B/R Interview: Oregon Ducks' Jeff Maehl Preparing for 2011 NFL Draft

Walking onto the practice field in 2007, Jeff Maehl thought he had his career path laid out and he was ready to execute on it. He came to Eugene with the idea of moving his way up the depth chart in the Oregon secondary and would hope to break into the starting lineup in his second or third year on campus.

In the 2007 season, Maehl would make an impact with his work ethic and found himself on the field playing special teams. Slowly, as the injuries for Oregon began to take there toll, Maehl’s career path was about to take an unexpected turn.

With three games remaining in the season, Oregon became so thin at wide receiver that they turned to Maehl and began to get him in on offense. Once Maehl was placed at wide receiver, he never looked back.

Four quick years later, Maehl helped lead the Ducks to the National Championship and came up three points short of winning the first title in school history. When asked about the moments that followed that last second field goal, Jeff said “It was sad. I stayed on the field and really tried to get my arms around everything that had just happened. That walk back to the locker room and the realization that my time at Oregon was over was rough. I felt like just the other day I was coming in as a freshman but the experience and time I spent at Oregon is something I will cherish forever.”

As that journey ended, Maehl realized another one was beginning. With his final year in college over, his focus would now shift to graduating and entering April’s NFL Draft. He began his training down at California Strength in California, and quickly began to bond with a player from his own conference.

“I trained down here at California Strength with Ryan Whalen, receiver from Stanford. Over the past couple months I have spent a lot of time with him. We also roomed at the East-West Shrine game. Having him at the combine was big, we were able to help each other prepare and get ready for the different drills and tests we would go through.”

That training and work ethic paid off at this years combine as Maehl set a new record in the three cone drill. “When I heard the time down on the field, I knew it was 6.42. About twenty minutes after getting my time and hearing it was official, I knew that I had broken the record.”  Maehl also finished .13 seconds away from breaking the 60 yard shuttle record.

With the speed and proficiency that Maehl got through most drills, he talked about the challenges that he faced at the combine both on and off the field.  “I am not sure what was more challenging, the physical or mental drills, because they put you through a lot off the field and that can become tiring. As for the on-field drills, I didn’t find them to be too difficult although there were some drills I wanted to do better on but that is what the pro day is for, to really focus in and improve on your combine workout.”

Just like the on field activities are a necessity, so are the interviews team conduct. Teams are looking to make sure that the millions of dollars they are about to invest in players is worth the risk. General managers, team presidents and owners are asking themselves, why should we draft this player. Understanding that point of view, Maehl said “teams should look at drafting me mainly because of the things I have done in college. I am a hard worker, which all the coaches at Oregon would vouch for, I always want to get better, I am driving to improve on some of my weaknesses and you know I will come into the organization and strive to become better on a daily basis.”

In the end, Maehl is an example to all young players. He came to a top 25 team with the hopes of continuing his growth at his desired position but at a moments notice gave that up for what was best for his team. Maehl said, "The switch was certainly not something I expected but it was what the team needed so it was an easy move to make. After going to receiver it just took me a little bit to refine my skills and become comfortable on the offensive side of the ball."

For the next month and a half, Maehl will continue to work hard to make sure he lands on a NFL roster. As April 28th approaches, he will make plans to head home to California and prepare for one of the biggest weekends of his life. After four years of Duck fans being used to the Maehlman delivering on Saturdays, he will look to offer an NFL franchise his services on Sundays.