Jared Mayden
Safety / Alabama
Ed Hunt: How is it going out here in Mobile, AL?
Jared Mayden: It’s good, just taking it all in at the time.
Ed Hunt: What’re you trying to show the scouts this week?
Jared Mayden: Really, just my versatility. I played corner at Alabama and I played safety. I basically just want to come in and do the same thing. Do as much as I can handle. I just want to show these guys that I can play any spot in the defensive backfield.
Ed Hunt: Can you tell me about your QB Tua Tagovailoa?
Jared Mayden: Tua, that was one of my guys. We got along very well. He’s really a student of the game. He wants to learn. He’s eager to learn.
Ed Hunt: What do you think of Najee Harris as an NFL prospect?
Jared Mayden: Najee, he has great balance, runs hard and works out hard. If he does well this year, there should be no reason he wouldn’t go high in the draft. The sky is the limit for him.
Ed Hunt: Are you from Texas?
Jared Mayden: Yeah, I’m from Dallas.
Ed Hunt: What made you choose Alabama?
Jared Mayden: Coach Pruitt, he was moving from Georgia to Alabama. He was the main reason I got along with coach Saban. The legacy there. The expectation that comes with being an Alabama football player. I wanted to see if I was ready for that. I was a great player coming out of high school, but it all turned around when I went to Alabama.
Ed Hunt: Are you more of a free safety or a strong safety in the NFL?
Jared Mayden: That’s not how safety works at Alabama. I liked to roam, I liked to cover. Coach Saban had me cover RPOs. How coach Saban wanted to use me on the field, that’s how I was used.
Ed Hunt: What are your strengths?
Jared Mayden: My strengths were definitely coverage and range. I like when tackles pull, toss plays and tight ends were coming to block me. They never expect me to come up and just hit them. I tried to knock them out. It’s a real good time.
Ed Hunt: What are you trying to work on here in Mobile?
Jared Mayden: Really just keep improving on my knowledge of the game. There’s a lot of coaches, a lot of people up here. I’m just trying to keep going as hard as I can.
Ed Hunt: What is your best trait? What would be the number one trait a team should draft you by?
Jared Mayden: My number one trait. I would just say versatility. I feel like there’s no reason that I shouldn’t be able to play ten years in the league. I could play like six years at corner and then they just use me at safety. Just creating the most value for myself and the team.
Ed Hunt: Can you play special teams to go along with your versatility?
Jared Mayden: Our coach is a real good special team’s coach, so there’s a lot of technique I feel I can bring back to the team.
Ed Hunt: You got a pretty special opportunity to be coached as a defensive back by Nick Saban. Tell me what that’s like. Can you tell me just a tidbit?
Jared Mayden: Coach Saban can be a pretty hard coach. I remember my freshman year when I was playing corner and I gave it my all. I was walking back to the line of scrimmage and I remember him and I remember someone yelling at me. I’m like this is a fade, so I’m good. I’m six yards from the line of scrimmage and I see him coming around the d-lineman and cussing me out. Then he walked at least thirty yards down the field and was cussing at me and proceeded to walk back to the line and continue to cuss me out. So that was an experience I had.
Ed Hunt: Is the overall demeanor with the Alabama team that the team could’ve done better or should do better next year?
Jared Mayden: I feel like we could always say that. Especially with the season we had. But that was never an expectation that we had. We are supposed to end up in the National Championship. I feel like we could’ve done better, did some things. But this team, they are smart.
Ed Hunt: Is there an underclassman that you think is going to be good?
Jared Mayden: Jaylen Waddle. I mean everybody already knows about him but now that he’s going to be a featured receiver, the sky is the limit for him.
