Could George Gumbs Jr. — a Chicago native and former NIU walk-on — hear his name called at the NFL draft?

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In a flash, George Gumbs Jr. blew past the right tackle, collided with Nebraska quarterback Heinrich Haarberg and jarred the football loose.

It was Sept. 16, 2023, and Northern Illinois was playing a nonconference game in front of 85,000 fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb. Gumbs, a Chicago native, recorded a strip-sack that gave NIU possession at the Nebraska 5-yard line in the first quarter of a 7-0 game. It was a momentum-swinging play in what the Huskies hoped would be a big-time upset against a Big Ten opponent.

And Gumbs was all business after the play.

“He turned around and he kind of looked at me,” then-NIU defensive line coach Travis Moore said. “I looked at him and I was all fired up on the sideline. I was jumping around.”

When Gumbs came to the sideline, Moore told him he needed to work on his sack celebration.

“He made a sack and it was kind of like business as usual,” Moore said. “I was saying: This game is too hard not to have fun.”

Gumbs could be forgiven for not knowing what to do with himself. He had just started playing defensive end a few weeks earlier. A former walk-on at NIU, Gumbs made the transition from tight end to defensive end between spring practice and fall camp in 2023.

Three years later, he has a chance to hear his name called in next week’s NFL draft after two productive years as a defensive end at Florida.

ESPN.com ranks him as the No. 132 prospect in this year’s draft — roughly the equivalent of a fourth-round pick. The Athletic tabbed him as a potential fifth-round pick. NFL.com calls Gumbs “worthy of a Day 3 pick.”

It’s a remarkable journey for the former Simeon wide receiver, who helped the Wolverines win the Chicago Public League championship as a junior in 2019.

“He’s a prime example of (how) you just need an opportunity,” said Moore, now the assistant defensive line coach at Minnesota.

Gumbs could’ve played Division II football. He could’ve gone to a prep school for a year. He didn’t want to do any of that.

“I always dreamt about going to school for free,” Gumbs said. “I had D-II scholarships, which would’ve meant free, but I didn’t want to play D-II ball.”

Gumbs’ senior year at Simeon was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the college level, every athlete was granted an extra year of eligibility. That meant playing time and opportunities were even harder to come by for the incoming freshman class.

But Gumbs was uninterested in compromising on his goal of playing against the best. He elected to walk on at NIU.

“He’s just showing his will,” former Simeon coach Dante Culbreath said. “Sky’s the limit. He’s got a burning fire inside of him that’s going to get him whatever he wants in life.”

The Huskies quickly moved Gumbs from wide receiver to tight end. Coach Thomas Hammock awarded him a scholarship after his first season at NIU.

“The walk-on mentality, it’s like when you get there, there’s a couple things they told me,” Gumbs said. “The first thing, you can’t get in the club from the tub (if you’re injured). And then it’s like, you’re treading on thin ice. Whatever you do is going to be magnified and you just can’t mess up.”

Gumbs was always a versatile athlete. Culbreath, who now coaches at Bloom, remembers going to watch Gumbs in elementary school and seeing him play center.

“George always told me at Simeon, he was like: ‘Coach, I can play defensive end. I’m telling you. Put me there, put me there,’” Culbreath said. “He wanted to stay on the field at all times.”

That became a theme with Gumbs. He could play just about anywhere. After two seasons as a tight end for the Huskies, Hammock asked him to transition again, this time to defensive end.

“Honestly, before he took a snap at defensive end, I knew based off the measurements, the traits, the mentality, the process in which he worked — he would be a really, really good player,” Moore said. “And then from there, the process, because he trusted the process and trusted the commitment to the process, I’m not shocked at all.”

Moore was once a walk-on at NIU himself. A native of Robbins, he arrived in DeKalb in 2000 and emerged as a two-time All-MAC defensive end.

Gumbs moved to defensive end after spring practice in 2023, working under Moore’s tutelage. Moore had seen Gumbs’ physicality at tight end and knew he would put in the work. Moore required Gumbs to text him a picture of his three or four meals each day as he transitioned from a 220-pound tight end to a 250-pound defensive end.

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It was a small way to hold him accountable. But Moore knew Gumbs didn’t need his coach holding him accountable.

“Nothing was promised in George Gumbs’ situation, but everything was earned,” Moore said. “There was no entitlement. He brought juice every day and he committed to it.”

By Week 3 of that season, he was sacking Nebraska’s quarterback at historic Memorial Stadium. Gumbs finished the season with 3½ sacks and 6½ tackles for a loss. After the season, he entered the transfer portal and landed in the SEC at Florida.

Gumbs never will forget his first practice with the Gators. He found himself on the second practice field. It was a humbling moment.

“I was really frustrated,” he said. “I don’t know what I thought, but I didn’t expect to be on the second field with the threes and fours. So I just took the same approach as being a walk-on.”

Gumbs’ time on the second practice field didn’t last long. He appeared in 13 games for the Gators in 2024, making three starts. He became a full-time starter the next season. In two years with the Gators, Gumbs recorded 7½ sacks and 14½ tackles for a loss. He also forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles.

Now he plans to take that approach — the same one he had as a walk-on at NIU — to the NFL.

Whichever team takes a chance on Gumbs will be getting a player who’s just scratching the surface at defensive end. He has played the position for only three years and he’s not afraid of a challenge.

“I never really had a handout,” Gumbs said. “I never went to a place where I was top of the depth chart, highly recruited.”

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