PICKED UP: Jalen Travis heads to the line during his career with the Princeton University football team. Star offensive lineman Travis ’24, who played for Iowa State last fall as a graduate transfer, was selected in the 2025 NFL Draft last Saturday by the Indianapolis Colts with the 127th pick overall in the fourth round. Travis is Princeton’s highest NFL Draft pick in the modern draft era. (Photo by Sideline Photos, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

By Justin Feil

Jalen Travis is headed to his third team in three years.

This isn’t a diatribe against the transfer portal, but rather a celebration of the former Princeton University offensive tackle’s rise to become the Tigers’ highest NFL Draft pick in the modern draft era. The Indianapolis Colts selected him with the 127th pick overall in the fourth round Saturday.

“It was incredible,” said Travis. “It was a dream come true.”

Travis graduated from Princeton in 2024, probably without as many snaps as NFL teams would like. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled his freshman season, he rotated on an impressive offensive line as a sophomore, started as a junior in 2022 and then missed almost half his senior season in 2023 due to injury.

That could have hurt his draft stock, but Travis still had a year of eligibility that he used as a graduate student at Iowa State. As an honorable mention All-Big 12 lineman, he showed he could play at a higher level and that helped garner more attention along with an impressive NFL Combine workout. His dedication all came together when he heard his name called.

“Grinding and identifying football as something that I love and want to pursue as a passion of mine, and then having the opportunity obviously to be part of the 1 percent to make it to the NFL, it’s a dream come true,” said Travis.

“Especially with an organization, Indianapolis, that takes care of their players and develops O linemen. It really ended up being the perfect situation.”

Travis was gathered with family at his uncle’s home 20 minutes from his Minneapolis hometown when he got a call from an unfamiliar number in Indianapolis. Five minutes ahead of the national revelation on TV, it was the Colts informing him that he was their next pick, a moment that he’ll never forget and one that he’s been reveling in since then.

“It was crazy,” said Travis. “Right after I got selected, we were on a Zoom call press conference with the team and the local reporters for around 15 minutes, but since then it’s been a giant celebration, taking it in with family and friends and Princeton teammates who are out here celebrating the weekend with me, and obviously able to be around them and share it with them has been awesome, along with some of my folks from Iowa State came up. So it’s been awesome.”

The last Princeton player drafted was wide receiver Andrei Iosivas by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round two years ago.

Another former Princeton receiver, Seth DeValve, was picked 138th overall in the fourth round by the Cleveland Browns back in 2016. That had been the highest any former Tiger was picked, and pre-draft speculation had Travis slated anywhere from the fourth to sixth round.

“I think I was pretty confident,” said Travis. “The funny thing with the draft is that you have to manage expectations because it’s one giant game of poker, and teams are trying to hide this and throw out tendencies here and there so they can get the guys that they want. But I was confident, especially coming out of the interview process and the visits that I took that there was going to be a team out there that was willing to take a chance on me and draft me. And as for when and where, I just had to trust God that no matter what, it’ll end up working out.”

He joins a growing list of former Princeton players who have gotten a chance at the NFL. Blake Stenstrom, the Princeton quarterback in 2023, was invited to the Denver Broncos’ rookie minicamp. Travis has gotten advice from former Princeton teammates on how to handle himself to make a pro roster.

“I was actually just with Henry Byrd, who plays for the Vikings,” said Travis. “He played left tackle my junior year while I played right. He’s been reaching out just throughout this whole process. Andre with the Bengals has been pretty consistent as well. So these guys have been there all along the way and I anticipate they’re going to be there going forward as I try to figure it out.”

Travis isn’t the first from his family to play for the Colts. His cousin, Ross Travis, played tight end for the Colts from 2017-2019.

That’s the only previous tie to Indianapolis for Jalen Travis, who is a Midwestern product.

“I plan to talk to him going forward about his experience with the organization before he experienced some injuries,” said Travis. “He had a great experience with them.”

Ross Travis was a basketball player turned football player. One thing that made Jalen Travis so appealing to teams were his physical measurables. He stands 6’7 and weighs 339 pounds. He has an 83.5-inch wingspan, large hands and his 35-inch vertical jump and his 5.14-second clocking in the 40-yard dash was eye-opening for his size. On top of that, as a Princeton graduate, it was never a question of his ability to pick up schemes and concepts, which he’ll have to do once again. His recent experiences should be a help.

“I’m a big person when it comes to process; preparation for everything is key, especially when it comes to learning schemes,” said Travis.

“And that’s what I’m eager to get into in terms of learning how, whether it’s the way they approach protections, what their run philosophy is and stuff like that so I can again return to my process and what I had to do last year in transferring to Iowa State and how quickly I was able to pick that up within a relatively similar amount of time, starting there in June and having to play in August. I look forward to getting back to the drawing board and putting in the work to make sure that I’m ready to go come OTAs (Organized Team Activities) obviously, but more importantly, fall camp.”

OTAs will follow a mandatory rookie mini-camp that will send Travis off and running on his professional career. Between now and then, he plans to continue working out to stay as prepared as possible to impress.

“It’s time to earn your keep now,” said Travis.“So I’ll be just training, sleeping. And getting ready for mini-camp. And I’m excited for it, but just looking forward to staying locked in these next couple of weeks before I get into the facilities.”

As a drafted player, he has a slight edge in some ways than players who come in as undrafted free agents. The Colts chose him for the chance to invest in him to improve their future.

“I do think it’s something that I’m going to learn here in the next year in terms of what that looks like,” said Travis. “But I do know, especially for guys that get drafted and just speaking for myself, that the organization truly believes in me and truly believes in my ability to come in and contribute and develop and get this team on track to make a playoff run towards the Super Bowl. And that’s why I’m going there and I know that’s the type of guys that they want in the organization. I’m just excited to be a part of it.”

The rookie camp and OTAs will give him a picture both of what the Colts like and what they want him to work on. It’s a steep learning curve for any rookie player.

“I do hope that’s something I can figure out along the way,” said Travis. “But I do know that their O line coach is a big believer in me, as I’ve said in relatively regular contact with him over the past month and 1/2 after the combine and I know he’s a big fan of my game and believes that I can come in and help the team early. And that’s something I look forward to earning and competing for from day one. But I do know that overall they’re a fan of obviously my play, but more importantly, everything that I bring to an organization off the field as well.”

Travis was widely decorated for his off-field contributions to social justice causes over the past five years. He was awarded a Truman Scholarship toward graduate studies that he hopes to use some day to attend law school. He was the winner of the 2024 Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup. As a high school student, he founded the nonprofit The Just Action Coalition. He later interned for United States Senator Amy Klobuchar, and was one of the 2022 recipients of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellowship in Government Service. He’ll look for opportunities now as a professional athlete.

“It’s definitely something I’m thinking about a little bit is making sure that I continue to find ways to execute on my beliefs and purpose outside of football,” said Travis. “And it’s something that I think all professional athletes have an obligation to do. And now having a chance to be in that space with this platform, I look forward to definitely continuing to give back whether it’s in communities that I’ve lived in, served in and been in before, whether it’s Princeton or Iowa State or back home in Minneapolis or branching out to different communities in Indianapolis to kind of lay my groundwork and get to work in terms of giving back in the way that I want to.”