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To say that narrow end Jess Sternberger He has faced a number of stops throughout his football career which could result in him being sold short.
A 6-foot-4, 251-pound tight end from Kingfisher, Oklahoma, Sternberger didn’t have an extensive list of scholarship offers coming out of high school. In fact, he would have been tempted to attend community college if it weren’t for a late offer from former Jayhawks coach David Beaty and University of Kansas.
In his first season at Kansas, the Jayhawks failed to win a single game, finishing the 2015 campaign with a 0-12 mark and an average margin of defeat of 31 points.
“I don’t think you can write worse ways to lose games,” Sternberger said, reflecting on his freshman year at Kansas. “I was oblivious to the talent in college football.”
Sternberger, who is now a member of USFL‘s Birmingham Stallionjoin RJ Young On his podcast,The number one college football show,” to discuss his well-traveled football career and explain how he got to where he is today.
Texas A&M to the USFL: Jace Sternberger’s Journey to Success
Birmingham Stallions tight end Jesse Sternberger talks about his long path to the NFL.
After spending two seasons at Kansas, Sternberger made the decision to transfer to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M University, a community college located in Miami, Oklahoma. It was an experience Sternberger described as “refreshing”.
“Coming from Kansas, being on a team, being around coaches who were working on the same goal… everyone was trying to get out of there,” Sternberger said of his year at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. “Our goal was to win matches and get out.”
That’s exactly what Sternberger did when the team finished 9-3 in the 2017 season, which led to him receiving an offer from Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M Aggies. Fischer initially recruited Sternberger when he was in the FloridaHowever, he made the decision to leave FSU and accept a head coaching role at Texas A&M in December 2017.
Sternberger followed Fisher to College Station, making it Fisher’s first formal commitment to his new school.
It didn’t take Sternberger long to gain an understanding of how different the fanbase of an SEC powerhouse like Texas A&M was compared to his previous stops.
“I remember JUCO’s featured tape had 2,500 views, but as soon as I posted that I was going to visit A&M, the views went up to 19,000 the next day and were over 30,000 by Sunday,” Sternberger told Young. “I thought that was unbelievable.”
Sternberger’s goal in going to Texas A&M was to play against the best competition in college football and prove to himself and others that he belonged. The talented tight end did just that, catching a team-high 48 points for 832 yards and 10 touchdowns on her way to being named a consensus All-American.
After his only season at Texas A&M, Sternberger decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2019 NFL Draft, where he was selected in the third round by Green Bay Packers. He played two seasons in Green Bay, with his best year coming in 2020 as he caught 12 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Sternberger spent the next two years bouncing around the NFL from team to team, with hiatus SeattleAnd Washington And Pittsburgh Along the way. After being brandished by the Steelers in 2022, he signed with the Birmingham Stallions in January 2023 and is in the midst of a breakout season with his new club.
During four weeks of the USFL season, Sternberger has already recorded 14 catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns, all while helping guide the Stallions to a 3-1 record. He attributes part of his success to Stallions quarterback Alex McGoughwho also happens to be his roommate.
“It’s something about just being around the middle every day where you kind of start to get to know each other’s personalities and this and that,” Sternberger said. When I ask questions, Alex [McGough] He knows how my mind works, what I process, and what I think.”
It’s been a good travel trip for Sternberger, who is now on his fifth professional team after three stops in college. But as Sternberger was quick to admit to Young, this is all part of the process of proving to himself and others that he belongs.
“That’s why I still carry that chip on my shoulder,” Sternberger said. “I feel like what I’m going through right now is the exact same thing I went through [in college,] It’s just now in an older body and in an older position because it’s the USFL, not the JUCO. That’s my mentality now for everything.”
Sternberger will be looking to prove himself again this weekend when the Stallions battle it out with Houston Gamblers facing the south section on Saturday (4 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and host of the podcast “The number one college football show.Follow him on Twitter at @employee And Subscribe to “The Number One College Football Show” on YouTube.
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