Jets’ tight end has his life, career on rise
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. » Austin Seferian-Jenkins disliked the person he had become.
He was out of shape, had been in trouble with the law and was being labeled a second-round bust. The troubled tight end knew he needed to make changes — and quickly.
“It really didn’t have anything to do with football,” Seferian-Jenkins said, reflecting on the last several months, which included treatment for alcohol abuse. “It just had to do with, as a person, there comes a certain time in your life when your life could go one direction or the other and I felt it going in a direction I didn’t want it to go.
“So I figured out what I needed to do.”
He has turned his life around off the field and is thankful for the chance he has on the field with the New York Jets.
“I made a plan and I stuck to it and I’ve continued to stick to that plan,” the 24-year-old SeferianJenkins said. “My personal life is
great. I’m happy and I’m doing everything I should off the field, so the football stuff is easy for me. Is it easy every single day to come out here and work hard and do everything? Not necessarily. People get tired and all that. But compared to other stuff I’ve been through and things I’ve worked through, this is easy.”
Seferian-Jenkins quit drinking in January and received outpatient rehab treatment. Since then, his new svelte physique is the most visible change. The 6-foot-5 Seferian-Jenkins is down 33 pounds from last season, when he was listed at 262, after improving his diet and tinkering with his workout routine. He mixed in aerobics and yoga to improve his flexibility.
“I mean, man, it’s a lot easier running around, lighter,” he said. “More than just losing the weight, it’s a mindset of how I’m going to attack the day, how I’m going to attack the practice.”
Seferian-Jenkins looked solid during the offseason workouts and minicamp, and has carried that over to the early part of training camp.
“He made a dedication to himself, so that’s a credit to him,” coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s come in lighter, he’s quicker, he’s leaner and he’s moving a lot better.”
Seferian-Jenkins feels good and he likes who he is now, something he couldn’t say just a few months ago.
The 38th overall pick in 2014 by Tampa Bay was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Florida last September while he was a member of the Buccaneers. Seferian-Jenkins was cut by the Buccaneers a few days later and claimed off waivers by the Jets .
He was charged with DUI and violation of an ignition interlock device restriction from an arrest in 2013 while playing at the University of Washington. Seferian-Jenkins pleaded no contest in February to a reduced charge of reckless driving after originally pleading not guilty to the DUI charge.