Lehigh University wide receiver Ryan Spadola, a graduate of Freehold Township High School and Howell Pop Warner, signed an undrafted free agent contract with the New York Jets. Spadola set pass receiving records at Lehigh. BRENT HUGO/LEHIGH ATHLETICS Ryan Spadola is hitting the books this week. However, the Lehigh University senior isn’t studying college textbooks, but the New York Jets playbook instead.
Spadola, who starred at Freehold Township High School before a record-setting career as a wide receiver at Lehigh University, signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Jets and will be off to Rookie Camp on May 9 at the Jets Training Center in Florham Park. He’s learning new terminology and formations so that he will be ready for the camp.
“I’m focused on going to camp and making the team,” he said from Lehigh, where he is working with a trainer daily in preparation for the Rookie Camp.
A tweet by Spadola said it all about his emotions the day he signed his NFL contract.
“Taking my talents to NY. Can’t wait to put on the GANG Green and be part of the Jets organization. Thank you for every1 who has supported me.”
Spadola’s journey started at Howell Pop Warner, where his dream of playing professional football began. He continued playing through high school at Freehold Township and at Lehigh, where he set program records.
“I see myself living a dream and it’s quite surreal,” he said.
As his tweet indicated, Spadola is very aware that he had a lot of help on the way to the NFL.
“At the end of the day it’s not a single effort,” he said. “Family, friends, coaches [and] trainers all gave me help and guidance.”
Signing with the Jets ended an intense period of waiting. Spadola was invited to attend the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, which is the first step to being drafted. He played in the Texas vs. the Nation All-Star Game, which raised his stock. He took the semester off from school to go to the Fit Speed Athletic Performance Center in Florida for more training.
At the three-day combine, he went through physical evaluations; interviews with all the team, including the psychological test; and then the physical test that includes the 40- yard dash, vertical jump and long jump (being an ex-track guy helped him here). “It was a long three days,” he said. Several pro teams expressed their interest in the Mountain Hawk receiver, and the next step was the NFL Draft (April 25-27). Spadola did not expect to be picked in the first two days of the draft, but he was surprised to not hear his name called on the last day, even though he knew that “nothing was guaranteed.
“Saturday (April 27, the last day of the draft) went from anxiety to frustration to disappointment.”
All was not lost, though.
“Rex Ryan (Jets head coach) called me and said they couldn’t draft a receiver because they had other needs but, ‘we really want you. If you slip through the cracks, we want to sign you,’ ” he said
Although other teams were also looking to sign Spadola, it was Gang Green all the way.
“I went to workouts with them,” he said. “That was the selling point. They really wanted me.”
The NFL looks for three things from its receivers, according to Spadola — speed, smarts and physicality. The league wants the speed to get open and go deep, the smarts to make adjustments running routes based on the defense, and the physicality to get separation from a defensive back covering them. Spadola has all three, and it was a great college career at Lehigh that opened NFL scouts’ eyes to the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder.
As a junior at Lehigh, Spadola established school records for receptions in a season (91) and yards (1,614). He led the Patriot League in receiving as a sophomore and junior. Although he missed two games with mononucleosis that slowed him for the entire month of October last year, he still led the Mountain Hawks in receptions (57) and yards (851). Lehigh was 11-2 and won the Patriot League title.
The receiver credited Lehigh head coach Andy Coen with making him believe he could play in the NFL.
“After my sophomore year, he told me ‘If you put the hard work in, you can have a career past Lehigh,’ ” said Spadola. “I put the work in. That gave me the extra push.”
The extra push has Spadola headed to Florham Park and the start of a football career beyond Lehigh.