Washington, D.C., summer of 2022.
At 5 a.m., Jalen Travis wakes up and heads to the gym to get his workout in. The Princeton offensive tackle gets up that early not because he has football practice or classes to get to, but because he has work – and that starts at 7 a.m.
After his workout, he heads to Capitol Hill, where he starts compiling news clippings. From there, he does everything from answering phones and opening mail to fulfilling constituent requests and escorting guests around the building. When he’s done for the day, he heads home and prepares to do it all over again the next day.
As a Congressional Intern in the Office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Travis spent the summer after his sophomore year of college balancing offseason football work with his internship responsibilities. It was nothing new to the Minnesota native, though, as helping his community has always been an important part of his life.
“From a young age I saw the example of my parents and my grandmother around the house, busting their tails to make sure that not only we had what we needed, but those around us, those in the community,” Travis said. “They were huge people in terms of giving back and making sure that they set a great example for us, and that’s something that I’ve taken pride in. Whether it’s in advocacy or giving back to local initiatives, that’s something that I view as foundational to my identity.”
Travis, who played football at Princeton and Iowa State, chose the two schools both for their football culture and education alike, largely because of the opportunities he knew he would get to pursue all of his passions. He was able to apply for the internship with Senator Klobuchar through Princeton’s program for civic service internships, and throughout his time at Princeton served on the boards of many advocacy and activism organizations on campus. In 2020, Travis co-founded the Just Action Coalition, a non-profit organization with the goal of increasing youth participation in policy-making processes on local and state levels in Minnesota, and was later given the 2024 Coach Wooden Citizenship Award for his impact in his community largely because of his work with that non-profit. In the summer of 2023, Travis also worked for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
At the same time, Travis was excelling on the football field – and yes, he did put his football experience on his resumé as he was applying for his Senate internship.
At 6-foot-7 and well over 300 pounds, Travis was a force to be reckoned with on the offensive line throughout his college career. In his redshirt senior season at Iowa State, he allowed just one sack and 12 total pressures in 475 pass blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. If you ask Travis, though, he didn’t allow any sacks.
“If you talk to PFF, they say one, but I don’t believe that,” the fourth-round draft pick joked on Saturday. “You can watch the film for yourself.”
Either way, that kind of performance is something Travis takes an immense amount of pride in.
“When I do my job, I know I can do it very well,” he said. “Especially when I can allow my quarterback to come out of the game with a clean jersey, I know I did my job.”
Travis also understands that his job as an offensive lineman is somewhat of a thankless job, at times – because if he does his job well, no one will hear his name.
He’s okay with that; he knows you don’t have to be recognized to know you’ve made an impact, whether that’s on or off the football field.
“Grinders win,” Travis said. “Especially in football and on the Hill, there’s people who work 10, 12 hour days and get no credit for it. I think the very same is in football, especially my position.”
“Football, I think, is one of the rare microcosms of society, in that you have guys from every corner of the country, every corner of the world coming together to fight for the same goal,” Travis added. “And I think Capitol Hill was that. Obviously it’s blown up to be a lot more than it is, with people you’re disagreeing with, but you know at the end of the day you still want the same thing, in terms of making this country the best it can be.”
Travis has plans to bring his passion for community service to the Colts and the city of Indianapolis, alongside his hulking size and passion for stopping opponents in their tracks, but won’t do any of it for attention. He does it all simply because he’s passionate and truly wants to make a difference, all while living out his dream of being in the NFL – and he’ll do it all with the same mindset he’s always had: grinders win.
“It’s one thing to live a dream, it’s one thing to hold the dream,” Travis said. “And that’s what I’m working to do every day.”
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