Byron Jones And His Breakout NFL Combine

I ran across a really cool article at Business Insider about an NFL prospect out of UCONN who less that 2 years ago was interning in Connecticut political offices and just recently had one of the best NFL combines of the year.

Byron Jones, a cornerback out of UCONN, was a normal college kid positioning himself for life after graduation.  He worked for a Connecticut state representative as a college sophomore during Spring Break, and he parlayed that into a summer internship with another Connecticut congressman a few months later.  

While he was preparing more for a career in politics than a career in the NFL, Jones had a work ethic and leadership skills that are marketable in any career field.  State representative Joe Aresimowicz, whom Jones worked for during his sophomore year Spring Break, had this to say about Jones:

"He has this incredible work ethic. He also has this grasp of how to get people to work together, that was on display almost immediately. He was giving some pretty sound advice to some of us who have been doing this for quite a while."

A switch from safety to corner in between his sophomore and junior seasons helped him see his career take off.  His incredible work ethic that he displayed that same summer paid dividends as well.  While he was interning in DC, he found time to workout with the George Washington University women's basketball team.

 "I had to wake up at 5 (a.m.), worked out at 7, had my job from 8 to 6. It took an hour and a half to get back because D.C. traffic is so ridiculous. And then I'd run from like 8 to 9. By 9 o'clock I'm done. Eat first, of course, but then go right to sleep. So a lot of it was built up internal motivation just to be a better player and I found myself out there every day doing it, grinding."

Everybody has a different journey towards success.  A few years ago, Byron Jones thought that he had much more of a chance at success in the political field than on the NFL field.  But, his strong work ethic, his ability to communicate, and his ability to lead helped him get the most out of himself and he has grown into a potential NFL draft pick.  

When you work hard and do things the right way, success has a way of finding you - even if its from an unexpected source or path.  And it doesn't hurt if you can set a combine broad jump record of 12 feet 3 inches, you can come within half of an inch of a combine best vertical leap with a jump of 44.5 inches, or you can run a 4.3 40 yard dash.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/byron-jones-breakout-star-nfl-combine-2015-2#ixzz3SdETQMS3