Georgia Tech safety Jaylon King may well have earned the inaugural Bill Curry I Like to Practice Award even if he had not sustained a season-ending leg injury last fall. His dependability, developed through attention to detail on the practice field, made him a starter last season after waiting his turn for four seasons.
But missing the final seven games of last season after fracturing his tibia has only deepened his appreciation for being on the practice field.
“I like to be out there,” King said Saturday after Tech completed spring practice with its spring game. “I don’t take any practice, any day, for granted, especially what happened last fall. Just being out there every day, I enjoy the process no matter how much I’m in pain, how much I’m hurting out there, just to be out there and play with my teammates.”
King has yet to meet the legendary namesake of the award he received Saturday, but the two have a bit in common. For starters, Curry also had to wait for his turn to start at Tech. It was in the fourth game of his fourth season on campus that he got into the starting lineup at center before going on to a 10-year NFL career that included three NFL championships and two Pro Bowl selections.
“I must have liked practice, or I would have gone home because I went to practice every day,” Curry said Thursday in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Curry said that practice was “absolutely essential” for someone who didn’t have the physical gifts that other teammates may have had. Given the heavy priority that coach Brent Key is placing on developing toughness in practice, King’s recognition as the leader in that field is a signficant honor.
That King earned the award “probably says that he’s going to max out, that he’s going to be the best player that he can be,” Curry said.
King has demonstrated that drive for excellence many times before, both on Tech’s Alexander Rose Bowl Field and away from it. In an AJC profile about him written before his arrival at Tech in 2018, King’s parents shared how he pushed himself to earn the first chair at cello in his middle-school orchestra despite not having played the instrument before arriving at the school. And when he was playing quarterback for the Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee, he made sure to work on defensive-back drills with his father, Jeff, to keep sharp at that position.
“There might be some people that might beat me out, but I’m always the hardest worker out of our group,” King said then.
He had to apply the same diligence after the injury, sustained in the Jackets’ road win at Pittsburgh in Key’s debut as interim coach. After surgery, in which pins and a rod were inserted into his leg, King said that he had to teach himself to walk again.
“Just the first month or so, just trying to walk heel-toe, not swing my leg out, things like that,” King said. “That was kind of weird and challenging. Frustrating, as well.”
King began running after returning to campus from winter break and then by around early March was able to cut on his surgically repaired right leg without feeling pain or stiffness.
“It’s been feeling a lot better,” King said before the end of spring practice. “I wouldn’t say I’m still 100% – probably 80% – but hopefully it’ll get back to that 100% midsummer.”
The injury was made only more bitter by the fact that King was playing well at the time of his injury. Going into the Pitt game, his 26 tackles ranked third on the team. But he put aside his disappointment over not being able to play after having waited so long for his chance and poured himself into his replacement, freshman Clayton Powell-Lee. King said he did early-morning rehab, then went out to watch practice and understand the assignments for the free safety.
“And then I’d sit there and try to coach ‘C.P.’ through practice, and then I’d go back and do some more rehab,” King said.
With King’s help, Powell-Lee earned freshman All-American recognition.
At the same time, King was completing requirements for his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He graduated in December and will pursue a master’s in building construction.
“It was tough to balance with football,” King said. “Once you move up in the ranks in civil engineering, there’s less tutors that are available to help you, so you’re really solely on your own or you have to find study groups within your classes.”
Said Curry, “Anybody that majors in engineering and plays football at Georgia Tech is a tough son of a gun. I’m serious.”
With spring practice completed, King will continue his healing and prepare for a final season as a Jacket and a possible preseason competition with the teammate he mentored last fall. Both players will be part of a secondary expected to be a team strength.
“It’s been fun,” King said. “We go hard out here, but when we get to the meeting room, we always look for different tips, things we can give each other just to get each other better. Nothing crazy, just out there competing, having fun.”
Spoken like a winner of the Bill Curry I Like to Practice Award.
“Even with the injury that he had, obviously, he’s still coming back, but no complaints out of him,” Tech secondary coach Travares Tillman said. “Again, he’s coming out every day, practicing the way he’s supposed to practice. He’s playing winning football right now. I’m very pleased with it.”
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