Temple product Maddux Trujillo excited for the NFL draft
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Maddux Trujillo turned heads this past football season as a highly efficient kicker at Temple University.
He had nearly a 73% success rate on field goals and was perfect on extra points. He thanks Temple for getting him NFL-ready.
"I believed in the coaching staff, and they believed in me more than I think any other coach in the country did, and you can tell by the amount of field goals we attempted," Trujillo reflected. "I thought I had a chance to do it, and I knew if I went out there and did my best that I was going to work my butt off to get to where I am. And it just so happened we had some crazy events go down that put me in a little bit of a better spot than I could've imagined."
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One of those crazy events came last September when Trujillo drilled the longest field goal of the college football season, in Temple history, and in the history of Lincoln Financial Field: 64 yards.
"When it first went through, it was just, 'Holy cow, I just hit a 64-yard field goal,'" Trujillo recalled. "That's what was going through my mind, I didn't know the records that were going to come along with it."
After that, NFL teams really took notice.
"I definitely got a lot more interest from everyone involved in that whole process, whether it be agencies after the season ended. I think I wouldn't have had as many good of a choice of agencies or teams reaching out," Trujillo said. "I was able to go to the combine. I don't think I would've been able to go to the combine if it weren't for that kick."
It's now draft week, and Trujillo is back home in Georgia, where he plans to enjoy the process alongside family and friends.
"I'm someone that's not very good at reflecting and going back and looking at my accomplishments and being proud of myself," Trujillo remarks. "I always kind of keep my head down, keep moving forward. But this process has given me a lot of time, especially in the past couple of weeks, just to relax and be like, 'Hey, look what you've been able to do this season, this is really cool, go out there and keep that same confidence.'"
