PHILADELPHIA – From walk-on to Temple's best defensive player. That's the journey defensive specimen Haason Reddick made in college.
In April, Reddick, a Camden native, will make the trip from North Broad Street to the Art Museum for the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia.
Reddick was projected to go in the mid-rounds a few months back, but has been rising up draft boards into the first round after strong performances at the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine.
Temple's Haason Reddick in coverage drills - Tom Ignudo
So what type of player will an NFL team be getting if they select Reddick?
"They're going to get the hardest working player in the draft," Reddick said. "To come from where I have, the obstacles that I overcame, the adversity that I went through to be here, people don't understand how much hard work has been put into this. I truly believe I'm the hardest working player in the draft and I know that will continue when I get to the next level."
And that hard work is all Reddick knows.
After the most important weekend of his life at the combine last weekend, Reddick showed up at Temple's practice at 6 a.m. on Monday at The Pavilion like he was still a part of the team.
"It's almost like a dream come true," Reddick said. "I'm living in a dream and I don't have to wake up yet."
For Reddick, though, his dream of playing in the NFL was nearly cut short while playing high school football at Haddon Heights in Camden, New Jersey.
Reddick suffered injuries during his junior and senior seasons in high school and did not get recruited by a college program. He thought his football career was over, and he had plans of getting a degree just being a regular college student at Temple.
But, his father made a couple calls to the football program, including to then-graduate assistant Francis Brown on former head coach Steve Addazio's staff.
Reddick would then walk-on in 2012 and was redshirted under Addazio, but the following year he faced yet another obstacle. Addazio told him he wasn't bringing him back on the team the following year.
Reddick did not know what he did wrong. However, once Addazio left Temple for Boston College in 2013, former head coach Matt Rhule took over and brought him back to the roster the following season.
Haason Reddick clocked a 4.52 sec. 40-yd dash, ranking first among '17 DL at NFL Combine - photo taken by Zamani Feelings at Temple's Pro Day.
"He gave me a shot," Reddick said. "That coaching staff was the first coaching staff that gave me a shot."
Reddick took that 'shot' Rhule's coaching staff gave him and grew every year as a player. He earned the starting defensive end spot his junior season and finished the year with 45 tackles and 12.5 tackles for a loss.
Reddick picks off Navy QB Zach Abey's pass during AAC Championship game - photo by Zamani Feelings
He then led the nation in tackles for a loss with 21.5 in his senior year. It was after his senior year that Reddick realized his growth as a player could allow him to play in the NFL.
Reddick said at his pro day on Wednesday that teams like him at inside and outside linebacker, and that he's most comfortable playing the edge in a 3-4 system.
"I've come so far, literally from the bottom," Reddick said, "Two injuries in high school, both ended my junior and senior seasons, to walking-on, being over looked, to finally getting my chance to play football again, and now being able to go play in the NFL, that's just amazing."
*The first round of the 2017 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday, April 27, at 8 p.m.*