BEAUMONT, Texas — The NFL Draft will get underway on Thursday April 27 on ABC 12. This year there are multiple Southeast Texans hoping to hear their name called, including Silsbee's Calvin Tyler, Jr.
The former Willie Ray Smith Award winner initially started as a freshman for Oregon State before transferring to Utah State following a knee injury.
All it did there was help the Aggies win a Mountain West Championship and the LA Bowl while piling up over 2,000 yards in his two seasons with Utah State.
He say he has plenty to offer a NFL team.
"I'm just that guy, my energy is unmatched man. I'm a three down back for sure. I can catch the ball, run the ball, pass block, whatever you want me to do. I'm a violent runner so like I got some bad intentions when I run the ball, but I can also make you miss. You're getting a guy that's a team player. Whether that's special teams, whatever, I'm going to do my job. I'll go out there and play my role."
As far as his knee injury early in his college career, Tyler believes is actually helped him in the long run.
"Most definitely. It helped me tap into, tap into myself more and just showed me another part of myself that wasn't there. Like you said a lot of things came easy. I mean it was hard work too, but a lot of things came easy like on the field or anything. But definitely the injury brought me down a lot."