FOXBORO — If you retrace the steps that led to Elijah Ponder starting for the Patriots at outside linebacker, you’ll find an undersized, unassuming 200-pound high school defensive end who seemed more focused on his academics than a potential pro football career.
A two-star college recruit who wound up at FCS Cal Poly and went undrafted, Ponder was overlooked every step of the way until he landed in New England. Now he ranks second among edge rushers in his draft class in career sacks, ahead of first-round picks like Abdul Carter.
“Just lucky, man, to have that kid,” Patriots outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said Thursday. “We’d be in some (expletive) without him right now.”
So, how does a 6-foot-3, 261-pound pass rusher who has freaky athleticism and is already starting in his second NFL season go undrafted?
“I think about that all the time,” Smith said. “It’s like, wow, what a find.”
Ponder was the pick this week as “athlete of the week” for Smith’s short-yardage presentation to the defense. As part of the slideshow, Smith displays the player’s high school picture and clips of him in high school and college. Smith couldn’t believe how tiny Ponder looked in high school.
Ponder weighed as much as a wide receiver and began his playing career as the backup quarterback on his freshman team. The late bloomer was the starting JV quarterback as a sophomore before shifting his focus to defense, and producing with 12 sacks as a senior.
He had interest from other schools, including FBS programs like Colorado State, and nearly wound up in New England at Yale, but pursued Cal Poly’s architectural engineering program.
“He was very academically inclined, and he never — that I knew of — said, ‘Oh, I want to play in the NFL.’ He’s one of those rare kids,” Ponder’s high school coach at Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.), Steve Hagerty, told the Herald this week.
But Ponder’s talent was apparent when Hagerty and his staff put their players through athletic testing.
New England Patriots linebacker Elijah Ponder sacks Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the fourth quarter of the game at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
He tested off the charts coming out of college, as well, registering a 41-inch vertical leap, 11-feet broad jump, 4.64-second 40-yard dash, 4.28-second short shuttle and 6.99-second 3-cone drill with 22 bench press reps of 225 pounds at his pro day in March 2025. His vertical leap and broad jump both would have ranked first among edge defenders at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. His 3-cone and short shuttle would have ranked second, and his 40 time would have ranked sixth.
His college head coach, Paul Wulff, now works at the agency representing Ponder. One of Ponder’s biggest advocates, Wulff understood why he drew limited attention coming out of high school.
“We were recruiting his teammate, who was a phenomenal football player in high school, Ethan Rodriguez. We actually thought Ethan was a little bit better player at the time, and he was more developed,” Wulff said. “Elijah just kept elevating his performance, and so he just kind of kept developing over time. But it wasn’t hard to see after the first year that, ‘OK, this guy is so different and better than we thought.’”
It helped that Ponder put on 40 pounds during his freshman year at Cal Poly.
“My freshman year, that’s all I can really remember doing,” Ponder said. “I was just eating.”
He didn’t have a go-to meal. He ate “anything and everything” from his school’s dining hall while redshirting as a true freshman.
Ponder started throughout the rest of his college career, registering 26.5 sacks, 167 tackles, 43.5 tackles for loss, one interception, eight pass breakups, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
“I think at that level, that blend of his intelligence with his ability that he kind of seems to discover,” Hagerty said, watching him from afar. “I always thought he discovered it like a superhero who has these powers, but doesn’t really understand that they’re there, and he’s just sort of discovering them little by little.”
Ponder had opportunities to transfer from Cal Poly but turned them down. Wulff remembers the University of Florida tried to lure him away multiple times.
Wulff believes that might have hurt him in the pre-draft process. The former Cal Poly head coach said he was shocked Ponder didn’t receive more interest as an NFL prospect.
“I remember telling people he’s worth a second-round pick,” Wulff said. “I go, I think he’ll produce like a second-round pick ultimately. But people overthink things, and they question why he stayed there and didn’t transfer. That was a question mark. Like, was he really that competitive? And I’m like, ‘No, that’s not how he’s wired. He wants a great degree, which he could get at Cal Poly. That’s what he was raised that way, and he’s smart.’ And then they would always ask me, ‘He’s so quiet. Is he very tough? If someone challenges him in a fight, will he do that?’ I go ‘No. That’s not how he responds. If somebody challenges him, he’s just gonna beat you on the next football play.’ He’s not gonna say nothing. He’s not gonna throw a punch.
“I always felt he would produce at an elite level with the potential, who knows? He could be not only a starter. He could maybe be an All-Pro type guy. He has those kind of traits that would lend to that.”
Smith said Ponder’s quiet, serious personality and his small-school pedigree likely contributed to him going undrafted.
New England Patriots defender Elijah Ponder, right, during a Sept. 18 practice in Foxboro. Matt Stone/Boston Herald
“I’ve got a certain process that I that I do with undrafted guys, with their athletic score, with their pass rush,” Smith said. “And I remember looking, I was like, ‘God, who is this guy? Like, did he kill somebody? Like, what happened?’ You see how raw he was in college. They move him around, but, I mean, what an athlete.”
Ponder made the Patriots’ 53-man roster as an undrafted free agent last season and improved as the season went along, registering four sacks in 15 games and recovering a fumble in the AFC Championship Game.
He has 1.5 sacks in three games this season to go along with nine tackles, three tackles for loss, four QB hits and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He was one of the Patriots’ best players in their Week 2 win over the Steelers, and his combined sack with Gabe Jacas was a highlight in a Week 3 loss. Ponder leads his 2025 draft class in total pressures, QB hits and defensive stops this season, per PFF’s metrics.
Even though the NFL might not have been at the forefront of Ponder’s mind in high school, make no mistake, the Patriots pass rusher loves football.
“This game means something to him,” Smith said. “He’s studying, like truly. Like there’s guys that look at the playbook and study the film and do that, but like there’s a whole other level, and that’s what he is. He takes it to what those vets do, knows what it takes to play in this league and play for a long time, and it means something to him.”
As for his college major, Ponder said he might revisit his architectural engineering someday. But he’s enjoying his current day job.