Beef jerky, firefighting and mission trips: Fun facts about Eagles' rookie class

As the Eagles’ offseason continues with OTAs this week, it’s time to really meet the rookie class of 2022.

Let’s go a little beyond their accomplishments on the field.

The following facts were taken from college bios, news stories and some first-hand information gathered over the last few weeks.

Let’s meet every draft pick and undrafted rookie in this year’s class:

1-13: Jordan Davis, DT, Georgia

By now you know that Davis ran a ridiculous 4.78 in the 40-yard dash at the combine but let’s dive into how incredible that is based on the fact that he was 6-6, 341 pounds when he did it. Stathead has combine results tracked since 2000, and that’s what we’re basing this on. Davis has the fastest time for a player for anyone 315+ pounds. The second-fastest time among players that big came from Trent Williams back in 2010. At 315 pounds, the first-round offensive tackle ran a 4.81; he weighed 26 pounds less than Davis. There have been just three players over 330 pounds to run a sub-5-second 40: Dontari Poe, Greg Robinson and Jason Peters. Since we’re all very familiar with Peters and how much of a freak he was, let’s look at his results. Back in 2004, he was a 336-pound tight end who ran a 4.93. Davis was heavier and smoked him.

2-51: Cam Jurgens, C, Nebraska

The Nebraska native grew up on a cattle farm and trainers gave him the nickname Beef Jurgy. He ran with it. Jurgens took advantage of the NIL rules and branded himself with that nickname. In fact, he has a website (beefjurgy.com) that sells his own brand of beef jerky ($7.99 for a 2 oz. bag) as well as Beef Jurgy gear, quickly updated to include the classic Eagles’ kelly green.

3-83: Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia

Aside from being a great football player, Dean has also been a very good student. He was a mechanical engineering major and left Georgia with a 3.5 GPA. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of one day going to medical school. Dean said he grew up going to the VA with his mother as a child and seeing veterans with missing limbs. He thinks one day he’d like to work in the world of prosthetics.

6-181: Kyron Johnson, LB, Kansas

A super senior in 2021, Johnson was not invited to the NFL Combine. He was, however, at the NFLPA bowl when Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy gave him a call and told him to get his butt down to Mobile. When he got to the Senior Bowl, even on short notice, he made the most of it. It seems possible the Eagles wouldn’t have drafted Johnson if he didn’t go to Mobile and have an impressive week, consistently beating some pretty good (and bigger) offensive tackles.

6-198: Grant Calcaterra, TE, SMU

Calcaterra’s backstory is a unique one. He stepped away from football after the 2019 season because of multiple concussions. After he left Oklahoma, he worked construction and began to pursue a career as a firefighter. In fact, that would probably be his profession right now. But then he watched the 2020 NFL Draft and decided to return to football after consulting with several doctors who told him he wouldn’t be in further danger if he played again. So he went to SMU and then became a sixth-round pick. Oh yeah, and he’s a triplet.

UDFA: Josh Blackwell, CB, Duke

Blackwell grew up Buford, Georgia, and played for a real powerhouse football team at Buford High. During his time in high school, the Wolves lost a total of four games and went to the state championship every year, winning twice, according to a 2021 Q&A. In Blackwell’s sophomore season, the Wolves went 15-0 and beat St. Pius X Catholic 55-10 in the Class 4A state championship.

UDFA: Reed Blankenship, S, Middle Tennessee State

Blankenship broke his leg midway through the 2019 season but rehabbed and returned to play in nine games in 2020. He returned in 2021 and went on to be the all-time leading tackler at Middle Tennessee State. But he told SI.com that the record was hard to celebrate because he broke it in a loss against Charlotte. Blankenship took down the 34-year-old record and finished his career with 419 combined tackles, 265 of which were solo tackles. He smashed the previous record of 344 set by Roosevelt Colvard in the 80s.

UDFA: Kennedy Brooks, RB, Oklahoma

Brooks played high school football at Mansfield High School in Texas and put up ridiculous numbers. While he had three 1,000-yard seasons as a Sooner, Brooks’ high school stats are even more eye-popping. He finished his high school career with 7,658 rushing yards and 96 touchdowns on 885 carries (8.7) according to his OU bio. He rushed for 2,865 yards and 40 touchdowns as a senior in just 11 games. Despite all that, Lincoln Riley admitted the Sooners almost didn’t offer him coming out of high school. He didn’t know if Brooks was big enough or fast enough, Riley said in 2021, via The Oklahoman.

UDFA: Britain Covey, WR, Utah

Covey is an older prospect, already 25 years old. To put that into perspective, he’s actually older than Jordan Mailata and Miles Sanders. The reason Covey is such an old prospect is because after his promising freshman season, he served a two-year mission in Chile for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Mormon Land” podcast, Covey said this about his mission trip: “Missionaries bring maturity to the team that is unmatched. What happens on a mission can’t be replicated in life for a 20-year-old…[especially] when it comes down to the adversity part. Anyone who’s been on a mission has experienced moments when they really didn’t think they were going to make it through. That brings levelheadedness to a person.”

UDFA: William Dunkle, OG, San Diego State

After redshirting in 2018, Dunkle played in 32 games and started 30 in college, all at right guard. While San Diego State has a run-heavy offense, Dunkle did not give up a single sack during his college career, according to ProFootballFocus.

UDFA: Noah Elliss, DT, Idaho

Noah Elliss was adopted and raised by his uncle Luther Elliss, a former NFL defensive tackle and two-time Pro Bowler. Noah Elliss initially committed to Mississippi State but didn’t qualify academically, according to the Denver Post. So started taking classes at Idaho and then in 2019 began to play football for the Vandals and Luther, who was the defensive line coach. Aside from Luther, Elliss comes from a football family. His two older brothers, Christian and Kaden, are both NFL linebackers. Christian is on the Eagles’ roster and Kaden plays for the Saints; he was a 7th-round pick in 2019.

UDFA: Ali Fayad, LB, Western Michigan

Fayad played just four of six games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season but made the most of his extra college season. In 2021, Fayad was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference in sacks (11.5) and tackles for loss (16). In an interview with USA Today, Fayad said the injury in 2020 “really propelled me for this year, because it changed my whole mind and mindset towards the game.” Fayad said he had the MAC logo and the NFL Logo taped on the ceiling above his bed for motivation.

UDFA: Mario Goodrich, CB, Clemson

While his fellow cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. was a second-round pick, Goodrich was the MVP of the 2021 Cheez-It Bowl. They were the two All-ACC selections at cornerback in 2021. And Goodrich, according to his Clemson bio, is the first-ever Tigers signing from the state of Missouri.

UDFA: Josh Jobe, CB, Alabama

Jobe grew up in South Florida and pushed hard to go to Christopher Columbus High School, all all-boys Catholic school in Miami. A story in The Crimson White, detailed his quest to attend the school. Jobe had to lug his school work and his football gear on a light rail and two different city busses just to attend Columbus every morning. And then because he turned 19 before Sept. 1 of his senior year of high school, Jobe was ineligible to play football as a senior. So he attended Cheshire Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut before his freshman season at Alabama.

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UDFA: Josh Sills, OG, Oklahoma State

Before Sills went to West Virginia and then Oklahoma State in his college career, he was a starting offensive tackle at Meadowbrook High School in Ohio. He also kicked and punted in high school. He had a 41.9 yards per punt average and set the school’s career (60) single-season (27) extra-point record.

UDFA: Carson Strong, QB, Nevada

A big reason Strong went undrafted was his knee injury, which dates back to high school. In fact, he missed his entire senior season. According to a Washington Post story, Strong felt pain in his knee after a basketball tournament in high school and an MRI showed he had osteochondritis dissecans, a joint condition in which the cartilage in his knee had detached from the bone. So he had surgery in July of 2017 that included eight biodegradable nails to reattach that cartilage. In February of 2021, Strong had another surgery to replace his cartilage in the knee. He played well in 2021 but wasn’t very mobile.

UDFA: Keric Wheatfall, WR, Fresno State

Before heading to Fresno State, Wheatfall was a star receiver at Blinn College, a top JUCO program in Texas. In 2018, he had 47/798/6 at Blinn, which has been a brief home for some notable NFL stars like Cam Newton.

UDFA: Jarrid Williams: OT, Miami

Williams played in 22 games for the Hurricanes after transferring from Houston, following quarterback D’Eriq King. Williams went to the Hula Bowl this offseason and was “explosive” at the event, NFL Draft Diamonds David Van Nett said, via 247 Sports. Last year, the Eagles really put a lot of stock into Zech McPhearson’s performance at the Hula Bowl. Perhaps this really helped Williams too.

Devon Allen, WR, Oregon

One of the more unique stories with the Eagles this summer will be Allen, the 27-year-old Olympic track athlete who hasn’t played football since the 2016 season at Oregon. Allen is a three-time U.S. national champion in the 110-meter hurdles and represented the United States at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He finished fifth in Rio (13.31) and fourth in Tokyo (13.14). Earlier this offseason, after he already signed with the Eagles, Allen set a Penn Relays record in the event with a 13.11, which is also the fastest time in the world this year.