Jaguars draft Ouachita Baptist CB Gregory Junior with sixth round pick at 2022 NFL Draft

Juston Lewis, Florida Times-Union
·3 min read

The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Gregory Junior, a cornerback from Division II school Ouachita Baptist, with their sixth-round pick.

Jacksonville selected Junior with the 197th pick on the third day of the 2022 NFL Draft. Junior had 46 total tackles, seven pass breakups and one safety during the 2021 season for the Tigers as they went 9-2 in the Great American Conference.

He was one of a school-best 19 all-conference selections for Ouachita Baptist last season, being named to the All-GAC first team cornerback.

His play at the Senior Bowl launched him onto many draft boards and the Jaguars went to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to see his pro day workout.

“I talked to [the Jaguars] at the NFLPA, at the Senior Bowl and they came down to my Pro Day, so we’ve been staying in communication a lot,” Junior said via zoom after being selected.

In four years, plus the additional “COVID-year” of playing for the Tigers, Junior recorded 128 tackles, 16 pass break ups and one interception, becoming a key piece to Ouachita’s success on defense as the Tigers went 41-7 in the years, he played for them.

Feb 1, 2022; Mobile, AL, USA; National defensive back Gregory Junior of Ouachita Baptist (6) and National defensive back Tariq Castro-Fields of Penn State (22) and National defensive back Coby Bryant of Cincinnati (29) talks with an assistant coach before National practice for the 2022 Senior Bowl at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

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With his selection, Junior becomes the first-ever player drafted from Ouachita Baptist to the NFL — a badge that he wears with pride.

“Man, it’s a blessing just being the first person to represent Ouachita,” Junior said on being the first Tiger drafted to the NFL. “I know we have three other people who went undrafted from Ouachita so just to be the first it means a lot.

“Like I said, just being able to represent Ouachita Baptist and the football program,” he added. “I’m glad I’m the first person. Hopefully there’ll be many more to come.”

His school is pronounced “watch-e-tah,” which could be a challenge for most people to pronounce, but not Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, who’s familiar with the name.

“Going to school in Louisiana, we don’t have counties, we have parishes and the parish that I lived in was spelled the same way,” Pederson said. “My wife went to Ouachita High School. I have a brother that went to Ouachita High School. It’s spelled and pronounced the same way.”

As far as on the field, production for Jacksonville, Pederson wants to see Junior come in, get acclimated and compete — same as the other seven rookies that they drafted.

Junior will be joining a roster with five returning cornerbacks as well as Jaguars’ seventh round pick Montaric Brown on their team. As a team, Jacksonville intercepted seven passes last year.

They’ll be looking for an uptick in production as they head deeper into the offseason.

“I think overall, where we are with the men that we drafted this weekend really helps us,” Pederson said Saturday at a post-draft press conference. “I talk a lot about the depth at each position and the competition at each position, it just makes us better as a football team when we can have that consistency at these position groups. From the standpoint, I think we did an excellent job.”

Juston Lewis is a sports reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gregory Junior selected in the sixth round by Jaguars