Heart of Buffalo: Jasen Oden grinding to fulfill NFL dream

 

Jasen Oden possesses the heart of a Ram; both on and off the football field. And he’s the “Heart of Buffalo.”

Oden, a continuing senior at Colorado State University, played his final college football game with his Rams on Dec. 22, 2015. That Arizona Bowl loss sadly capped off a great run for Oden and his fellow seniors, but the young man is too positive to dwell on the negative.

Oden, who came from the mean streets of Buffalo, New York, is focusing on the present and his near future.

The 22-year old took time out of his busy life – which is spent balancing training for the NFL Combine in New Jersey and traveling to Fort Collins to finish his degree – to speak to me about how life has been since leaving CSU.

“I’ve been bouncing back and forth, training out here in Jersey, going back to Fort Collins,” Oden explained. “I’m still in school. The goal is to get my degree.

“Then again, my lifetime goal has always been to play in the NFL,” he continued. “I feel like I got the tools to progress my game and get my opportunity at the next level.”

Oden was one of the most consistent Rams when it came to making his goals clear; all season long we heard him say he wants to play in the NFL. Why not Oden? He’s got the size – 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds – with the speed and vision to make it at the next level. Oden’s a bruiser, a beastly back who feasts on defenders who underestimate him. When needed most, he’s the back Colorado State used to gain those tough, key yards to gain a first down. And his ability to see the hole develop helps him break off seven and eight-yard runs with regularity.

But, even when he realized his best success as a running back in 2015, an injury slowed down his on-field production.

“I did suffer a severe injury against San Diego State,” which he believes hurt him as he didn’t get invited to the college all-star bowls to show off his talents.

“I was on track to accomplish a lot,” Oden said of his senior season. “I had goals, like to go over 1,000 yards, 15 touchdowns, things like that. I really wasn’t significant in the second half of the season. It really hurt me, but I think a lot of teams will look past that and how productive I was in the first part of the season.”

Currently, he’s in New Jersey at Parabolic Performance and Rehab working on enhancing his 40 time and on other skills which will allow him to impress at his Pro Day or the NFL Combine. He hasn’t been invited to the Combine — former teammates Rashard Higgins and DeAndre Elliott were — but Oden is hopeful he will be invited. He should be.

“I’m really trying to use Pro Day to show my speed and my athletic ability,” Oden explained. “To be more than just (a tough, short-yardage back.) Right now, I’m just trying to live in the moment and chase a dream of mine since I’ve been a kid.”

He is certainly more than just a short-yardage back, though he excels in that aspect of his game. Oden proved he has speed against UTSA, running wild 30 times for 148 yards, each career-highs. He also broke off a 42-yard run in the win over Air Force in mid-October. Plus, he’s decent at catching the football and can block like a brick wall.

It’s never been easy for Oden, though.

Originally a cornerback, he was converted to running back in his junior season. Then, after some success in 2014, the senior came in as the third-string running back. “I didn’t complain about it,” Oden said. “I just promised myself I was going to give everything I got…I always had that ‘never say never’ attitude. That ‘never die.’ I believe in grind and hard work.”

That hard work paid off, as he played well in the face of adversity and through competition against Dalyn Dawkins and Treyous Jarrells, the latter of which left the team mid-season. To start the season, Oden ran for 74 yards against Savannah State, but saw a dip in production when Dawkins was named starter against Minnesota. Still, he bounced back to run for 80 yards and a touchdown versus the rival University of Colorado before his 143-yard, one TD game at UTSA. Against Air Force, he rushed for 89 yards on only 11 carries, a stellar 8.1 YPC, with a career-high two touchdowns. And when the season was all said and done, he totaled 746 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry, with eight touchdowns.

Heart of a Ram.

He never quit, even when he entered spring football as a senior but third on the Rams’ depth chart. He never quit, even when the shoulder injury he hid from the public was hampering his play during his senior season. He won’t quit now, even when the chips are down and he’s yet to receive an invite from the NFL Combine. All this work he’s putting in will be displayed on his Pro Day – Colorado State’s will happen at some point in March – and he’ll show that heart and his physical ability to the many NFL scouts who will be in attendance.

And why does he want to make the NFL, to accomplish that lifelong dream? Not for selfish reasons, but to help others.

Heart of a Ram. Heart of Buffalo.

“My neck of the woods is pretty rough, coming from Buffalo (NY), it’s pretty rough,” Oden explained. “I grew up in the East Ferry projects. I didn’t really have nothing…Of all my friends, I’m the only one that went to college. Some of my (childhood) friends are dead and the majority of them are in jail. I’m just trying to make it.

“I finally decided I want to do something that can help kids that come from my type of environment,” Oden said of his hopes of giving back to his community. “Not even just kids that come from my type of environment, just kids in general who don’t know a lot about the college clearing house. Those kids who don’t have the money to pay for training. Training is expensive. Like a recreation center to help those kids enhance their athletic abilities. Get them those extra study sessions for the ACT, SAT and help them get recruited.”

Selflessness. Courage. Positivity. Leadership.

Heart of a Ram.

“As long as you believe in yourself, anything can be accomplished,” he continued. “If I had a place like that growing up that could help me out, I probably would’ve been in a better place. My GPA would’ve been better. I wouldn’t have taken that year out to go to prep school. I have a lot of friends that grew up with me who were better at football, they couldn’t go to DI because their grades were messed up…So things like that, I just want to give back and teach kids.

“Unfortunately, you’ve got to have money to do that,” the young man said. “I’m really looking at the NFL to cut the checks. And to be able to support my family, to give my mom that life she never had either. My mom got five kids. I want to give them that life. Let them know what working hard will get you.”

“Sometimes I believe I’m the heart of Buffalo,” Oden explained. “Because I come from the streets, I come from nothing, I come from the bottom. So, certain people can’t go certain neighborhoods where I’m from…being an athlete, I can go everywhere. I don’t have to ride around with my friends with guns in the car.”

Now, the heart of Buffalo, with a heart the size of a Ram, is grinding to accomplish those two all-important goals: graduate college and play in the NFL.

We wish him luck. And if the NFL Combine had any sense, they’d invite Jasen Oden today.