2021 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Jalaan Owens, CB, Benedictine University (IL)

• Name: Jalaan Owens
• Height: 6’1
• Weight: 185 pounds
• Position: Cornerback
• College: Benedictine University (IL)
• Twitter: @Jalaan_Owens

What is the best restaurant in your hometown city? 

• Harold’s Chicken

When breaking down your film what will stick out? 

• My ability to make a play on the ball, my tackling ability, and my heart. 

If you won the lotto, what is the first thing you would do with the money? 

• I would buy my mom her dream house and car

What has been your biggest failure? 

•  I don’t look at things as “failure” everything is a lesson. My biggest lesson has to be tearing my ACL freshman year of college. It helped me learn a lot about myself and made me realize I am a lot stronger mentally and physically then I had thought. 

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

• My teammates would say my best qualities are that I am vocal and that I lead by example. I won’t ask my teammates to do something that I wouldn’t/couldn’t do. 

Who is the hardest working teammate on your team?

• I can’t choose just one of my teammates, but I would say my top three hardest working teammates are Brandon Adams, Jack Drummond, and Geoffrey Mazur.

Have you ever had a nickname? What is it?

• My family nickname is Boogie and the other nicknames I have are J, Solo, and Action5

What is your degree in, if you do not make it as a football player, what is your dream job? 

• I am working towards my Marketing degree. My dream job if I don’t make it as a football player is unknown. I haven’t really put thought into it because I believe if you have any other plan you are fully invested into your plan A. My dream job after the league would be to own my own restaurant or some sort of business. 

What is your coolest life moment? 

• I have two coolest life moments, the first would have to be recovering from an ACL surgery and transferring to Benedictine, becoming a starter and an eventual member of the NACC’s first-team all-conference. It reassured me that the long days and nights that I have put into this game and my recovery are starting to pay off. The second moment would have to be signing day in high school. I had the opportunity to sign alongside two of my brothers (Manny Rugamba and Jeremiah Wiggins) to continue our dream of playing football at the next level. 

What song would you sing at Karaoke night? 

• My Truck by BRELAND

If you could pick any actor to play you in a movie, who are you picking? 

• Michael B. Jordan

Who is your favorite football team? 

• Seattle Seahawks

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

• Caution: Explosive when put on turf or islands

What is your biggest fear? 

• My biggest fear is not being able to support my family when I am older.  

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL? 

• The most underrated player in the NFL to me is Byron Murphy on the Cardinals

Take us through game day, How do you prepare? 

• It starts Friday night, I always wash all the different fit options so whichever one I choose is clean and has all of the previous game (practice) off of it (good vibes, wash off the bad). I drink coconut water the night before and leading up to kick-off so prevent muscle cramps and fatigue. My breakfast will be a few eggs, strawberry yogurt, strawberries, and bananas. Then after we break as a team before we go on our Eagle Walk, I’ll go back to my dorm and blast two Future, Herbo, or Durkio songs. After we get into the locker room after the Eagle Walk, I lock in and listen to my music and warm-up on the field before everyone comes out. Sometimes I’ll get on the bike or see the trainers for a last second stretching to loosen up. I always walk out of the locker room last so I can make sure all my teammates are good and to have their back. 

Do you have any hobbies? 

• My hobbies are spending time with my little sister and my parents. Family is the most important thing to me right with football and God.

If you had to compare yourself to someone in the NFL, who would that be? 

• I couldn’t say I compare myself to one single player. I’ve spent countless hours during the week and on weekend nights watching different players and try and craft certain aspects of my game from each of them. My favorite players to watch are Darius Slay, Stephon Gilmore, Champ Bailey, Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson, Richard Sherman, PrimeTime, Jalen Ramsey, Marcus Peters. 

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?

• My mom has hands down been the biggest influence in my life because she raised two boys on her own for many years while running her own business, and working a second job at night. She would still manage to make sure my brother and I were on time to all of our practices across Las Vegas and we were never late to school. She sacrificed everything so my brother and I could have the best that she could provide for us. When I got to high school, she took a believed in my dream and show me and my dream love and spent the summer going into my senior year driving across the country to different college camps. She had my little sister the summer I graduated high school and brings her to almost all of my home games, even when I was playing in Ohio. 

What motivates you to work hard?

• My family and my desire to be the best there was. I want to provide and support my family so my mom doesn’t have to work another day in her life and to take care of whatever my baby sister wants/needs. I want to give my kids everything my mom and pops were able to and everything that they couldn’t. I want to be the best there was on and off the field. There are 7.594 billion people in this world and I may never become the best there ever was but I am going to work as hard and long as I possibly can because you never know what can happen. And if I don’t become it, I’ll always have that to continue striving for.