With the 10th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected offensive tackle Jedrick Wills.
The Browns did not anticipate Wills slipping to No.10 and were thrilled to get him.
The #Browns had trade offers, but so far no trades: A tackle they didn’t think was going to be here at No. 10 is available: #Bama OT Jedrick Wills. A mean, nasty tackle.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 24, 2020
Wills is completing his junior year at the University of Alabama.
He becomes the 7th first-round offensive lineman drafted under Head Coach Nick Saban at Alabama.
Wills is a consistent performer who tallied 28 consecutive starts at Alabama.
At right tackle, his speed and athleticism were an asset to his QB Tua Tagovailoa.
Tua described Jedrick as the “alpha male” and the guy capable of making things happen on the field.
Cleveland #Browns new OT Jedrick Wills Jr. 🔥
pic.twitter.com/VP8LCzQCJR— Everything Cleveland (@EverythingCLE_) April 24, 2020
The newest Cleveland Brown has a fascinating background.
Here are 3 things to know about him.
1. Basketball was his sport.
Though Jedrick Wills played football during his formative years, he always felt basketball was the sport he would ultimately succeed in playing.
He aspired to be a point guard.
As a sophomore at Lafayette High School, Wills broke a bone in his foot.
At that time, he made a decision to focus on football.
Measured at 6′ 5″ and weighing 320 pounds, it seems Wills made the right choice.
His high school football coach, former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Eric Shaw, agreed.
2. He was the top football prospect in the state of Kentucky in 2017.
After making the All-State team in his junior and senior years of high school, Wills was invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Game.
This is a showcase game for the top high school senior football players in the country.
It is played in Florida each January.
Wills entertained offers from neighboring University of Kentucky, Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee, and Alabama.
He was conflicted because he really wanted to stay home and play football because he believed that is what most did who were born and raised in Kentucky.
The UK campus was only 5 minutes from his high school, and he went on 8 recruiting visits there until he reached a decision.
An encounter during his freshman year with a former top prospect from Kentucky, Damien Harris, stuck in his mind.
“I knew Jed before we both got here,” Harris said. “We had a little bit of a relationship. Obviously when I committed here and ended up coming here and he was looking at coming here and he’s looking at a bunch of other schools, I always kept in touch with him and see how he felt about our program and obviously tried to encourage him to come here. And fortunately enough, he did.”
It’s a bit of an unlikely pairing: They’re the two highest-rated players from the state of Kentucky in the last decade, according to the 247Sports Composite ratings. They ended up playing together, but did so several hours from home.
“It was pretty cool,” Wills said. “Being from Kentucky, there’s not really too many people who go outside the state and go to like real big schools. Seeing he had that opportunity kind of opened up my eyes. I could see I had the chance to do the same thing.”
Harris also had offers from many schools including UK.
At the time when the two met, Harris was committed to the University of Michigan but ultimately changed his mind and ended up playing for Nick Saban at Alabama.
3. He comes from an athletic family.
The reason Jedrick Wills believed basketball was his sport is largely due to his genetics.
His father, Jedrick Wills Sr. is the assistant woman’s basketball coach at Lafayette High School.
Sivi Wills, his mother, played basketball at Eastern Kentucky.
Surprisingly his mother was influential in his decision to focus on football.
She recognized that the combination of his size and speed made him a force to reckon with on the football field.
Jedrick Wills was a no-brainer choice for the Cleveland Browns at #10.
He is an established right tackle known as a “dog” for his punishing tackles.
Wills will likely be asked to switch to left tackle with the express purpose of protecting Baker Mayfield‘s blind side.
And the good news is that he will have future Hall of Fame help in doing so.
#Browns Kevin Stefanski said Joe Thomas will be a resource as Jedrick Wills makes switch to left tackle.
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) April 24, 2020
Jedrick Wills will be a welcome addition to the Cleveland Browns this fall.
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