Josiah Scott, a cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, represents the Indians along with Carman, and Lakota West also has two players in the league with center Ryan Kelly playing for the Indianapolis Colts and linebackers Jordan Hicks with the Arizona Cardinals.
Ross graduate Simon Stepaniak is a guard with the Green Bay Packers, and Hamilton’s Adam Pankey is an offensive lineman with the Miami Dolphins.
Here is a look at what the five returning players have done in the NFL to this point:
JORDAN HICKS
The Lakota West graduate was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round (84th overall) in 2015 and spent his first four years there before joining the Arizona Cardinals in 2019.
Now the linebacker is preparing for his seventh NFL season. He has started 72 of 75 games played, including three full seasons. In his final two years with the Eagles he missed multiple games because of injuries but recorded a career-high three sacks in 12 games in 2018 to go along with 91 tackles.
Hicks, who spent five years at Texas with a medical redshirt in 2012, has played and started all 32 games since joining Arizona, recording a career-high 150 tackles in 2019 and finishing the 2020 season with 118 tackles and 11 tackles for loss.
RYAN KELLY
The Colts selected the former Alabama center in the first round (18th overall) in 2016, and he was an immediate contributor, starting in all 16 games as a rookie. He missed some time in 2017 and 2018 because of injury but has started all but one game the past two seasons and earned a big contract extension last year.
Kelly has played 66 career games (all starts) and is preparing for his sixth NFL season. He allowed two sacks and was penalized once last year in 1007 snaps played.
The 2015 Rimington Trophy winner (for the nation’s top college center), Kelly was a three-year starter at Alabama and helped lead the Crimson Tide to the 2015 national championship. He did not allow a sack during his final two seasons.
ADAM PANKEY
The Hamilton graduate and offensive tackle was signed by the Packers as an undrafted college free agent in 2017 but has bounced between practice squads and active rosters the past four years with three different teams. He is with the Miami Dolphins now, after getting claimed off waivers in December 2019. He’s played in six games since then with one start and has a total of eight appearances in his four seasons.
After initially getting waived by the Packers with final cuts in 2017, Pankey joined the Green Bay practice squad and was promoted to the 53-man roster after one game. He was inactive for 10 of the remaining 15 games, playing in one game and dressing but not playing for four games.
The following season, he played one game but spent the final 12 weeks on the practice squad, and in 2019, he was inactive for 11 weeks before getting waived. He spent two weeks on Tennessee’s practice, then was picked up by Miami. Pankey was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at West Virginia.
JOSIAH SCOTT
A fourth-round pick by the Jaguars in 2020, Scott is preparing for his second season after appearing in six games as a rookie. The cornerback recorded 11 tackles in 80 defensive snaps.
After becoming a three-year All-Greater Miami Conference first-team pick at Fairfield, Scott played three years at Michigan State, appearing in 30 career games (all starts). He closed his college career ranked tied for 12th in MSU history with 32 passes defended (seven interceptions, 25 pass break-ups).
SIMON STEPANIAK
The Packers drafted Stepaniak in the sixth round (No. 209 overall) last year, despite him still recovering from an ACL tear during Indiana University’s practices leading up to the Gator Bowl in December 2019.
He began his rookie season on the reserve/Non-Football Injury list but began practicing with the team for the first time in Week 11 and was added to the 53-man roster Dec. 9 but was inactive for the remaining games until Green Bay placed him on the injured reserve list Jan. 12 in the playoffs to clear roster space for veteran offensive tackle Jared Veldheer.
Stepaniak, who started 31 games at Indiana, is preparing for a healthy Year 2.
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