Defensive end lets readers inside the life of a New Jersey pro prospect
BY MIKE VORKUNOV
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
With the college football season long over and the NFL Draft still several months away, now comes the most important part of the year for prospective draft picks. There are the All-Star games, the long days of training at prep facilities and the waiting while teams analyze if you are right for them. It's not easy being an NFL Draft prospect, but some of them have let us behind the curtain and agreed to be part of a journal series leading up to the Draft.
Jason Worilds is a native of Carteret, who played his college ball at Virginia Tech. As a defensive end he racked up 12.5 sacks in his last two season of play, being named to the second team All-ACC both years. Jason decided to forgo his senior year of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft. His journey from prospect to pick has already been fortunate as he received word last week that he was invited to the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis.
Jason is deep in the midst of training at the Athletes' Performance Institute in Florida, along with players like Sam Bradford, Terrence Cody and George Selvie. Here is Jason's experience so far in his own words.
On deciding to leave school early:
I believe it was in my best interests. I accomplished a lot at Virginia Tech, for me to push myself athletically it was important for me to take that next step.
On finding out that he was invited to participate in the Combine:
It's exciting. I heard about it Wednesday around 1 o'clock. It's exciting just to get the opportunity to go out there and compete and display my abilities in front of the crowd.
Whether it serves as validation that he made the right decision to leave:
I guess you can look at it that way. It's definitely an honor to be invited because it says a lot about what they think about me. I hope so. Just the opportunity to go out there and display my abilities. That's what I'm thankful for.
On whether training everyday has been tedious:
No. I love to train. And I have to be because I'm working towards something that I want to do so to go in there and put that time in, it's really nothing
How he feels at this point:
I'm anxious and I'm excited. I don't want to rush time, there is a lot of time between now and the combine. I'm anxious to get there and I'm excited for the opportunity, just to open a new chapter in my life.
His biggest eye-opening moment to let him know he's not in college anymore:
One thing. Just the overall experience, to come down here. To be down here training with a bunch of top athletes from around the country, to be working with them and competing against them every day, it's just a real gratifying feeling.
It's a great feeling to go in there every day and compete. It's not an ill-natured competition, it's a friendly competition because we're going out there and we're pushing each other. Because when combine day comes we're here and we're friends and we want to see each other succeed.
The motivation from here:
I think my situation is motivation enough. I'm an underclassman and I feel like there are a lot of odds against me. That in itself is motivation because I need to go out there and prove what I'm capable of. That my decision was worthwhile.
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