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Catching Up with Jeff Owens

Regarded as one of the top recruits from the state of Florida when he signed with Georgia in 2005, Jeff Owens ultimately emerged as one of the Bulldogs’ top defensive linemen for the decade of the 2000s. In 53 games, including 37 starts, he totaled 103 tackles, including 12.5 for loss and five sacks. Owens’ 66 quarterback hurries were the fourth-most for a Bulldog career upon his departure from the school in 2009. While at Georgia, he earned a significant number of honors and awards, including the AFCA Good Works Team honor, the SEC Community Service honor, and was voted defensive team captain as a senior.

Since playing for the Philadelphia Eagles for a season, Owens has been coaching football. Currently, he is the defensive line coach for Campbellsville University—an NAIA school (Mid-South Conference) in central Kentucky. UGASports caught up with Owens from Campbellsville.

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UGASports: Jeff, talk about your recruiting process coming out of Plantation High School.

Owens: “All the big schools in my home state recruited me hard. At Florida, Urban Meyer had just become the Gators’ head coach, and he really tried to get me to come there. Florida State was also in my top five. And I committed to the University of Miami early on. But there was something about Georgia and wanting to play for that ‘G.’ My first recollection of Georgia was when coach Willie Martinez came to Plantation’s spring game entering my senior year. The following fall, Coach Rodney Garner took over recruiting me, and he did a hell of a job. Coach Garner was often at my house and called me about every other day. So, I quickly built up a great relationship, a great bond with Georgia.”

UGASports: Besides the staff under then-head coach Mark Richt, what attracted you to Georgia?

Owens: “I’ll never forget when I first visited Athens. My hosts were great. Marquis Elmore, [nicknamed] ‘the Mudcat,’ hosted me one night, followed by Gerald Anderson the next. I also hung out with Dannell Ellerbe, who was a redshirt freshman. I also built a great relationship with the recruits I visited with: Kade Weston and Jamar Chaney. They would both commit to Georgia. Kade would eventually be my college roommate, while Jamar would later be my roommate in Philadelphia (NFL). I fell in love with hanging out with all of those guys. And those guys are still my good buddies to this day.”

UGASports: At Georgia, you promptly saw significant playing time as a true freshman in 2005. (Owens was the lone Bulldog on the 2005 Freshman All-SEC Team.) What do you attribute to your early success?

Owens: “Being able to compete against SEC competition right off the bat wasn’t easy. But I did put in a lot of work beforehand. When I got to Georgia, I was already really strong. To play at that level, it’s mentally a much different game than high school. However, physically, I made sure I prepared myself by lifting a lot in high school. So, when I came to Georgia, I was already stronger than a lot of the guys on the team. I maxed out at 485 on the bench press as a true freshman. The fact that I was already strong enough to get knocked back at that level and take on double teams helped me as a freshman.”

UGASports: While you were at Georgia, your lofty bench-press totals were often reported. And, of course, what you did at the NFL Combine is legendary. (At the 2010 combine, Owens benched 225 pounds 44 times, which still ranks as one of the top bench-press performances in the history of the annual event.) How did you get involved in lifting weights, specifically the bench press?

Owens: “Entering high school, I had never done the bench press. And, the first time I tried it, I couldn’t even do 25 on the bar (95 pounds in total). My older brother, Clifton, told me to do pushups to get stronger. So, I started doing pushups every night. For four or five years straight, I’d do 100 or more pushups every single night. In time, my bench press just started going up. Eventually, when most other kids were getting video games as gifts, I got a weight set as a gift. So, I started lifting weights in my backyard, but I still did the pushups. In fact, the night before I benched 44 reps at the combine, I did 100 pushups in my hotel room.”

UGASports: Entering your fourth year in 2008, there was a lot of hype surrounding you and Georgia, on the whole, considering the team was preseason ranked No. 1. However, you tore your ACL in the first quarter of the season opener against Georgia Southern, and you were finished for the season. How were you able to handle the adversity?

Owens: “I had a ton of support at Georgia. From the coaches to the players, and from my family, they all kept me encouraged. Plus, I was looking to have a bright future, so I wasn’t going to let one injury, one setback, deter me from everything I was working for. You can’t go through life’s battles and let something like that keep you down. Also, after the injury and leading into [the 2009 season], I kept a blog. I got some fan reaction from it—and that encouraged me, as well.”

UGASports: What’s your most memorable victory while at Georgia?

Owens: “There’s several, but two games really stick out in my mind. In 2007, we played Alabama in Tuscaloosa at night and [ESPN’s College] GameDay was there. We beat them in overtime (26-23) in a game of the ages. Later that same season, I’ll never forget our ‘Blackout’ win over Auburn (45-20) at home. We came out for warmups in our red, standard jerseys, only to change to black jerseys for the actual game. We wound up beating Auburn pretty comfortably. That game’s atmosphere was unbelievable!”

UGASports: Speaking of which, remind us about that significant moment in UGA football history when the Bulldogs wore black jerseys against Auburn.

Owens: “After we warmed up in our red, we went back into the locker room and had our prayer. The lights then came on and laid out in our lockers were the black jerseys. Honestly, we had heard the rumor that we might be wearing black. However, when we warmed up in our standard jerseys, I think all of us dismissed any idea that we’d be wearing something other than red. But, when the black jerseys were revealed, it was just chaos. Everyone went crazy! That emotion right then—the passion we had when it was revealed we’d be wearing black jerseys—pretty much beat Auburn in 2007 before the game had even started.”

UGASports: After your final regular-season game at Georgia—a 30-24 upset over 7th-ranked Georgia Tech on the road—you were photographed giving a thumbs up to a Jackets fan who appeared to be bent out of shape, whereas you seemed to be beaming. Do you recall that very moment?

Owens: “(Laughing) I just wanted to kill him with kindness... Right after the game, this guy with Tech stuff on in the stands started to be belligerent. There was really nothing that could be done, except for me to kindly express how happy I was that we beat Georgia Tech. And it was my fourth time beating them! At Georgia, we especially can’t let a Tech man get us out of character. So, I just wanted to kill him with kindness.”

UGASports: Whether because of on-field performance, academics, or community works, you were honored many times while playing football at Georgia. What was your greatest honor?

Owens: “Being voted defensive captain my senior year is something I’m really proud of. Just knowing I had the respect of my teammates, and they looked upon me as a leader, that’s big. It’s something I’ll be able to tell and show my kids one day—that ‘daddy’ was a captain at Georgia. It’s an honor to be thought of as a leader and have the respect of your peers.”

UGASports: Although you were selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round of the NFL Draft, there had been the notion you’d be drafted earlier. Would you mind discussing your draft process?

Owens: “According to my agent, I would probably go in the third round, no later than the fifth. But, besides tearing my knee up, I had also dislocated my shoulder the spring before. When I got to the combine, all the teams wanted to see the two MRIs I had. I’m not saying my injuries had something to do with me getting picked in the seventh round, but I certainly don’t think they helped. And, by the time the fifth round was over, and I hadn’t been picked, I actually turned the draft off. I was disgusted. But everything changed when I got a call from [Philadelphia’s then] head coach Andy Reid, asking me if I wanted to be an Eagle.”

UGASports: You ultimately made Philadelphia’s active 53-man roster in your rookie season of 2010. Describe your time in the NFL.

Owens: “After being on the practice squad, I made the 53-man roster, and my first game was Week 16 against the Minnesota Vikings on the Tuesday night game. I was part of the [defensive line] rotation, playing on third-down packages. In the third quarter, I chased [Minnesota quarterback] Joe Webb to the sideline, where he cut back, and I blew out my patella tendon and ACL. I had surgery in January. By the time training camp came around, I was still trying to rehab my knee and I wasn’t healthy. At training camp, I didn’t pass the physical to play, so I was released.”

UGASports: Where did you go from there?

Owens: “Once I blew out my knee the second time, I decided to hang up the cleats. I wasn’t going to try to come back after those injuries, so I moved back to Atlanta. That’s when my high school head football coach at Plantation, Frank Hepler, reached out. At the time, he was the head coach at West Forsyth High School, and he was gracious enough to bring me on his staff in 2011. We ended up winning 11 games and going to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs that season. From there, I ended up moving back to South Florida where I did some volunteer coaching at my old high school. At the time, I was with the Broward County Public Schools, working with at-risk youth. I also worked for a nonprofit organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. My wife was serving active duty in the military. She got stationed in Savannah, so we moved there where I got an opportunity to coach at Savannah State.”

UGASports: Describe your college coaching experience.

Owens: “I am so thankful for Savannah State and [then head coach] Shawn Quinn for allowing me on the staff and giving me a shot as an assistant defensive line coach. And we had great success my one season there (2021), finishing 8-2. Coach Quinn got a great opportunity as an assistant at Virginia Tech, and Savannah State decided not to hire within. So, I got my resume together and started looking for a new college coaching job. I sent a letter to Coach [Jacob] Russell at Kentucky Christian [University], and, the next thing you know, it was history. He brought me in, and, after one season, Coach Russell got the head job at Campbellsville University and brought me here. I got hired in February to be the defensive line coach and got fully moved over here in March. My family will be moving over in June as soon as my son finishes school. So, I'm over here in Campbellsville. And I love it here. What a great place to be.”

“Like Coach Richt, I see coaching football as a ministry of sorts, where I can give back and be involved in young men’s lives and help them reach their goals and aspirations just as the coaches did for me at Georgia."
— Jeff Owens

UGASports: Tell us about the Campbellsville football program. And describe your role thus far.

Owens: “First off, Campbellsville University is a great institution. Our NAIA football program has Division I-like facilities. We have a great locker room. Finley Stadium is beautiful, and it just got brand new turf. The facilities are state of the art and big time for this level. Our main focus in recruiting is getting kids on our beautiful campus to show them our wonderful facilities. I got here right before the start of spring practice. In 15 practices, I installed the basics with my guys, teaching them the fundamentals and how to be a defensive lineman: running to the ball, shooting your hands, playing violent with your hands, being able to get on and off blocks, etc.”

UGASports: Are you able to take what you learned as a player at Georgia and apply it as a college football coach?

Owens: “Oh, man, no doubt. Everything I am as a coach is because of my Georgia experience being coached by Willie Martinez, Rodney Garner, and Mark Richt. From everything I learned as a player—running to the ball, playing with relentlessness, playing with violent hands, everything—I bring to my players. Like Coach Richt, I see coaching football as a ministry of sorts, where I can give back and be involved in young men’s lives and help them reach their goals and aspirations just as the coaches did for me at Georgia. With my players, we have a daily devotional after practice so we can continue to keep God first in everything we do. I’m trying to give my players a foundation in Christ just as Coach Richt did for all of us at Georgia. From Coach Garner, I learned his coaching style, how to be a savvy recruiter, and being able to relate to the players.”

UGASports: Describe your recruiting style.

Owens: “For what I do, the recruiting process hasn’t changed much since I came through. You have to be an excellent communicator and find out who’s the main decisionmaker—the recruit himself, the mom, the grandma, the trainer. But the main thing is you have to build a relationship with each and every prospect you recruit, and just be real with all of them. I am real with my guys, always honest with them.”

UGASports: You’ve mentioned your family. Tell us about them.

Owens: “I actually knew my wife, Shauntavia, from elementary school and high school. When I was a high school coach, she and I rekindled our relationship. This August we will have been married for six years. I’m lucky to have her. She has always been in full support of my coaching despite the fact that it’s a tough profession as far as seeing your family. She’s always been in my corner, rooting for me. We have four children. Our oldest is Djoser, and he’s six years old. Our other son, Shaka, recently turned five. Our oldest girl, Yemaya, is three years old. And we have Azalia, who is four months old.”

UGASports: Considering your background in playing and coaching the defensive line, we were curious what you thought of the defensive line room at Georgia.

Owens: “Nothing short of phenomenal. I love what Kirby Smart and Tray Scott are doing with the defensive line. The recruits Georgia is bringing in now, honestly, it would probably be really tough for me to compete with these guys today. Coach Scott is right up there with Rodney Garner as far as the best defensive line coach I’m familiar with. I’ve actually learned from Coach Scott too. I utilize some of the techniques he uses by teaching them to my players. I have a lot of respect for him, a lot.”

UGASports: Finally, what do you cherish the most about your association with the Georgia football program?

Owens: “Not only for when I was at Georgia, but also since then, I’m so just so thankful for the Bulldog Nation—particularly the fans. Coming off back-to-back national championships, the program wouldn't be where it is today if it wasn't for Bulldog Nation and all of its support. I know the facilities when I was there were nothing like they have now. It's a testament to the University and athletic director Josh Brooks for vitalizing the program. I’m thankful for what the Bulldog Nation and the staff of Kirby Smart have done—and am beyond proud to be a Bulldog.”

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