The Oregon prospect is rated as the top center in the 2024 NFL draft
INDIANAPOLIS — Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson has been mocked to the Miami Dolphins on a pretty regular basis early in the pre-draft process, and the South Florida media contingent would be very happy with that selection after his very entertaining media session at the combine Saturday.
While media dealings obviously mean little, if anything at all, in the overall evaluation process, Powers-Johnson stood out during his session talking about “Da Bears,” his gospel choir class and how he sounds at times like Celine Dion or Adele and others like Josh Turner or George Strait, or comparing shotgun snaps to a baseball pitcher and the release and follow-through such as on a 12-to-6 breaking ball.
And then there’s what he said about the Dolphins and his formal interview, which went beyond the obligatory compliment to a potential future employer.
No, Powers-Johnson was way more effusive in his praise of the organization, head coach Mike McDaniel, offensive line coach Butch Barry and GM Chris Grier, to the point where it almost seemed as though he was pleading the Dolphins to draft him with their 21st overall pick.
“Amazing team, amazing GM, amazing coach,” Powers-Johnson said. “It was just a great time too. Something that really goes out about the Dolphins to me is just how young how young the coach is. It’s something I can relate to. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it matters how good you are. He’s an amazing coach. And he even though he is young, he’s an amazing coach and I’d be honored to play for him and play for that amazing GM and amazing offensive line coach.”
POWERS-JOHNSON A LEGIT TARGET FOR THE DOLPHINS
Taking Powers-Johnson certainly would make sense for the Dolphins given the uncertainty with the interior of the offensive line, with 2023 starters Robert Hunt, Connor Williams and Isaiah Wynn impending unrestricted free agents and Williams coming off a torn ACL on top of that.
Powers-Johnson played all three interior spots during his three years at Oregon, but moved to center exclusively in his final season and played well enough there to earn AP first-team All-America honors.
Saying he looks up to Jason Kelce, Ryan Jensen and Creed Humphrey, Powers-Johnson says he considers himself a center at heart.
More significant as it pertains to the Dolphins, Powers-Johnson says he’s well versed in the outside zone scheme.
“I feel like I have great outside zone,” he said. “I think I know my coaches at Oregon really did a great job preparing me for that. And I feel like I really could fit in that scheme.
“I’m a bigger center, and I think I can move pretty good and just being a physical, nasty center. And just having fun playing football. I think you can see it on film.”
POWERS-JOHNSON OFF THE FIELD
In terms of the gospel choir, Powers-Johnson says he took part last spring as a class and really enjoys it.
“It’s kind of a team game to how to work with different sounds and just be a part of the team and getting out of my comfort zone,” he said. “No big lineman in a gospel choir class. You walk in, everybody’s like, who’s this guy here?”
Asked to provide at his media session a sampling of his singing ability, he politely declined, then joked that he would have to check with the NFLPA about it.
“It was an amazing class,” he said. “Not a big credit class, but just beginning the gospel choir, super fun. You know, I’m a guy who grew up in Utah. Church there is kind of very quiet, but going into kind of singing and having a lot of fun it was a great experience and definitely introduced me into a new culture and something I love and some music I still listen to to this day.”
The media session ended with Powers-Johnson talking about the burger on the menu at the Elk Horn Brewery in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon.
We’ll let him describe it.
“It’s called the Big Jacks burger. There’s a lot of stuff in it. It’s a big man delight. So start with the patties. We’ll start with the bun, really great brioche bun. Under that we got little bit of barbecue, we have some queso. We have some mac and cheese, some pulled pork, some bacon, two things of patties and then a bun under there. And then, yeah, if you can finish that I think the meal is probably free.”