Lexington, Alabama football star Jedrick Wills picked 10th overall in NFL Draft
Jedrick Wills, one of the top football recruits to emerge from Kentucky and a star for the last three years at the University of Alabama, has finally achieved his NFL dream.
Wills, a 6-foot-4, 312-pound offensive tackle, on Thursday was selected 10th overall by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He became the 67th first-round NFL Draft pick in Alabama’s history, and the 88th ‘Bama player to be drafted during the tenure of head coach Nick Saban.
“We thought he was a guy who fit in terms of talent, makeup and need,” new Browns general manager Andrew Berry said, according to a report by the Associated Press. “He’s perfect for us.”
Wills, a former Lafayette High School star, contributed right away at Alabama by playing in 11 games as a true freshman, including one start, and went on to start every game for the Crimson Tide during his sophomore and junior seasons. Alabama went 38-4 during Wills’ time with the program, and his seasons ended in a College Football Playoff championship (freshman), another appearance in the CFP finals (sophomore) and a convincing Citrus Bowl victory over fellow heavyweight Michigan (junior). He was named to the All-Southeastern Conference First Team offense by both the coaches and media in 2019.
According to Spotrac, Wills’ rookie deal will be worth $19.7 million over four years. That amount includes an $11.8 million signing bonus.
NFL.com gave Wills a pre-draft rating of 6.85, which equates to a “year-one quality starter.” Site analyst Lance Zierlein likened him to Jason Peters, a former Arkansas standout who wasn’t selected in the 2004 draft but has played 16 season in the league, won a Super Bowl and been named to the Pro Bowl nine times.
Zierlein noted that Wills’ height and weight are below what’s typical for NFL tackles, but he makes up for it with his skills.
“Wills is one of the most impressive tackles in the draft; he has basketball-caliber foot quickness and the quick hands of a boxer, and all of it is wrapped in a stout, powerful package of bad intentions,” Zierlein wrote. “His game is tailor-made for the NFL, and his range of success is good starter to All-Pro.”
Coming out of high school, Wills was the highest-rated prospect in Kentucky by both 247Sports and Rivals, and was considered one of the best offensive tackles in the country. Rivals ranked him as a five-star recruit and the 25th best overall player in the country, regardless of position, while 247Sports pegged him as a four-star prospect and the No. 34 player nationally.
Eric Shaw, Wills’ head coach at Lafayette, was among the first to recognize Wills’ pro potential. He met Wills during his sixth-grade year at Jessie Clark Middle School and got to see a lot of him because his own sons played football there.
Wills’ natural abilities, and the menacing mentality with which he played the game superseded his size then, as it does now, but “you could see that his ceiling was so high,” Shaw said during a phone interview with the Herald-Leader last week.
“His passion about playing this game and being the best that he could be — not being the best ever, but being the best he could be and wanting to work at that — all those intangibles are great to be able to play at the highest level,” Shaw said. “As long as he stayed healthy, I had no doubt he’d have that opportunity. I used to tell him that all the time.”
Shaw’s assessments in his youth were taken “for what they were worth” by Wills, who continued to grind.
“When I’d first tell him he’d just look at me with that big ‘ol smile of his,” Shaw said. “He believed it, but being that age it’s hard to believe in something like that because you can’t touch it yet. But as he started to grow in high school and mature and started to get that attention on the national level, then he started to realize, ‘I can reach that goal.’”
On Thursday, “can reach” became “reached.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 9:27 PM.
