Coleman proves he has heart of champ

Xavier Coleman looked at the jersey hanging in his locker on Friday and shook his head.

“It’s still surreal,” said Coleman, a cornerback the Jets signed as an undrafted free agent. “I’m just blessed to be here honestly.”

Many rookies say that, but none may mean it more than Coleman.

He never thought he would play football again after being diagnosed, while a freshman in high school, with a heart condition called a bicuspid aortic valve. The doctors told him football, the sport he loved, was no longer an option at Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore.

“I was freaking out because football has always been my dream,” Coleman said. “When that was taken away from me, I went through a time where I was really down. That was a low point in my life when I had the game taken away from me.”

Coleman continued to play basketball and run track, but he longed for the days of helmets and shoulder pads.

“Football was always in the back of my head,” he said.

A bicuspid aortic valve is a form of heart disease in which two of the aortic valve leaflets fuse, which leaves a person with a two-leaflet valve instead of the usual threeleaflet valve. Coleman said his heart was regurgitating blood. Doctors found the condition in Coleman after he had repeated fainting spells during his freshman year. He was told he would not need surgery, but that changed in the summer before his senior year of high school.

After a checkup, his parents sat him down and told him the doctors said his heart was not “holding up” and he would need surgery. He went to Stanford University and got the surgery. Shortly after, Coleman said he wanted to play football again.

“Right after surgery, I put two and two together. If I’m fixed, I can play football again, right?” Coleman said.

He talked to his surgeon and cardiologist, who both gave him their blessing. Then he talked to the coach at his high school, who welcomed him. Just a few months after surgery, Coleman was on the football field. He played the final two regular-season games and four playoff games. He returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown in his first game.

The coaching staff at Portland State noticed and recruited him. He jumped at the chance to play college football. In his junior season for the Vikings, he had five interceptions and began to dream about the NFL.

“Going into my senior year, I thought, ‘If I stay focused I can make it happen,’ ” Coleman said.

Opponents stayed away from him in 2016, but he still managed two interceptions and five pass breakups. He was named first-team All-Big Sky Conference and third team All-American. Coleman did not get invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, but participated in a regional combine in New Orleans where the Jets first saw him.

Scout Brian Shields attended his pro day and the two remained in contact through the pre-draft process. When he went undrafted, Coleman had a few offers, but chose the Jets.

“This is the place I wanted to play,” Coleman said. “I like the defense they play. … My agent and the Jets were able to work out a contract. It was like the longest 10 minutes of my life. They were on the phone trying to work something out and then my agent called me back and congratulated me.”

Coleman’s road is an amazing one, and one he hopes is just beginning.