Taylor, Ramsey, Nijman Avoid Bursting Bubble
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Randy Ramsey was dismissed from the football team at Arkansas.
Yosh Nijman wasn’t too keen on moving to the offensive line at Virginia Tech.
Malik Taylor’s NFL dream, not exactly bright to begin with as a Division II player, was almost shattered by a hamstring injury that ruined his senior season.
Those three players overcame the odds and made the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster.
“To be here and to make the 53, it’s a surreal moment,” Ramsey said after Monday’s practice. “I don’t even know how to put it into one word. I just think it’s a testimony.”
Out of the Game
Ramsey played as a true freshman at Arkansas in 2014 but was dismissed from the team in 2015 due to academics. He went home to Florida to ponder life and his football future.
“That was one of the lowest points of my life,” Ramsey said. “I honestly didn’t know if I was going to play football again.”
Ramsey took some online classes to get his grades back in order under the supervision of his mom, a longtime teacher.
“He came to work with me and sat in my classroom,” his mom told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “As an educator, I know he had skills. I’ve never quit at anything and I won’t allow him to quit.”
Ramsey had career highs of three sacks and six tackles for losses as a senior in 2018. He went undrafted in 2019 and spent his rookie year on the practice squad. He beat out Tim Williams, a former third-round pick by Baltimore, to make the roster.
“For some reason, I was calm,” Ramsey said of his Saturday. “I wasn’t really concerned. I’m a high believer in just you put in the work, you feel me, everything else will fall in place. I wasn’t really worried about was going to happen because I firmly believed that I put in the work.”
Unwanted Position Change
Nijman started 33 games at Virginia Tech – at left tackle as a sophomore and junior and at right tackle as a senior. Nijman spent the 2014 season at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, where he emerged as the No. 1 prep school defensive lineman in the nation. He opened his Hokies career on the defensive line.
“Back in college my freshman year, I think the second week into spring ball, I sat down with Coach (Frank) Beamer and my offensive line coach, and they were like, ‘Hey, we think you would do a phenomenal job playing offensive line,’” Nijman recalled. “And I was like, ‘Argh.’ I didn’t really want to do that at the time. But I know going to Virginia Tech, that was kind of the lingering topic, so I was like, ‘OK, I might as well play it.’”
The coaches referenced Duane Brown, who caught a touchdown pass as a redshirt freshman tight end in 2004. He moved to offensive tackle in 2005 and was a first-round pick in 2008.
“So,” Nijman continued. “I was like, ‘OK, then I’m down … to play the position.’”
Nijman had a superb Scouting Combine in 2019 but went undrafted. He failed to make Green Bay’s roster and spent the first 12 weeks on the practice squad. He was promoted for three weeks but didn’t play, and ended the season on injured reserve (elbow/triceps). Surgery kept Nijman sidelined for the start of training camp but he did enough to beat out Alex Light for a backup spot at tackle.
“I was really anxious toward the deadline,” Nijman said. “I didn’t get a call and then I told my parents, and my agent called me and then, bam. It was very exciting.”
From Division II to NFL
Not many NFL players emerge from the Division II ranks. Fewer make it after missing most of their senior season due to injury. But that was Taylor’s goal all along.
“Absolutely. That was my main goal,” Taylor said. “That was pretty much what I did. I pretty much put everything into that one goal. As far as going out, things like that, I put all that on the backburners. I pretty much didn’t do anything that didn’t have to do with getting to this level. Yeah, that was a very real goal for me, and I pretty much tried to do everything I could to get here. As far as the injury, it was probably one of the roughest times in my life, just knowing that could be the reason I didn’t get to this level. That’s where my faith in God really just grew. I have people in my corner, like my parents, my girlfriend, they all just stayed in my ear.”
At Ferris State, a Division II school in Big Rapids, Mich., Taylor caught 47 passes for 1,017 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore in 2016 and 61 passes for 906 yards and six touchdowns as a junior in 2017. However, he missed almost all of his senior season due to a hamstring injury that ruined his draft prospects.
Taylor went undrafted in 2019 and had a cup of coffee with Tampa Bay. Finally, a week before training camp, the Packers signed him. He spent the season on the practice squad, then unseated popular veteran Jake Kumerow on Saturday.
“Last year on the practice squad, I took it as an opportunity to grow, to learn from the guys in front of me, Davante (Adams), and guys like that,” Taylor said. “It gave me an opportunity to learn the playbook more, to learn the speed of this offense, to learn the speed of the NFL, period. This year coming into training camp, that’s what I thought I could bring into my game, just playing fast and the details.”
For all three, making the roster on Saturday was the culmination of years of hard work. But their journeys aren’t complete. They played the game not to make a roster but to be on the field.
“For me, it didn’t hit me. It still hasn’t hit me yet,” Taylor said. “I don’t think it’s going to hit me until we get into the Vikings stadium. Earlier, I thought the feeling I will have is, you know, I made it, it’s like a big weight off my shoulders. But it really wasn’t that feeling, it was more of another flame lit inside of me. It’s just another level of motion, another level of determination and I’m just ready to attack this thing.”
