Jared Verse was not always this way.
Not in high school in Pennsylvania. Not at his first college stop at Albany.
After transferring to Florida State, however, something clicked.
Verse became vocal on the field.
Really vocal.
“That’s when it started like me actually kind of getting in people’s faces,” Verse said, “Like really letting them know.
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“Like, getting loud.”
Verse, the No. 19 pick in the NFL draft, is only seven games into his NFL career. Still, the 6-foot 4-inch, 260-pound edge rusher is making a case for being considered one of the league’s top young pass rushers — and one of the most animated game-day conversationalists.
Teammates and Minnesota Vikings players got an earful when Verse was mic’d up for an Oct. 24 game at SoFi Stadium.
Verse recorded 1½ sacks in the 30-20 victory that improved the Rams record to 3-4 going into Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
But it was Verse’s unvarnished exchanges with Vikings players that stood out.
A sampling:
“Oh yeah, oh yeah. It’s a bad day for y’all.”
“Oh yeah, I’m in your head! I’m in his head!”
“Get up, boy. I’m not done, I’m not done with you!”
“He’s a bully on the field, and he gets going,” Rams coach Sean McVay said, noting that former Rams stars Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey brought a similar edge.
“[Donald] just might not have talked as loud, but the way he would stare a hole through people they knew. Ramsey was like that.
“Sometimes those best defensive players, they have some stuff to them that you’re like, ‘Oh man, we need that.’ You need that edge, that energy, that swagger and Jared Verse definitely has that.”
Verse said watching and listening to Ramsey and former All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman inspired his vocal style.
He began expressing himself verbally as he gained confidence at Florida State, where he starred for two seasons.
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“I was like, ‘I feel comfortable — just keep going,’” he said, “And I feel like I could back up anything I said. So there was no point holding it back.”
Last spring, when Verse arrived in Southern California for offseason workouts with the Rams, he made an immediate impression with size, speed and power — and also his on-field talk directed at players on offense.
“To him it’s like, ‘They’re the enemy,” second-year edge rusher Byron Young said, chuckling. “We had to say, ‘OK Verse, they’re our teammates.’”
Verse amped up his commentary during joint practices with the Chargers, Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.
“That’s when you really heard it,” Young said, laughing. “He was dead tired and he was still talking. … He definitely brings fear out of people because like they see he’s confident. And he backs up everything he says.”
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Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is pleased that Verse found a way to channel his chattiness.
“You come to understand what it’s like to practice on the NFL football field with your teammates,” Stafford said, “and then go save all that energy up that he really wants to chirp at us in practice and go let it loose on Sunday.”
Outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio described Verse as “uniquely him,” a player that brings energy that fuels others.
And Verse possesses uncommon physical talent.
“There’s some things he does where you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s awesome. I’ve just never seen somebody do that before,’” Coniglio said. “So it’s kind of working with him to make sure that he can reach his full potential and be the player we know he can be, but also not get him to play in a box.”
Verse recorded a sack in the season opener against the Detroit Lions but in the next four games he missed multiple opportunities to finish plays.
With encouragement from Coniglio and teammates, Verse said he remained patient.
In a victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, Verse had five quarterback hits. Against the Vikings, he had a solo sack and combined with Michael Hoecht for another.
“It was just slowing everything down,” Verse said of his play the last two games. “There wasn’t such a rush to, ‘Oh, I have to make this play! I have to make this play!’
“It was that split-second beforehand, right before you hit that QB, right before you wrap him up … not go for the kill shot every time. Just make the play.”
Verse said his banter with offensive linemen “starts making them frantic.”
And that’s the point.
“If you mess up a couple times, now your mind is away from the play,” he said of opponents, adding, “Now they’re focused on, ‘how am I going to get this guy back.’ They’re not remembering the play or they forgot the [snap] count.”
Verse said he will chirp at opponents about “anything” other than personal relationships and family.
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“There are certain areas I won’t venture to,” he said, “but besides that, yeah, I’ll go crazy.”
Not all of Verse’s comments are meant to get a rise.
After the game against the Vikings, he told Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson he was a “dawg.” He thanked a Vikings offensive lineman.
“You made me better today,” Verse said.
The Vikings offensive line coach stopped Verse and shook his hand.
“You don’t know me,” the coach said, “but you’re going to be a helluva player, man.”
Verse no doubt agrees.
His sentiment was captured during an exchange with Young before the game.
“I want to be the best,” Verse said. “I just want to be better than anybody who ever lived.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
