Michigan Wolverines Football: Jalen Mayfield Not Looking Back
Michigan Wolverines Football: Jalen Mayfield Won’t Look Back
The questions started as soon as it became evident Big Ten coaches wouldn’t give up their fight to play this fall — would the players who declared for the NFL Draft have a chance to change their minds if football returned?
The NCAA might have to visit that in the near future with certain players. Former Michigan redshirt sophomore Jalen Mayfield, however, won’t be one of them.
Mayfield always remained hopeful that the season would start and that he’d get to build on his breakout 2019 season, his first as a starter. Instead, the Big Ten bungled its way to a postponement with no end in sight and an apparent lack of leadership to move forward.
“It was extremely tough. I built so many relationships over the last couple years, so for it to just come to an end the way it did, it was really hard to make that decision,” he said on The Huge Show. “But sometimes in life you’re going to be faced with difficult decisions. That’s just one I had to make right there.
“I never really wanted to opt out. I was always hopeful that the season would come. I had pretty big goals set for this year, was planning on at least attempting to reach those goals this year.”
When the Big Ten announced brought football to a standstill Aug. 11, Mayfield sat down with his family to decide his next step. He’d made a number of mock drafts as a first-round pick after an outstanding showing against this year’s No. 2 pick, Ohio State’s Chase Young, and his stock rose dramatically.
His decision didn’t catch Jim Harbaugh off guard. Mayfield sat down with his coach to fill him in and got nothing but cooperation from U-M’s head coach.
“He was very supportive of my decision, and he always wants what’s best for us,” Mayfield said. “I can’t thank him enough for the support he’s given me and my family, the opportunity he granted me.”
It was tough to leave knowing the teams had a chance to be “really special,” he added.
“I think just the new changes we had, everybody was getting used to a new system [last year], used to seeing new guys on the field and stuff,” he said. “For me, the big challenge was playing with confidence at the start … not trying to think about game too much. A couple plays, sometimes I was thinking too much.
“Toward the end of the season, once everybody got locked in and just got kind of focused on the job and what we were supposed to do, we flipped a switch and started clicking like we knew it could.”
He was expected to be the guy who helped bring a young line along this year. Instead, he’ll test his talents in the NFL, leaving Michigan fans to wonder what might have been.
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