Mike Jerrell, from arena security guard and 6 years at Division-II Findlay onto Seahawks

Michael Jerrell played his college football games in front of crowds of...

“About fifteen hundred,” he says.

That was Division-II University of Findlay. There are high school programs in Findlay’s state of Ohio that will have almost 10 times that amount of fans at games this holiday weekend.

Yet the offensive tackle ignored Name, Image and Likeness offers to transfer to Power-5 schools and stayed at Findlay. For six years. Through 40 consecutive starts. Through a football season canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m a loyal guy,” Jerrell said. “I stick with those who stick with me. They believed in me from the start.”

That includes when Jerrell was a 245-pound lineman as a senior at Pike High School in Indianapolis. That was his only year of starting for the Pike High varsity team. He had an offer from Grand Valley State, in Allendale, Michigan, the Division-II national champion four times in the 2000s.

Yet he chose Findlay.

“I wanted to go to family. It was a family vibe,” Jerrell said. “And they had a plan for me. They manifested this one.

“They told me when they were on my couch (on a recruiting trip to Indianapolis). They said, ‘You’re going to be an NFL player one day.’”

He gained 65 pounds while playing and getting a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration degree at Findlay. When Findlay shut down school during COVID, Jerrell went home to Indianapolis. He took a job downtown as a security guard at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home arena of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers.

While he did, bigger-time programs asked him to come play for them.

“I think Purdue reached out,” Jerrell said. “I was getting (social-media) follows — that’s their way of, like, poaching — (from) Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina.”

How rampant is poaching by programs in college football right now? Coaches were trying to get him to transfer this spring — when he was no longer playing college football.

“I was getting follows from coaches and stuff, even after the draft (this year). They didn’t even know I entered the draft,” Jerrell said. “I had a school hit me up.”

He shook his head.

Through that circus of NIL money and the transfer portal, Jerrell stayed at Findlay. He was a four-time all-conference blocker for the Oilers.

What NIL did he get at Findlay?

“We didn’t have NIL at Findlay,” he said.

He impressed scouts at the Hula Bowl college all-star game last winter. He impressed more of them while participating as a visiting athlete invited to the mega Pro Day at Ohio State in Columbus, about two hours from Findlay.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider was there at the OSU Pro Day. Among all the Buckeyes’ NFL talent, he saw a 6-foot-5, 309-pound tackle that was athletic, could move and was strong.

They drafted Jerrell in the sixth round this spring.

“I wish I could have said I went to Findlay and scouted (him last) fall, but didn’t quite have time for that,” Schneider said. “He went to the Ohio State workout, had a great workout. He’s a monster of a dude. ...

“He dominated at a level he’s supposed to dominate in at Findlay and, yeah, length, size, he’s a former basketball player that’s re-worked his body and he’s still on the come. So it’s a really fun shot at an amazing upside.”

Yet as recently as Tuesday, Jerrell was getting the same question: When did you feel like you belong in the NFL?

“I’ve always felt like I belong,” he said, “from the day I got my number called.”

Tuesday, on a day they waived fellow rookie sixth-round pick and cornerback D.J. James, the Seahawks made Jerrell one of the 53 players on the initial roster for this regular season.

The kid who grew into a man at Findlay made it.

They could see his beaming smile back to northwest Ohio Tuesday.

“Dream come true,” Jerrell said.

Mike Jerrell’s Seahawks place

As the Seahawks prepare for the season opener Sept. 8 against Denver at Lumen Field, Jerrell is a backup right tackle to alternating George Fant and Stone Forsythe. Fant and Forsythe were supposed to be backup, swing tackles on the right and left side this season. But starting right tackle Abe Lucas remains on the physically-unable-to-perform list.

Lucas has yet to practice since offseason knee surgery. Seattle’s two-year starter from Everett and Washington State will miss at least the first four games of this season.

Schneider said this week the Seahawks are “playing the long game” with Lucas.

“(We are going to) make sure we’re doing things appropriately. Like, this is for his career. It’s not just for the 2024 season,” the GM said. “We want to make sure that we are doing the right thing by Abe, and which also is the right thing for the Seattle Seahawks.”

That — plus his performances in training camp and three preseason games — make Jerrell more important than he was when the Seahawks drafted him in May.

Coaching Mike Jerrell

New Seahawks offensive line coach Scott Huff has invested a lot of coaching already in Jerrell.

He’s changed the rookie’s stance to widen his feet. He had Jerrell turn his feet out. The University of Washington’s line coach until this year has worked to have Jerrell strike defenders with his hands more quickly and effectively.

“He’s helping me get out more explosive, teaching me things to look at, telling me how to be detailed,” Jerrell said of Huff.

“He’s very detailed.”

The Seahawks are expecting a return on that investment. Rarely do they or any NFL team go through a season using only the starting five or even just six or seven offensive linemen.

That doesn’t mean Jerrell wasn’t nervous Tuesday as the roster-cut deadline of 1 p.m. approached — then passed.

“I’m the type of person like ‘You just never know what to expect,’” he said. “So it was a little bit nerve wracking, a little bit. Once one o’clock hit, I was like ‘OK, I’m good, I’m good.’”

Now that he’s officially in the NFL, he’s proud he remained at Findlay those six years.

“It meant a lot to me to stay,” he said. “I didn’t take the easy way out, like most guys chasing NIL stipends or whatever. I worked jobs. I went to class. I did all my work myself, and I took advantage of whatever little resources we had just to get to where I’m at.

“It makes me really proud. I’m thankful for for my whole entire journey, from (Findlay coach) Kory Allen to my strength coach Chad Wagner, I’m thankful for all of the whole staff. They meant a lot to me.”

Allen flew from northwest Ohio to Seattle to be at Seahawks headquarters for the start of training camp July 24.

“My coach actually came down here to see me, first day of camp,” Jerrell said, marveling.

“He wanted to see me in my my seventh camp. “He’s been with me for six camps (at Findlay). He wanted to come to my seventh.

“It means everything to me to see ‘Mike Jerrell, the University of Findlay’ up on the screen, instead of a Power 5 school. Man, it means everything.

“It can show guys that come from small schools you can make it to the NFL. You don’t have to go to Power 5s and chase NILs to get to the NFL.”