NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Jalyn Holmes knows the field at Lake Taylor well. He helped the Titans win a state championship back in 2012, but this week he returned to that field a little bit more seasoned.
Holmes, now a defensive end with the Jets, is preparing to begin his seventh NFL season. He knows the difficulties in transitioning from high school to the Power Five college level to the NFL and wanted to try to prepare the next crop of talent for what to expect.
That's what motivated him to start a defensive line camp for high school players in his home town.
"Coming from Lake Taylor High School and then transitioning to Ohio State, it definitely was a big learning curve," Holmes pointed out Thursday. "It just make me think if I can create a space for high school student-athletes to kind of get them prepared, mentally and physically, right now in high school that it won't be such a learning curve when they get to the next level."
After high school, Holmes played college football at Ohio State, taking the field in every game for the Buckeyes from 2015-2017. He was selected by the Vikings in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. As others look to navigate the road from Norfolk to the pros, the former Titan hopes he can help guide them down the path.
"It makes it real," he said of younger players getting the chance to see and interact with an NFL player. "They get to hear my experience raw and they also get to meet other NFL players, as well, so I think it just makes it more real for them when they can see it live in the flesh."
Few get the chance to experience Power Five college football, with even fewer moving onto the NFL ranks, but Holmes wants the high school standouts to know that everything starts with self-belief.
"Trust in themselves and understanding that they are where they are for a reason and that they are great and they can do anything they need to do," he said of what he hopes the young players take away from the camp.
Holmes is entering his second season with the Jets and hopes to get back to the success he had in 2020 as a member of the Vikings. That campaign saw him play in 14 games, making nine starts, and tallying a career-high 36 tackles. He saw time in five games in 2023, making five tackles and coming away with a sack.
An NFL career features plenty of ups and downs, but through it all, Holmes takes time to step back and remind himself that he's living his dream. That's something a veteran teammate told him to do during his rookie season in Minnesota.
"He was saying 'imagine telling a little kid, going back in time and telling yourself when you were in fifth grade that you're going to be an NFL player, how hype he would be,'" he recalled. "In those moments when it's tough in practice or it's hard, my body's sore and I may not want to go to practice, I've got to remind myself this is my nine-to-five. How lucky am I?"
