Trey Amos’ college career included three stops. The cornerback started with three seasons at Louisiana followed by the 2023 campaign at Alabama and concluding at Ole Miss in 2024.

The transitory nature of Amos’ football journey didn’t deter the Washington Commanders from adding Amos in the second round of the NFL Draft on April 25. It might have even helped his evaluation.

“You always look at the different things, why people transfer, and what’s behind that,” Commanders general manager Adam Peters said. “And it used to be a negative thing. But I think now with the era that we’re in, you get a lot of guys who are under-recruited for whatever reason. And then they have the chance where other teams are looking at guys at smaller schools all the time and looking to poach those guys. So I think he was under-recruited, and then when he had some success at Lafayette, he was able to go to Alabama. And then, obviously, the reason he went to Ole Miss was not for any other reason than to stay in the same scheme. …

“He’s got a real toughness, a real resiliency, a real resolve to him, and so you can see that on the field, you can feel that when you meet with him.”

The five-season trip from the Ragin’ Cajuns to the Crimson Tide to the Rebels helped him grow, Amos said.

“I learned a lot about myself,” Amos said. “Just finding a way and just sticking to the plan, keeping the main thing the main thing, and just be patient. …

“During this period, I learned a lot. I learned about mental toughness, staying patient and don’t always be uptight. You can let loose, have fun, smile, just be yourself. I feel like that whole journey was — just that’s how I learned.”

Peters said the Commanders had a lot of things that they liked about Amos, so many that he might have been Washington’s first-round pick instead of Oregon offensive tackle Josh Conerly.

“He was in the mix for our first-round pick,” Peters said. “So that’s what we thought of him, just on a high level. Really, really impressed with the type of young man and player he is. And so it was another one of those where the whole building was really pumped, and you could — I don’t know if you guys could hear it — it was probably our R-and-D Department was the loudest. He was the top guy on their board coming into the (second) day. …

“Love the way he plays at the line of scrimmage. He’s a press corner who can be really physical at the line of scrimmage, but he’s also a guy who can really play in any scheme you want. And I think that’s what separates him from a lot of different guys. And you talk about his ball skills; he’s got excellent ball skills. He took the ball away. This year, he had three interceptions. I think he’s got 30-plus PBUs over his career. So really a guy who we covet in terms of taking the ball away, and those are the things that we really look for.

“He can run, he’s physical, he’s big — he’s kind of got everything you want as a corner. And just some of the things like we talked about with Josh yesterday, he was really, really good in our metrics against really good players. So the guys we had graded really high, he was really a 96th percentile against the really good players.”

Peters said he was surprised Amos lasted until the 61st selection.

“We feel like we got two players that were first-round quality,” Peters said.

Amos expected to be picked earlier, too.

“I was surprised,” Amos said. “But you just never know with the draft. Anything could hit you. You just got to stay positive throughout the storm, and once your number gets called, it’s go time regardless.”

“Go time” for Amos arrives on Friday, with the Commanders’ rookie minicamp this weekend. Then he’ll join the veterans in Washington’s offseason program.

Of the Commanders’ top three cornerbacks in 2024, Mike Sainristil and former Hewitt-Trussville High School and Auburn standout Noah Igbinoghene return. Benjamin St-Juste left for the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency.

Washington will have four-time Pro Bowler Marshon Lattimore for the start of the season in 2025. A November trade with the New Orleans Saints brought Lattimore to the Commanders, and he started the final two regular-season games and three playoff contests as Washington advanced to the NFC Championship Game.

In free agency, the Commanders added nine-year veteran and former Auburn standout Jonathan Jones to its secondary in March.

“Looks like a lot of really good guys competing, with Jay Jones and all the rest of the guys we have back there,” Peters said. “So kind of like we said yesterday with Josh, really the same thing: Just that’s who we are, we compete, and it’s all about competition in this program.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.