Jared Bernhardt was on the men’s lacrosse team at the University of Maryland for five seasons. He led Maryland as the school’s career leader in goals with 202 and points with 290. In 2021, his fifth season with Maryland (one season was cancelled due to Covid-19), he won the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s best collegiate player. On Tuesday, he made the Atlanta Falcons roster as a wide receiver.

Bernhardt isn’t a stranger to football– he played football in high school in Florida, where he was a quarterback in a triple-option offense and compiled more than 4,000 all-purpose yards and more than 30 touchdowns over his final two seasons. Following the death of his father, who was a football coach at Hofstra, Brown, Central Florida, and Penn State and was the director of football research for the Houston Texans, Bernhardt decided that he would utilize the NCAA’s “five to play four” rule, which allows athletes one year of eligibility in another sport after they have exhausted eligibility in their primary sport, and play college football.