Spadola 'Living His Dream' With Jets

Growing up on the football fields of the Howell Pop Warner league Ryan Spadola said he and his friends would dream of someday trading in their Lions jerseys for that of their favorite professional team. 

When the New York Jets open their rookie training camp Spadola will have the chance to see that dream come true after signing with the team as an undrafted free agent. 

Coming out of Freehold Township High School Spadola said he was just glad when he got the chance to take his game to the college level at Lehigh University. Making the jump from college to pro ball was not something on his realistic radar at the time. "At that current stage it seemed like kind of a far stretch," he said. "Throughout my years at Lehigh I started to grow and develop and everything kind of fell into place."

It was during his sophomore year with the Mountain Hawks that Spadola said everything really started to click. After hauling in 78 passes for 1130 yards Spadola was named to the First Team All-Patriot League squad and was the school's first 1000 yard receiver since 2001. He also showed he knew his way around the classroom earning a spot on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

Following that season Spadola said his coach told him his prospects for making it to the NFL were good if he continued to raise his level of play. He did not disappoint as a junior as he set a Patriot League single-season record with 1,614 yards for the Lehigh squad. He caught 96 passes with 11 of them finishing in the end zone. The monster season earned him another spot on the All-Patriot League team as well as All-America honors from a variety of sources. 

Spadola said going into his junior year he knew he was going to take his coach's advice and, "took the bull by the horns."

With two solid years behind him Spadola said he knew a strong senior season would be key if his NFL dreams were going to come true. Even though he missed three games after coming down with mononucleosis he still caught 57 passes for 851 yards and also carried the ball for his team. By the time his Lehigh career was done Spadola had more than 3000 receiving yards and finished second in the school's record books in receptions and receiving yards. 

With his college career behind him Spadola knows he will face a different level of competition than he saw in the Patriot League but believes his time in Bethlehem will help him at the Meadowlands. "Patriot League teams throw a lot of schemes at you and use their fundamentals to their advantage," he said. "In that respect I was able to get a good understanding of different defenses."

One of his last college games was the Texas vs. The Nation All Star Game where he said he saw what the tougher competition will look like. "That was awesome," he said. "Going into that game a lot of scouts wanted to see how I performed against other opponents, different opponents he said. "It didn't matter there if I came from a smaller school." 

It was the weekend after Christmas when Spadola said he knew he had a real chance at being a professional football player. That was when he got his official invitation to the NFL Combine along with the rest of the top college players in the country. From the end of December to the middle of February he went to Florida for a 10-week training program to help his draft stock as much as possible.

Making the trip to Indianapolis for the combine was something Spadola said he will not soon forget. "It was definitely awesome," he said. 'It was really humbling to be around all those guys and to be considered one of the top players at my position." 

The months of work came to a head this past week as the NFL draft was held at Radio City Music Hall. Spadola said he had been told he could be picked as high as the fifth round, which was held on the third day of the event. As the picks went by and his name was not called the former Freehold Township star said all he could do was sit and wait for his chance. 

All during the draft Spadola said he got calls and text messages from different teams but it was not until Jets Coach Rex Ryan called that he knew he would be given a real chance. Talking to the well-known coach Spadola said he told him the team could not take a receiver in the draft but they still wanted him on their team. "Getting that phone call sealed it," he said. 

Lehigh Coach Andy Coen said he was glad to see his star receiver get a chance with a team like the Jets even if he was not picked in the draft. "We are all thrilled for Ryan to have earned this opportunity," he said. "He is an outstanding football player and an outstanding person. I have no doubt that Ryan will represent himself and our football program very well as he becomes a part of the Jets organization."

Now that he knows he has a shot to make the Jets roster Spadola said that will be his focus at next week's camp and beyond. "It means a lot," he said. "It means all the hard work I put in ever since I started playing football in second grade is paying off. The dreams are right here in front of me and I'm living them. I'm really trying to embrace everything going on so far."

When he does report to the Jets next Thursday Spadola said he will know at least one of the people throwing to him. Before he was picked in the second round of the draft by the New York squad quarterback Geno Smith and Spadola met at the combine. Not knowing he could someday be a target for Smith the Lehigh product said he shared a flight and the same dinner schedule with the West Virginia passer. 

While Spadola will be battling for a spot on the Jets roster Smith will be one of the key players in a competition to be the team's starting quarterback. After a year where the Jets made more headlines off the field than on, Spadola said his goal is to focus on football. "I'm most looking forward to helping to make changes in the organization and getting it back to where it once was," he said. "I'm going to ignore that (distractions) and I'm going to go out and approach it like a job. I'm going to make sure I give it my full effort."