Jalen Travis surrounded by family and friends  Credit: Courtesy

It’s been a few weeks since Jalen Travis took his first steps as a professional football player.  He was the only Minneapolis native drafted in April’s NFL draft (fourth round, Indianapolis).

“I’m doing well, feeling good,” said Travis, the Minneapolis De La Salle and Princeton graduate, who played his final season of eligibility at Iowa State. The 6’7” nearly 340 pound offensive lineman recently talked to the MSR while at home for a spell before heading back to Indy for training camp later this month.

Travis went through OTAs (Organized Team Activities), which each NFL club typically conducts during the off-season. “I’ve enjoyed it,” he reported. 

“OTAs move super-fast. I think that was the real welcome to professional football. This is my full-time job, and it’s something that I think I’m realizing I’m more blessed to do [this] by the day.”

Expectedly, Travis and his fellow rookie teammates had to quickly learn the ropes. “I think for every rookie in terms of coming in, getting caught up to the vets, learning the playbook, getting used to the speed of play, the schedules,” he pointed out. “We had some pretty long days — 10-hour days, 12-hour days in the facility.

“It was like…fall camp 2.0,” stressed Travis. “I thought it was awesome. I had the chance to connect and play along [with] some of the vets, and started building chemistry from the jump, which was super beneficial for me.”

The Colts rookies also did some off-field team bonding during the scheduled OTAs in late May and early June: “We spent some time at the Indy 500 race track as a rookie class. We had a chance to go behind the scenes at the Indianapolis Zoo. [The] other rookie team-building and workshop activities was pretty awesome.

“Spending time with some guys in the offensive line room…and working just to get to know them and them to know me, I think brought some light to a relatively intense setting.”

NFL teams are permitted to run 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills but no live contact during the OTAs, which is strictly voluntary as part of the NFL’s offseason program. Later this month, Travis will return to Indianapolis to report to fall training camp, which starts on July 23 and runs through August 14. He said he can’t wait.

“People will tell you that the hardest part about playing in the NFL is not necessarily getting there but staying there,” said the Colts rookie. “I think wanting to realize sooner and sooner by the day as someone who aspires and dreams of playing a long time in this league, I want to hold that dream as closely as I can, and really nurture it and give it everything that it needs so I can live it out day in and day out.

“I think it is extremely humbling that I have the privilege and the opportunity, the blessing to play a game that I love for a living,” concluded Travis. “That I am able to change not only my life but a lot of those around me, my family, my community, those I love in the long term, and that’s something that I think motivates and drives me every single day.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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