my first game, I thought I actually had a shot for it. I didn’t think I was actually good enough or the best, but at the same time I knew I was going to compete. Just a chance to be there, to be at the door, that’s all I actually ever asked for. I didn’t know I was going to be projected to go second round or third round or whatever. All I wanted was just a chance to be over there and go compete.

People like to say that a player’s film speaks for itself. What do you think your film says about you?

My film says everything about me. You see a guy who is going to compete, who’s going to bring effort into our game every time. I’m not just athletic, I’m a smart player, too. That’s when experience actually comes in, too, because I’m a guy who played in one of the best conferences in the nation and played in one of the best colleges in the nation, and to be able to play at that level, I feel like my film is going to speak a lot about me.

Are there any NFL players whose games you try to emulate?

I try to watch Tyron Smith for the Cowboys. He plays left tackle. He’s just smooth, and he’s a very strong guy, too. I just watch and pick up little details from him, but at the same time I try to model my game to myself, to something that is actually for me.

How did you get the title of “Prince?”

My granddad was a king. Here, he would been mayor, but we say king back home in my village. So, he was mayor of my village and that’s how I become like a prince. So, prince is just a title.

With your knee injury, it has been difficult to train as much as you like, but how has the experience at EXOS been for you?

It has been good. Some of the guys here are going to go first round, and just being around them, watching their work ethic is great. That’s something I feed off of energy-wise. You want to be around positive vibes and that’s what I try to do. I try to stay around them and just watch a little, pick up a little information, learn as much as I can.

How has your nutrition evolved over time?

Here at EXOS, they make you put the right stuff in your body. They’re not going to just let you eat whatever, and I feel like I actually needed that structure. I tried to start eating right my senior year of college. Our right guard and left guard and I would hold each other accountable. We started going to the cafeteria and eating more veggies and stuff like that. I’ve continued that here, because it’s actually better for you. I look different. And at my size, eating right puts less toll on my body and on my knees.

When things feel tough and you feel like you might want to quit, what drives you to keep moving forward?

My family back home in Nigeria. It’s not easy over there. So, that’s my biggest drive. When I’m not feeling like working out or even waking up, I always try to do the best I can because I know at the end of the day, it’s not just my family depending on me. I like to say the whole village is depending on me because I know there are so many lives I can change by being in the position I’m in. That’s what keeps me going.

If you had one piece of advice to high school athletes, what would it be?

I would just tell them just keep pushing. It’s not easy. Life is not easy. Football, or whatever sport you choose, is not easy. But keep pushing. Always make sure you put yourself in the right position because you don’t know who’s watching you. Make the right decisions, put yourself in the right positions and just keep pushing. 

“Blackhole of a presence on the interior.” “Freight train of a first step.” “Can toss opponents aside like last week’s trash.” Watch his 2020 NFL Combine workout and you’ll be amazed at how quickly that much mass can move. So it’s no wonder Carolina Panthers first-year head coach Matt Rhule chose Brown as the man around which to rebuild his defense. Rhule took Brown with Carolina’s first draft pick, No. 7 overall, and started the process of selecting seven defensive players in the draft, marking the first time in modern NFL history a team has done that.

It is clear, however, that Rhule has tapped Brown to lead his squad. And though Brown is a beast of a three-down player, it is his character that Rhule expects to set the biggest example. Brown and girlfriend Tayla Main have a 1-year-old son, Kai. No one would have faulted Brown for leaving school after his junior year to be an NFL draft pick and earn millions to take care of Kai and the rest of his family. But Brown stayed at Auburn to earn his degree in marketing and fulfill his obligation to the football team. Rhule watched Brown put the risk of injury aside to play in his final game as a college athlete, the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day, which was relatively meaningless for both Brown and the Tigers.

“Here’s a guy who came back for his senior year,” Rhule told ESPN. “He’s a consensus top-10 pick. He goes to play in the bowl. It’s not the playoffs. He’s playing against the University of Minnesota. He plays every snap except for maybe a couple as his normal rotation.”

Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele calls Brown a “finisher.” “Whatever he starts, he give it his all,” Steele told ESPN. “He practices like that. He goes to school like that. That’s who he is.”

Brown, for his part, says staying in school to graduate was the best decision he ever made. “I have my degree in my hand and I was a top-10 pick,” he says. “Can’t ask for much more in this life.”

Before committing to play football at Auburn, Brown was actually also a basketball star at Lanier High School in Sugar Hill, Georgia, which could account for his freakish athleticism. He describes his basketball style as “dominant,” which is no surprise when you consider Brown, already 315 pounds in high school, could dunk at will. But when Brown realized he had the potential to someday play in the NFL, he chose to focus on football.

At Auburn, Brown played in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2016, logging 11 tackles, 1.5 for loss. As a sophomore in 2017, he became a full-time starter for the Tigers, tallying 56 tackles, nine for loss, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 14 games. In 2018, SEC coaches voted him second-team all-conference, after he started all 13 Auburn games, compiling 48 tackles, 10.5 for loss, 4.5 sacks and two pass breakups from the middle of Auburn’s defense. As a senior in 2019, Brown had 55 tackles, 12.5 for loss, four sacks and four pass breakups causing two fumbles. He won the 2019 Lott IMPACT Trophy, which goes to the defensive player who has the biggest IMPACT (Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity). He also earned first-team Associated Press All-American and first-team All-SEC honors and was a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award and Outland Trophy.

STACK caught up with Brown as he prepared for the pre-draft process at EXOS in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity. 

STACK: What are your first memories of playing football?

Derrick Brown: I first started playing football when I was 9. I was excited about it until we got to the season. We were going to practice every day, and I was like, ‘Man, this is too much.’ So, I think the next year, I told my dad, ‘Nah. I’m not going to go. I’m just going to play basketball.’ My dad didn’t take too kind to that. So, I ended up playing football and really didn’t grow a love for the game until about my sophomore year (of high school). I was playing because all my buddies were playing. And then, sophomore year, I got my first offer, and I was like, ‘OK. This is going to be the way I’m going to be able to take care of my family one day.’

What did you not like about football at first?

It was fun to hit, I never had a problem with the hitting aspect, but it was way hotter than being in the basketball gym. I played basketball before I played football. It’s just one of those things, you got to grow to love the heat.

How did that first offer change things?

In my household, my dad always talks about ability. So, I had the ability to be able to obtain a scholarship. So, as he saw it, either you get a scholarship, or else, you can go to Paris Island, South Carolina. That’s where the Marines are. That’s how we grew up, though. Tough love.

Coming off my sophomore year, I started getting a lot more attention from schools. That’s when I was like, I want to be the number one player in the country. I got to number one player in the state, but never reached my goal of number one player in the country. So when I got to college, I felt like I had a lot more to prove. 

You mention basketball. What was Derrick Brown the basketball player like?

I was dominant. I was a big guy, but I had a mean jump shot from the corner. Just being able to play my game was my favorite part about it…I think it contributed to a lot of footwork stuff in football. A lot of guys that don’t play basketball or do any other sport, they’re kind of straight football mobility, you can see it. If you go to the rec and play with some my teammates, you can immediately see, ‘OK, buddy. You ain’t played basketball too much.’

What athletes did you grow up admiring?

I was a basketball guy. So, of course, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant. Football guys, you hear about the Warren Sapps, the Vince Wilforks. Not flashy guys, but dominant, just absolutely dominant in the game. Deacon Jones. Guys like that. Just real throwbacks. Ndamukong Suh. DeMarcus Ware. Those guys.

What was your typical high school day like?

We started school at 7:10 a.m. at (Lanier High School in Sugar Hill, Georgia). I’m up and out the house by at least 6:15. Weight training first period. Even during basketball season, I had to weight train during first period, then I had basketball practice after school. It was a chaotic schedule, but it was one that I grew to love.

How important has the weight room been in your development?

I always took pride in being really strong, but I mean, being really strong was something I kind of had—that natural, country strong. It was something where I didn’t have to work my strongest at the beginning. But I started wanting to set goals and be able to hit certain weights. Going from high school to college, I mean, I was able to blow that stuff out of the water. I like being the strongest man, and that’s how I try to work in the weight room.

When I first got to Auburn, I wanted to break the Squat record. It was previously held by Devaroe Lawrence. Sophomore spring, I was able to break it—590 pounds. That was one of the things I came in and said, “I want to do this, and I’m going to do it.” And I did it. When I did it, man, I just felt (overwhelmed) and accomplished. It put a big smile on my face.

In a tweet, you recalled being told you only got offers because you were big. Is that true?

Yeah. When certain things are said to you in life, you don’t forget. I remember I put something on Twitter or whatever, thanking the school for whoever offered me, and I guess some people in my high school were like, “That’s showboating.” It’s like one of those things where I just grew a chip on my shoulder, and I’ve been out to prove everybody wrong ever since I started focusing on this. To finally be able to say what I want to say about it, I hope the message got to him.

Why Auburn?

My sophomore year, I got invited to come watch a game. It was actually the Prayer at Jordan-Hare. That was my first ever recruiting visit. My father, my head coach, my defensive coordinator, we went down to watch Auburn-Georgia that day. It’s funny because that’s where it all started, and that’s where it ended for me. A lot of people said, ‘Why don’t you go to Georgia? You’ve been in Georgia most of your life.’ Or, ‘Why don’t you go to Mississippi State?’, because both of my parents graduated from Mississippi State. Well, I wanted to start my own thing. I think I made the right decision wholeheartedly.

Brown had a front row seat when Auburn defeated Georgia on a last-minute deflected Hail Mary in 2013

I wanted to be an All-American. Making the decision to come back to school last year, I would’ve never been able to fulfill my dreams without that. I graduated in December and I was named a unanimous All-American. There’ve only been 10 guys to do that in Auburn’s history, and I was the 10th. Putting my name in that category with those guys, I mean, it just brought nothing but smiles to my face.

How much has your body changed since your freshman year at Auburn?

When I got to Auburn, I was like 340 with a bad body fat percentage. By the time I finished the first summer conditioning program, I was 303. Lost 37 pounds in like three months. When I had went home right before fall camp, my mom was like, ‘You look so…Your face is just so…just skinny!” I’m like, “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s all that running every day.” We ran religiously my first year. Man, man, man, I didn’t know.

Who played the biggest role in your development at Auburn?

My defensive line coach, coach (Rodney) Garner, he never changed up on me. He pushed me day in and day out. By my senior year, he still treated me like I was a freshman out there. It’s one of those things where you don’t necessarily see it when you first get there because it’s tough love, (but) by the time you get done, you appreciate it so much. He pushed me for four years. Now I’m able to go out and be able to make a living for my family and do what I love. Being able to choose Auburn, out of all of the schools I got ready to choose, Coach G is the only defensive line coach that’s still at the same school. That just speaks highly of who he is and what he does.

People like to say the film speaks for itself. What does your film say about you? 

That I’m dominant. That I try to correct any inconsistencies and take over games. I had a few games at the beginning of the season where I felt like I wasn’t playing like myself. I had to really kind of assess myself out there in game two and try to take over. That’s what I tried to do on the backend of the season, because for us, every game’s a money game in the SEC.

What inconsistencies did you specifically try to address?

I got tired of people talking about, ‘He has flashes. He shows flashes.’ I got tired of hearing that. And this year, I just tried to clearly take over games, the first quarter through the fourth. What helped a lot with that was being conditioned. Even after fall camp was over, Coach G would still run us. That’s one of those things where, at the time, you’re like, “Man, we got to run suicides again after fall camp.” And everybody else was going back to the building. But being out there and being able to take those substantial amounts of snaps, it was something I was ready for.

You have a son, Kai. How has Kai changed your outlook on life?

My son is the biggest blessing in my life. He’s 1 now, and he tears up everything. He plays in everything. Just anything he can get his hands on, he finds enjoyment with. It’s fun because now he’s starting to get to the point where he’s trying to walk. So, we’re like, ‘Okay. We need him walking.’ And as soon as he starts walking, then I don’t know. I’ll feel old then. I feel old now. When he hit 1, I was like, ‘God. I got a 1-year-old, man.’ It’s crazy.

Derrick and Kai take the Tiger Walk into Jordan-Hare Stadium

Every time I get up in the morning, I got to take care of my family. My dad told me growing up, ‘You don’t always want to do what you need to do.’ I wake up, see him laying in bed, see him at peace and comfort, and I’ve got to be able to keep that thing going. I’ve got to go out and do the hard part so that, one day, he never has a question about his dad. He can sit and say, “My dad did this. This is how I’m going to do it.”

Kameron, your younger brother, joined Auburn as a linebacker last season. What was that like?

Being able to celebrate in the locker room with your brother is an awesome feeling. It’s one of those things that my parents were just so happy to see us be able to play together my senior year and his freshman year. I was just blessed to have that opportunity to be with my little brother again.

Derrick and Kameron Brown

We hadn’t taken a snap together since the fall of 2015, and just being on the same field again, it was just something that you can’t really describe. It’s a mind-blowing experience, and I’m hoping the best for him now on. I’ll just kind of be watching over him, even from a distance now, making sure he’s doing right. I think he’ll have a great time and a good career there.

You were a captain at Auburn. What makes you a leader?

I feel like I was a leader on and off the field. I led with my play, and being able to have an impact on people is very (important) to me, because it’s one of those things where I’ve had so many people impact my life.

One of my buddies, we’re really good buddies now, but when he first got to Auburn, I started messing with him, playing around with him. I was just joking with him, but he took me serious. I was like, ‘Barry, calm down.’ He was like, ‘You gotta understand, man. We’re just coming in here, and you’re Derrick Brown to us. Last year, we were fans. We’re walk-ons.’ It’s funny to see it full circle like that, but my best friends on the team—I got best friends that are scholarship guys, best friends that are walk-ons. I always tried to make everybody feel like they’re equal. I don’t like when people try to downplay people. That’s not cool.

What goes through your mind during a tough workout?

I got a kid. I ain’t got no choice. I ain’t got no choice, because my son didn’t ask to be here. I brought him here, and my job is to take care of him. I wear that job as being a father with a lot of pride on my shoulder.

Where does your confidence come from?

I think just over time, just learning the game. I feel like I’m able to compete with whoever. So, whenever I get ready to line up, I mean, I’m all about it. You’re going to get my best effort. I hope you give me yours. At the end of the day, somebody’s best effort won’t quite match up.

For the team that drafts you, what kind of player will they be getting?

They’re going to get a guy who’s consistent. They’re going to get a guy that doesn’t have to be talked to, doesn’t have to be pushed to work harder. That’s something that’s just built into me.

You almost quit football. Now you’re a top NFL prospect. Do you ever reflect on that?

Yeah. I’m definitely thankful my parents didn’t let me make such a stupid mistake. Now I look at it and I’m like, ‘Man, I could’ve lost everything back then for one decision.’ But my parents never accepted anybody in our household being mediocre. That’s just a testament to how they raised us.

If you could give one piece of advice to high school athletes, what would it be?

Trust in the process. I see a lot of guys nowadays, even in college, getting upset and wanting to enter the transfer portal. Everybody wants to find a new way or quit something, and a lot of guys don’t believe in the process. At first when I got to Auburn, it was hard to understand. When you’re young, it’s hard to understand the whole process of everything. But like coaches keep telling you, it’s a process.

A lot of kids don’t listen. I was one of those guys. When I was in high school, I used to think I knew everything, but when I got to college, I got woken up. And if you can avoid that in high school, then it’ll be very beneficial for you. Just listen, continue to work hard, and take everything in you can. Enjoy the moment. Be patient.

Photo Credit: Matthew Visinsky/Getty Images, @DerrickBrownAU5, Auburn Athletics

“Our OC calls an isolation route play to me,” Okwuegbunam recalls. “It’s me against the corner and I ran a corner [route] on him, hit him with a double move. Drew Lock was our quarterback at time. He threw it to me and I made a crazy catch in the corner of the end zone to take the lead back.” Both teams would score another touchdown and each would kick a field goal, but the Tigers would hold on for the 48-45 win.

Tight end Albert Okwuegbunam ran a 4.49 40-Yard Dash at the 2020 NFL Combine (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Okwuegbunam finished his freshman season with 11 touchdown passes on 29 catches for a total of 415 yards. He was named second-team All-SEC and was an SEC All-Freshman selection, and his connection with Lock was palpable. The following season, as a sophomore, Okwuegbunam would log 43 catches and 466 yards, again with Lock as his quarterback. As a junior, without Lock, Okwuegbunam’s production dropped to 26 catches for 306 yards, but now, he’ll get another chance to pair up with his former Tigers’ teammate.

A year after trading up in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft to select Lock, the Denver Bronco’s took Okwuegbunam in the fourth round of April’s NFL Draft. But not before Bronco’s general manager John Elway got the scoop on Okwuegbunam from Lock.

“When Drew gave him the seal of approval, we were glad he was our target in the fourth round,” Elway told the Denver Post. “Plus, he’s a 4.49 guy that can really run at 258 pounds, and he’s a big target in the red zone.”

The 6-5, 258-pound Okwuegbunam had electrified at the 2020 NFL Combine in February with that 4.49-second performance in the 40-Yard Dash. According to NFL Research, his was the second-fastest 40 time clocked by a player who is at least 6-5 and 250 pounds since 2003; only Montez Sweat’s 2019 effort of 4.41 was quicker.

No one doubts Albert O’s ability to catch passes and score TDs, but some question his skills as a true blocker at the next level, and injuries nagged him throughout his time at Mizzou. His final season was cut short by a shoulder injury, but he still managed to play in nine of the Tigers’ 11 games in 2019.

Still, Okwuegbunam’s big-play ability cannot be ignored. In his sophomore season, Okwuegbunam helped the Tigers romp Memphis when he hauled in six passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns. He also showed up big with a career-high nine catches for 81 yards in a loss to No. 2 Georgia. Okwuegbunam has six multi-TD games on his resume.

“I think what makes Albert so special is how smart he is and how he finds open spots on the field,” Lock told the Denver Post. “Really, him in the red zone, you can find a lot of clips of us at Mizzou on corner routes, putting it up high to him and letting him go get it.”

“He is a massive human being,” Lock continued. “He is very athletic, can go up and get the ball and moves really well.”

Okwuegbunam, whose father, Albert Sr., emigrated to the United States from Nigeria, was a football and basketball star at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield, Illinois.

STACK met with Albert O when he was training for the NFL Combine at EXOS in Pensacola, Florida. Below is the transcript of that interview, edited for length and clarity.

Okwuegbunam was a three-year starter at Mizzou. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

STACK: What were some of your earliest memories of playing football, and where did those take place?

Albert Okwuegbunam: I can remember throwing a football around since I could walk. But I started organized football when I was 9 years old, summer going into third grade, and ever since then, it’s just where my heart’s been. I fell in love with it

What did you like about football right away?

Really just the competitiveness. I love the competitiveness of football. I felt it from a young age, I think that’s really what drove me to it.

Was there any one person who had a really big impact on you as a youth athlete, who kind of helped shape you and make sure you were staying on a good trajectory?

Both of my parents were really, really discipline-oriented, made sure academics came first and also they preached, I gave everything my 100 percent. Never could quit or anything like that. But as far as an athletic role model, going into high school, I really liked Calvin Johnson and his game. With me being a big athletic receiver, when I first started playing, I watched a lot of his tape and tried to emulate my game after his.

You also played basketball in high school. What kind of basketball player were you?

Yeah, I was good. I played mostly in the post growing up, just from being bigger than most of the kids that I played with. And then moving into high school, I played center as well. I’m 6-5. At the time in high school, I was probably one of the tallest centers in our conference, but in the Division-I level, I would have been too short. That’s kind of where I leaned to football, where I felt like I just had a much better athletic advantage than I did in basketball.

When did you start getting serious about actually training and maybe getting in the weight room and stuff like that?

Definitely going into college. Being in the area that I’m from, I was blessed and had a big advantage, physically, over a lot of people I played against. I wasn’t necessarily forced to take the weight room seriously. Going into college, when I actually transitioned, because I played wide receiver in high school, so when I transitioned into the tight end role, that took a lot of adjustment just to actually take nutrition seriously, take the weight room seriously, because I had to gain a lot of weight. I had to put on a lot of strength and muscle. That’s when I really learned how to work hard in the weight room and just all that.

Okwuegbunam caught more than one TD in a single game six times at Mizzou. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Were you someone in high school who would wake up early or stay late to try and get in extra work, and if so, what did extra work look like for you?

Well luckily for me, the high school that I attended, it was so oriented around doing extra. I had no problem with finding guys. Our coach would have us up early before school, in the gym, running routes. They did a really good job of encouraging that. And even the summer practices, as 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds, we were out there almost every day of the summer, on the field at 5:30 a.m., warming up, catching balls before practice, which started at 6 a.m.

Were you a guy who wrote down goals?

No, not really. I don’t really like to talk about my goals. People talk about speaking your goals into existence, and I believe that they can also be spoken out of existence. I like to keep my goals to myself. I feel like the only person that it’s important to know your goals is yourself. Other than the general one of being the best at what you do—I think that should be everybody’s goal—but specific goals, I just like to keep those to myself and work on them every day.

Was there a moment in high school, or maybe a game where you kind of realized, ‘OK, I’m pretty good at this football thing and maybe this could take me pretty far?‘

I feel like it was my sophomore year, in general. I was playing JV at first, and I felt like that’s when I really started to dominate. It’s just the plays that I was making and I started to get in sync with my body, so my coordination started coming together and I started playing really well. That’s when coaches started to come to me and said they’ve seen what division one talent looks like. They said that they saw it in me. I just continued to work hard in developing into what I am today. And then actually, at the end of the sophomore year, I had a chance to play in the state championship on the defensive side of the ball. That’s when I first really got the first taste of what it was like to be a good football player. I think I just built on from there

Okwuegbunam was a football and basketball star at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield, Illinois. (Photo by Swell House Media)

Did you go through a period where you had a growth spurt and were kind of adjusting to your body?

I tell you, my freshman year was the biggest one. After my freshman year, I think I grew 3 inches in a summer. That was definitely different for me at first, because I was really skinny and lanky, and then that’s kind of when I started to even out and bulk up a little bit, and it all started to come together.

There’s a quote from you where you said your first four games your senior year of high school, you didn’t get tackled. Is that true? How that’s possible?

Yeah, that’s true. Actually, if you pull up my highlights, you can see a lot of it. A lot of the times when they threw me the ball, I would just score or I would get ran out of bounds, but I didn’t hit the ground until, I think, the sixth game or something like that, sixth, seventh game, something like that.

What was the recruiting experience like for you? How was that journey and why did you end up picking Mizzou as being the best place for you?

You have a lot of, essentially, grown men telling you why you should commit to their school and come in to their program. It is a lot of stress, especially if you don’t have a lot of resources, if it’s parents or other family members helping you make that decision, which can be a lot of our cases. I think it was good. I had a chance to visit Mizzou and another couple of places, and I really just fell in love with the atmosphere there and the players and just everything about it. The coaches as well, but ultimately the atmosphere, and so that’s why I committed there.

How different is your body now than it was when you were a freshman at Mizzou?

It’s a lot different. When I first got there, as a freshman, I was just told to eat whatever and just put on as much weight as possible. I was bulky, not as lean, so I feel like I’ve definitely leaned out a lot, obviously a lot stronger.

I remember, pretty much every day that summer, for breakfast especially, I would just eat a ridiculous amount of food. I would have two big Belgian waffles, with the waffle makers, and a plate of eggs, a giant plate of eggs, and I’d eat that every morning for breakfast, and a big, big lunch, a big dinner, and then snacks in between. I was doing that every day, plus with the strenuous workout regimen, working out six days a week, that put weight on me pretty fast.

Okwuegbunam trained for the NFL Combine at EXOS in Pensacola, Florida. (Photo by Swell House Media)

Where do you feel like you made your biggest improvements from last season to this season?

I’d say, just definitely and just overall knowledge of the game. When it comes to the real fine details, the X’s and O’s, just whether it’s talking defensive fronts, defensive coverages, or just overall route schemes and just going through the quarterback’s reads and which coverages are making them look at which route first. Just certain things like that helped slow the game down and definitely gave me an advantage.

Being a college athlete is a lot. It’s a lot of responsibility. Did you have any habits you utilized that helped you stay on track and helped prevent you from getting overwhelmed?

Oh yeah. I think it’s good important to take advantage of your teammates. Being in college and being such a tight knit group, a habit that I had would just be getting with my tight end group or just getting with close friends I had on the team and making sure we set up a schedule. Come in to eat at this time together, just finding times in your schedule when you can come in and eat, when you can come in and stretch, rollout, get an extra lift in, get in the cold tub. Just certain stuff like that, I think it’s important to utilize your teammates and help encourage each other. That helped me create a lot of good habits.

Do you have any game day rituals that you go through?

I have to take a shower on game day. It has to be a relatively soon before we leave the hotel to head to the stadium. That’s really the only the ritual that I have.

Everyone has an escape from football, as much as you love the sport, everyone kind of has a hobby or something they use to escape from the game for a while. What would you say is your escape from football

In high school I used to like to fish a lot with my friends. Just go around the neighborhood ponds and fishing. But now it’s gravitated a lot towards video games. I play a lot of video games with my friends and it helps me stay connected too, with my friends that are scattered all throughout, whether it’s back in Missouri, back in Illinois. It helps me stay connected with them and it’s really accessible and easy to do in my free time.

Everyone has a different leadership style. How would you describe your leadership style and maybe how did it evolve from high school to Mizzou?

Growing up, I’ve always been a more lead-by-action type of guy. Just making sure I’m trying to be the best me and doing what I can to help our teammates, but not as much vocal. Moving into college and growing up to be into a senior-junior role, I focus more on being more of a vocal leader. Just because your teammates respond better to that and you can have a bigger impact on the team. That’s kind of how it’s evolved.

What do you want to accomplish at the NFL combine?

I want to have one of the best performances there, especially in the tight end position. I expect to perform really well. I’ve been taking every day here (at EXOS), coming and working my butt off. My biggest thing is I don’t want to look back and have any regrets, feel like I left anything here. I’ve just been taking everything super seriously, just attacking everything with a realistic approach and just making sure I give it my all, because I expect big things at the combine. I expect to have a big performance and in order to do that, I know what I have to accomplish here and I’ve just been working towards that every day.

What improvements have you made so far here training at EXOS?

Definitely with my 40, with just how fast they’ve had me running. I’ve been clocking some good times. Whether it’s the L drill, whether it’s the pro shuttle, just everything. They’ve got me moving around real well and I’m really looking forward to showcasing it.

People like to say that a player’s film speaks for itself. When someone turns on your film, what do you think it says about you?

I think it says just a big, mismatched guy. I can be utilized all over the field. You can put me against a linebacker and I’m going to be too fast for him. You put me against the DB, I’m going to be too big for him. I just feel like I create mismatches all over the field. I can move the chains. We get to the red zone and I’m a lethal weapon there too. I just feel like that’s what will jump off tape to you, immediately.

How’s your nutrition evolved over time? Let’s start with high school and kind of go up to now, because it’s probably been a big change.

Yeah, that’s definitely the biggest jump, between high school and college. High school athletes might work out a lot, but I guarantee you their nutrition isn’t very good. You’re not eating breakfast, you’re not eating a good lunch. Your only real meal might be dinner, that your parents make for you. As far as college, it all started with knowledge. I started learning what vital nutrients do what for your body, and then I started learning where those nutrients come from. And then also, how to get a good balance in each portion of each meal that you eat. That’s kind of where I started and built on that every year and got better. And then to here, where I’m at now, the access to facility training, they’ve done a really good job of providing everything for us, kind of having a map for us, and really, we’ve just got to follow the map they provide.

Was there any one game at Mizzou where you felt like you were just at your peak?

Not one game in particular. I’ve had a lot of games where I’ve had that feeling, but if I had to pick one game that was kind of my favorite, that felt the most rewarding, was my redshirt freshman year, playing against Arkansas last game of the season. We had started the season off really rough. I think we had lost five straight and then flipped it completely and won four straight. We’re playing Arkansas, last game of the season, and just to cap off a really good season, it was a crazy game.

It was a shootout and we get into the red zone, I already scored a touchdown. I had already had three or four receptions, and we get to the red zone and we have to score. I think we’re down by six points and it’s fourth and goal. Our OC calls an isolation route play to me. It’s me against the corner and I ran a corner [route] on him, hit him with a double move. Drew Lock was our quarterback at time. He threw it to me and I made a crazy catch in the corner of the end zone to take the lead back and we ended up winning that game.

Where does your mind go when you’re in the middle of a really hard workout and you might feel like stopping but you want to push through?

A big thing for athletes is to know their ‘why.’ Why do you do this? Because if you’re just playing football to play football and you don’t have any other purpose, then it’s easy to lose focus and lose track of why you’re investing so much into this, emotionally and physically. Why you’re pushing through the pain. I feel like it’s important for athletes to know their why. That’s kind of what gets me through everything.

What is your why?

I love the sport. Just because I feel like there’s nothing better in this world that I’m better at. Just the gratification of feeling I get, I’m the best at what I do and I can’t get that in anything else. It’s the competitiveness of it, and then also just the resources that come with football. Just working hard towards all that, I just never second guess myself when I’m in a hard workout or I’m straining through a play or when things get tough. I always know my why, and that’s what gets me through it.

Where does your confidence come from?

Confidence, that just comes from success. When you’ve had success, you can just never forget that feeling and you have to constantly reassure yourself that you know who you are. You have to believe in yourself or no one else will. I think that’s important in football, just because, especially when you you first get to college, because you’re good enough to be there, or else you wouldn’t be there. Just having that mindset that you’re the best, you can’t be stopped at what you do, I think that’s important.

Say an NFL GM calls you and says, “Why should I draft you?” What would you say to him?

I would tell him that I can instantly make an impact on his team. I’m a mismatch guy. His offense coordinator will have a lot of fun drawing up plays for me, whether it’s the red zone or open field, I can help move the chains. I can help in the red zone and ultimately I can have an immediate impact.

Tell us about the Nigerian meaning behind your name.

Okwuegbunam means evil cannot bring me down. And then Chukweuka is my middle name, and that means God has done something wonderful. I think it’s pretty cool. A lot of people don’t know what their last names mean or they might not have any meaning at all. I think it’s cool just to have a meaning behind my last and middle name, for sure.

If you could give one piece of advice to high school athletes, what would it be?

Only listen to yourself. You’re going to have a lot of people tell you what you can and can’t do, and ultimately the only person who puts a limit on what you can achieve is yourself. Whether it’s physically, mentally, anything you want to do, the only person that has a limitation on what you can do is yourself. Just always remember that and always believe that.

Did you have experiences with that, of where people tried to tell you that you couldn’t do certain things?

Oh yeah, definitely, my whole life. I’ve kind of been the underdog, just from people telling me I could only be this good or I would never make it here, to do this instead of that. I feel like it’s human nature for people to tell other people what they should and shouldn’t do. That’s been a huge thing for me, is just keeping quiet, keeping my goals to myself and just keep pushing and just knowing what I want to achieve and just stopping at nothing but myself to get there.