E-Boland & Gang Green

By Katie Strang

The hope of becoming the first Nicholls St. player to see action as a New York Jet was looking bleak for OL Jacob Bender today. Bender took about as many snaps during drills as brownies I had for lunch.

Although he looked strong off the snap and held his ground against the less-mobile defenders, Bender had difficulty sealing off the more agile linebackers.

Bender also has very limited pass protection experience since Nicholls St. ran a triple-option offense, but has been watching film to learn and has gotten tips from D’Brickashaw Ferguson about improving his technique.

This isn’t the first time Bender has been an underdog. Ironically enough, Hofstra University (where Jets mini-camp is held) had originally offered him a scholarship but ended up backing out, leading him to become a Colonel instead. He had an impressive college career there and is hoping he can stand out by being the ”hardest worker out there.”

True to his word, he was the last player on the field during first session today. He worked with NFL veteran Lomas Brown on pass sets for an extra 10-15 minutes after practice ended.

Nice Kid. Hell of a work ethic. And he has one other thing working in his favor: No mention of dogfighting yet.