The Friendship Collegiate coach knows its cliche, but he remembers the very first practice for his then-junior pass rusher. Some players just have “it,” Michael Hunter said. To him, “it” means being a player who takes coaching but really just needs the opportunity to play, that they’re going find a way to their job done.

That player was Jalen McLeod. And to Hunter, having “it” doesn’t include a player’s height.

“I mean look, the game of football is all about low man wins,” Hunter said. “I know everyone wants these big 6-4, 6-5 guys who can bend to get low. But a guy like Jalen who’s 6-1, 6-2 that can also bend can now lower than those you know, 6-5 guys. Like I said, he’s relentless. He has excellent speed off the edge. All his attributes work out to where he’s successful on the field.”

McLeod was a 3-star recruit out of high school in Washington D.C. He was productive enough to earn All-Met honors from The Washington Post but not tall enough to receive an offer from any major conference team. Only two of the schools that offered McLeod a scholarship, per 247Sports, were FBS programs.

Hunter said he worked with McLeod to play other positions besides outside linebacker. Other bigger schools, like Rutgers, showed interest in McLeod but on the condition he moved inside.

“We tried to play him in a lot of different positions so that one school couldn’t say, ‘Well, he’s too small to play D-end, but he’s never played linebacker.’ So we played him at linebacker and D-end, sort of our jack position, just so he can get more exposure, get more opportunities.”

But McLeod just wanted to rush the quarterback, he said before the 2023 season with Auburn. So he picked the school that would let him do that. That was Appalachian State.

McLeod played for head coach Shawn Clark there and was an early impact player. By his junior year, McLeod totaled six sacks, two forced fumbles, 41 total tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss.

Actually, those two forced fumbles came on one play in what would be McLeod’s biggest moment of the year. He knocked the ball away twice while rushing then-Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King in what went on to be an Appalachian State upset over the top-10 ranked Aggies.

“Oh sh-t, really good play,” Clark told AL.com he remembered thinking on the sidelines. “But now we’re gonna lose him.”

In September, Clark told AL.com that part of his philosophy is to seek out players like McLeod who have clear talent, but may have been passed on by a higher-level school for whatever various reasons. In McLeod’s case, that reason was his size.

Part of that bargain, though, is knowing that if a player like McLeod can reach the potential their talent allows they will likely move on to the program’s Clarks believes should have been recruiting them in the first place.

So when McLeod had his breakout moment on a national stage against Texas A&M, Clark knew McLeod had played too well to remain a Mountaineer. He was right.

McLeod called that game a “money game,” meaning the type of game where if you play well, you have the chance to move up to the next level and make the type of money that comes with it. At the time of the Texas A&M game with Appalachian State, that meant moving from the Sun Belt to a Power 5 conference.

“But he had his opportunity to put his name in the portal and go to Auburn which was always a dream to play Power 5 football so he’s living a dream and not looking back,” Hunter said.

McLeod picked Auburn because the coaching staff here would let him play outside, too. At Appalachian State, he proved he could.

That means McLeod is now playing money games looking toward what he hopes is a career in the NFL — the next level up. And after an ankle injury meant a slow start for the transfer jack linebacker, McLeod is playing at the level Auburn hoped he could be. Head coach Hugh Freeze has called him Auburn’s best pass rusher.

“I’m very thankful he decided to come here,” cornerback Keionte Scott said. “He makes this defense very good. He’s a threat. I’m just thankful to be a part of him. During the recruiting process I told him ‘We’re going to make each other good.’ I’m glad he was able to come here. He’s going to continue to dominate.”

Over Auburn’s four games since the bye week, McLeod has 15 tackles — 4.5 of them for loss — and 2.5 sacks.

“It’s scary,” defensive tackle Justin Rogers said. “When he’s on that edge by himself, it’s something different. He brings a lot to the table and a lot to the team, for real.”

Before McLeod’s recent run began, Hunter got to come down and watch his former player in the Sept. 30 game against Georgia. Hunter has had players play Power 5 football before. The Washington D.C. coach has been to SEC football games before, too.

But there was something surreal to Hunter about seeing McLeod on the jumbotron. To see the player he’d had to put in different positions and find his versatility just to get college offers playing in front of 88,000 people cheering for him.

Moments like that, Hunter said, is why high school coaches do their jobs. It’s to see their players move on to live out their own dreams.

It’s just that McLeod living out his never surprised Hunter.

“When given the right opportunity, just look past some of the maybe measurable things that don’t stack up to the prototypes,” Hunter said. “But just give him an opportunity and I know he’s going to be successful.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]