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Michigan’s Jalen Mayfield discusses decision to begin pursuit of NFL career
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B1G players from across the conference have a difficult decision to make this fall. With the conference opting to postpone the 2020 fall season until spring, some potential players with high draft grades have been forced to decide between sticking around the college game are starting training for the NFL.
Michigan offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield made the difficult decision to opt out of the upcoming season — whenever it is played — and begin his journey for the NFL Draft. It was not something that came easy for the Wolverines star.
“It was extremely tough,” Mayfield told The HUGE Show. “I built so many relationships over the past couple years. For it to just come to an end the way it did, it was really hard to make that decision.”
Mayfield was expected to be an anchor along a Michigan offensive line that lost a ton of talent to the NFL Draft following the 2019 season. Still, he was considered one of the best linemen in the B1G with a serious chance to improve his draft stock with a strong year in 2020.
Obviously, COVID-19 changed those plans.
“I was always hopeful that the season would come,” Mayfield said. “I had pretty big goals set for this year. I was planning on at least attempting to reach those goals this year.”
Mayfield, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive lineman was entering his junior season with the Wolverines in 2020. He appeared in 16 games through his first two seasons in Ann Arbor, making 13 starts at right tackle.
He started all 13 games for the Wolverines during the 2019 season. Michigan ended the year with a 9-4 record.
“These last few weeks have been filled with stress and have put me in a place where I have a difficult decision to make,” Mayfield wrote over two weeks ago on Twitter. “With that being said, I have decided to enter the 2021 NFL Draft.”
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB