Eagles Rookie Ready to Learn From Graham, 'OG' Vic Fangio
PHILADELPHIA – A small-school guy with big-time potential, Jalyx Hunt knows what he’s up against. Potential can only get you so far, like being the 94th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The rest is up to him. And his coaches, of course. Throw in a teammate like Brandon Graham, too, and the ball is definitely on Hunt’s side of the court now.
“Outside of just getting the reps in day in and day out, I don’t think it’ll be a huge transition,” said Hunt who started his NFL training at Cornell then moved on to Houston Christian, formerly Houston Baptist.
Not exactly football factories those two schools.
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“I definitely have to train like a pro, get my moves up to the pro level,” he said when he met with reporters during the team’s two-day rookie minicamp on Friday. “My technique needs to improve a little bit. Yeah, I think the biggest transition is just being able to play consistently at this high level.”
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio lobbied for the Eagles to take him, and when the DC is in your corner, can playing time be too far behind?
Neither Fangio nor offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, both hired in January, have been made available to speak with reporters, so Fangio’s thoughts on what sort of player he likes in his scheme, and his thoughts on the team’s defensive additions in the draft, are a evidently a closely-guarded secret.
At least Hunt was able to give his thoughts on Fangio.
“I’m a big fan of his, a legend in the game, an OG to say the least,” he said. “To know that your coach is a big fan of yours, it’s something that’s obviously really cool, especially when it’s somebody of his caliber.
“But then, to know that you have somebody on your side when it comes to this whole process … now I have to take (the opportunity) to get there to where I need to be to help out the team.”
Hunt will also have Graham in his corner. BG has achieved legendary status, as this will be his 15th season in the NFL, all spent with the Eagles after arriving in the first round of the 2010 draft.
The two defensive linemen have yet to meet, but that day is coming.
“I’ve only heard his name,” said Hunt. “There are a couple of people in that room that I’m ready to ask questions until they tell me to shut up. From him, anything he’s willing to teach me, I’m willing to learn.
“To go 15 years in the league is no small feat, so even things outside of football – how he carries himself as a person, and what he does off the field to make sure he’s ready to play.”
Before Hunt grew two inches to 6-4 and packed on weight to go from 195 pounds to 252, he was a safety at Cornell, so maybe someone like Chauncey Gardner-Johnson would have been his mentor.
Asked about that growth spurt, Hunt said his wardrobe situation also changed along with his position.
“I gotta buy clothes,” he joked about the spurt. “That’s about it. I never really knew I’d end up where I was going to end up or gain that much weight. So it went from, ‘Let’s get a little bigger so I don’t get thrown around when I come down to the box from playing safety’ to ‘Alright, maybe I’m getting too big and I have to move back to linebacker,’ and then getting moved down to defensive end, I was like, ‘Alright, now I just have to learn the position.’
“It wasn’t anything terrifying to go through, or nerve-wracking. If anything, it was exciting.”