Press Pass | Jalen Huskey Media Zoom Call | 2026 NFL Draft

0:00Hey, Jalen. How are we doing, buddy? Amazing, man. How you doing? Good. Thanks. Hey, were you at top golf last night? I was at top golf last night. Okay. What was that a party like for you? It was it was good. You know, I have my closest friends and family there. And you know, just to be able to share the moment with them was something that was really special to me that I'm sure everybody could see the emotion that that got that went through me last night. That's not something that is usually me. I'm more of a chill laid-back guy, but you know, when you get that life to your phone call, it's it's a different different story. What making that transition from corner to safety? Why was that why are you it to do that so seamlessly at Maryland? I think it came down to preparation. You know, I have a amazing amazing coaching staff at Maryland and you know, they help ease that transition very, very smoothly for me. And I put in a lot of a lot of work which I continue to I will continue to do when I'm in Jacksonville. Last thing for me, being fun Frederick,

1:02they're not getting an offer for Maryland, but then coming back as a transfer. How much pride you take and sort of that journey that you had to go to Bowling Green to get back to the Big Ten? Oh, I think a lot of pride in it. You know, my story is I have a hell of a story. If you go and you do your research on me and what I've been through in my life and I carry the tip of my shoulder everywhere I went and I plan on keeping it, keeping it there. Well, hey, real quick, where are you and where are you in line of the 13 kids? Age-wise. Shoot. I'm the oldest boy and I'm the fifth oldest kid. Okay, got you. Alright, thank you. Thank you. We'll go to Gary then to DRock. He's hailing. How you doing? Amazing, man. How you doing? Pretty good. Hey, where was the top golf? Top golf in Germantown, Maryland. Okay, all right.

2:03Um, do you do you play golf anyway or have you ever gone out of the top golf? No, I'm horrible. And that was horrible when I was swinging yesterday, but you know, I had to try to integrate some type of activity, you know, last night, so. All right. Well, we got plenty of golf courses here. You can work on your game and my advice is to look up the kickers and the long snapper if you want to work. Get somebody to help you with the game. That's good. If anybody out there wants to help me, I need that help. Please. Hey, Jalen, do you have a preference on which defensive back, you know, corner safety, nickel? Is there some place you feel more comfortable? No, there's nowhere. I prefer, you know, I just wherever I can get on the field and wherever I can help the team win, as all that matters to me, I just want to win. Okay. And what, did you play any special teams at all at Maryland? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I played a plant kickoff and a little bit of kick return in my junior year.

3:04Okay. And so, you know, the Jaguar is probably going to have an expectation of you playing special teams. Is that something you also view as whatever gets you on the field? You'll do 100%. You know, special teams is a extremely important part of the game. And I plan to try to start with all four special teams. I want to be a, I'm team first through and through. So whatever the team needs me to do, I'm going to do it to best my ability. Okay. All right. Thanks, Jalen. Thank you. Hey, Jalen, congrats. Thank you. How does a, how does the defensive back in 2025 go an entire season without a penalty in coverage? You know, you know, it's all about preparation, being a little slick with your hands and staying calm with the balls in the air. You know, I pride myself on when the balls in the air that I believe the balls mine and that nobody else should have, nobody else should catch the ball unless it's me. I mean, is that a sort of pride for you that you went the entire year

4:09last year without a penalty? You know, I didn't even, I didn't even know that to be honest with you, but you know, just being able to play clean football is really important. And it's especially important in NFL because, you know, those DPI's and the holding, and the holding penalties are game changing penalties because they can take you all the way down the field. So hopefully I'm able to continue that in the NFL. Now one more for me, obviously you, you got an amazing ability to get the football. Is that the thing you're most proud of too? Is it what I think what 11 interceptions in the last three years? I would say, it's, I would say it's second. I would also say my ability to be put anywhere and to be able to produce and play at a high level is something I really pride myself on. You know, if they want to kick me out to outside corner, I'm, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to go compete if they want to put me in the nickel in the slot. That's something I'm comfortable doing. And if they want to put me in the box or out of high safety, I mean, I feel like there's nothing that I can't do at a high level.

5:13Thank you, Bob. Appreciate it. Thank you. This will be our last two, Shipley, then back to a haileron. Hey, Jaylen, congrats. Thanks for doing this. If you think the coaching staff talks about here, it's just guys who play with that edge and guys who play really physical. I mean, it seems like that's a major part of your game, right? You kind of thrive on that as well. 100%. You know, if you don't have the edge, I don't know how you play football, man. You got to, you got to be mean, nasty, and talk a little bit on the field. You know, so I play, I play with a, with a, with a big chip on my shoulder, and you know, anytime I want to feel this super serious with me and you're going to get the best out of me every single time. Thanks, Jaylen. Congrats to you and your family. Thank you so much. Hey, Jaylen, back to Ryan from the Times Union. You mentioned somebody adversity. What kind of inspiration does your sister remain as you play football? A huge inspiration. You know, I'm hoping that I can get on, I can connect with Jari so I can get a figure something out with

6:16that number. But, you know, just being able to have her with me on the field and wearing that 22 is something that's extremely important to me. You know, my family is, is my rock. And it means a lot to them to see me on the, on the field wearing 22 and just being able to go through whatever with my, with my chin up, knowing that my family's looking at me and they're depending on me is something that I really, I really care about. Gotcha. And last thing for me, you had that interception against Illinois. Can you walk me through what the call was and what your read was to close on the ball like that? Yeah, we were in a week, a week pressure fire zone and they had, they were in a trade formation. So they had a nub tied in to one side and to the boundary. And then they had three receivers to the field. We had the first receiver go back to our third corner. I knew that if he went back, I could pass that back to the third corner. So then there were only two

7:21remaining verticals. I only have to hang, hang on the inside most vertical and the quarterback was staring at that way the whole time. So I was able to make a plan on the ball. Gotcha. Thanks. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much.