Former Purdue teammates Roos, King hoping for draft-day call
In fifth grade, Jordan Roos was the water boy for the high school varsity football team.
And he made a choice.
After a game, he told his dad Peter that he wanted to make the football team as a freshman in a few years, and so the two set down a path to make it happen.
“I started visualizing that at a young age,” said Jordan Roos, as he reflects back now with the NFL Draft this weekend. “And he was like, ‘OK, we need to go home and write these things down and make them actual goals and not just dreams.’
“I’ve accomplished those goals that we set at an early age, and we probably set the bar too low looking back at it. It’s really cool. And now it’s kind of awesome that I’ll be with my family as this whole (NFL path) gets going.”
The Roos’ family is about as tight-knit as can be. It’ll be together throughout this NFL Draft weekend, like on Friday night when it watches twin sisters Lexie and Laney play in the Texas softball playoffs, while coached by older sister Kylie, and then on Saturday in Dallas.
It’ll be the same for Jason King’s family a bit north in Arkansas.
The two former Boilermakers share a bond, not only in their strong family ties, but that they were multiple-year starters at similar positions at Purdue — King with 40 career starts at left guard and Roos with 42 at right — developed a close friendship and are now borderline NFL draftees.
Perhaps one, or both, could get into a late round on Saturday, or maybe they’ll have to sign rookie free agent contracts. Both, though, are confident that they can make a team if given a chance.
“I honestly have no idea (what will happen in the draft),” King said. “You have people ask you all the time, ‘What’s going to happen? Where are you going to go? Where do you want to go?’ I don’t care at all. To me, it’s all about getting the opportunity. That’s the same as whenever my name is called, whether it’s during or after the draft. To me, it makes no difference because it doesn’t change my attitude or approach to the whole situation. I’m really excited to find out where I’m going, who I get to go to work for, and move on to the next phase of my football life.”
But King’s been getting anxious lately. The 6-foot-4, 304-pounder admits to having trouble sleeping the last couple nights, as thoughts about the draft — and his journey to it — keep occupying his mind.
“So at 11 o’clock at night I’ll find myself heading out the front door and driving over to my high school football field and just running until I’m tired,” the Little Rock native said.
It’s conversations with his grandma Noonie that he keeps replaying in his head. Years ago, young King told her that he had big plans, and the two recalled those conversations this week.
“She said that when I was five-years-old, I had jokingly told her that when I grew up, I was going to be rich and famous,” King said. “And I asked her, ‘Did I know what I wanted to do?’ And she told me it was pretty early on when I started loving, not just football, but sports and thinking they were going to be a part of my life.
“It’s the realization of the whole life-long dream whether it’s during the draft or right after the draft, of being part of an NFL organization. For me, that’s a goal that I set before I ever knew it was possible. And seeing it develop over the years, it’s why I don’t worry because I’ve always taken things step-by-step.”
King has put himself in position for an opportunity, he thinks. He showed off his athleticism at Purdue’s pro day on March 7, which attracted enough attention to get him several workouts, a few visits and a bunch of phone calls. Combined, he estimates he’s heard from 20 teams since the pro day.
“I wasn’t surprised when an offensive line coach from another team would come work me out and they would leave saying, ‘That was one of the best workouts we had. I don’t know why we hadn’t heard more about you. I don’t know why you weren’t at the Combine,’” said King, who anticipates playing center in the NFL. “Those teams that I’ve worked out for, as soon as they left, they’ve been in contact ever since.
“I tried to get in front of as many people as possible to show them what I’m capable of, but I’ll get a chance somewhere. I know I did enough to get a chance somewhere, and I’ll do everything I can once I get there.”
The 6-4, 304-pound Roos, from Celina, has been reminiscing, as well. His mom Judy pushed him, like when he broke his foot during a game in eighth grade, but she leaned over the railing from the stands and asked the trainer if he was OK.
“The trainer was like, ‘I think it’s fine,’” Jordan Roos said. “So my mom yells at me, ‘Boy, get your ass back in the game.’ So I got out there and played two quarters on the broken foot, that we then went to one of my buddy’s — he was a veterinarian — we had it X-rayed there. And sure enough it was broken.”
Or the time in high school when Roos was horsing around with a friend and ended up with a broken hand. That was bad enough, but made worse by the fact that it was the day of the district track championship. Roos, who was a state champ in the shot and discus, went down to the nurse’s office to have it looked at.
“And my mom wanted me on the phone,” he said. “She said, ‘I don’t care what you do, you go out there and win district.’ So I taped my knuckle off to the side and won in the disc and the shot.
“It’s things like that that growing up it teaches you to be tough. I played through injuries my whole career, little things that you get playing on the offensive line. You hurt, but you’ve just got to go out there and fight through adversity and pain. That’s a huge reason I am where I am today.”
Roos, who maxed out with 41 repetitions on the bench press at pro day and certainly garnered plenty of scouts’ attention, will wait as patiently as possible through the weekend. He doesn’t plan to watch much of the draft, but he’ll keep a hand near the phone.
“I’m just enjoying this whole process, that’s really the best way I can describe it,” Roos said. “My goal for however long it has been is to get drafted. That’s a huge thing, but it’s not going to discourage me if I go as a free agent. … I don’t have a feel of what’s going to go down. That’s how I’ve approached this whole thing, to give my best at my pro day and on the visits I’ve been on. I think about that every day when I wake up, before I go to train.
“… I haven’t really taken my foot off the gas petal in, hell, a year-and-a-half. I’ve just been plugging ahead and knowing what my dreams and goals are and just going for it.”
Pro day video
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