By Glenn Naughton
With just two days of Jets training camp in the books, it’s far too early to get excited over reports of player performance in non-contact drills as they’re getting comfortable in a new system under head coach Todd Bowles and his staff.
However, one name Jets fans should be happy to see standing out in that short time is second-year cornerback Dexter McDougle as he attempts to return from a torn ACL suffered during training camp last season.
A third-round selection out of the University of Maryland in 2014, McDougle was generating a fair amount of buzz in Cortland prior to the injury as he was believed to be working his way up to no. 2 on the depth chart ahead of Dimitri Patterson, Ellis Lankster, and Ras-I Dowling.
Now back and fully recovered, the 5′ 10”, 196 lb McDougle has already been spotted making plays in each of the first two days of his second pre-season camp. Following what was reportedly a strong play on a diving interception, McDougle had a near-interception and a “sack” on day two.
As most Jets fans know by now, before being drafted by Gang Green, McDougle had earned a reputation at Maryland as a tireless worker and great leader, so much so that the Terrapins named an award after the Virginia native.
With that being the case it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that McDougle was sprinting at full speed during offseason OTA’s following his injury, and that he’s once again off to a running start in the opening days of the 2015 season.