Meet the best football recruit in NJ that no one is talking about
LITTLE EGG HARBOR -- You will not find Pinelands football recruit Jayden Hadzovic on 247Sports, ESPN or Rivals. But the 6-foot-5, 280-pound offensive tackle is impossible to miss on tape. Even when he gets lost in the traffic of run blocking, he reappears driving the unfortunate target of his blocking assignment into the ground.
"I'm a different person when I'm on the football field," said Hadzovic. "I'm basically just like a normal student, that's how I see myself."
The coaching staffs at the 19 Division I football programs that have offered Hadzovic see an elite combination of both, hence why six of his offers hail from Ivy League colleges. And if not for the relatively low profile of Pinelands Regional High School, he'd probably have received more visibility until now. But when asked about the lack of recognition, he knows which perspectives matter and which ones don't.
"I'm getting exposure from colleges, but media-wise not really. That doesn't really matter to me," Hadzovic said. "I'm not looking for attention from the media. I'm just trying to help my football team win and put the team in the best position possible to win. That's what I'm all about."
It was a succinct, media-savvy answer but unfortunately, it's not true. Because Hadzovic is about so much more than that.
Pinelands Regional High School coach John Tierney: '99 percent of what he got was from home'
The prologue to the story of Pinelands' best football player in over a decade began in the Pelham Parkway in the heart of the Bronx. Lalitta Ardhan and Suad Hadzovic were neighborhood sweethearts. Shortly after their oldest daughter Alyssa was born, the family moved to New Jersey.
"18 years ago we moved here, and Jayden was actually born in Jersey," said Jayden's mom, Lalitta. "His whole life was school and home and he had chores to do. Everybody had their thing, and he's very disciplined. I'd have to say, he always does what he has to do. So I think a lot of that maybe comes from being so disciplined at home."
The tight family unit went a long way in shaping the young man who is steadily becoming one of the most coveted athletes in New Jersey. Hadzovic is the third-oldest of six siblings with five sisters, with ages ranging from 3 to 21. He has a close bond with his sister Aliza, now a freshman at Rutgers. The two attended Pinelands together prior to this year.
"He's pretty much like my best friend, I feel like I can talk to him about anything," Aliza said. "We would see each other around school a lot and we would always talk and we would like give each other a handshake and it would make a loud clap. It would echo."
And while Aliza is not a football aficionado, the two bonded over a different athletic pursuit.
"We used to watch wrestling together. We used to practice wrestling moves," she said. "He's into Roman Reigns."
"Usually her being the bigger sister, she will always put me on the ground first," Jayden said. "Now it's vice versa."
Jayden's passion for Roman Reigns, the iconic wrestler who was a former All-Conference football player at Georgia Tech, led to a nickname from his AP US History teacher: the tribal chief. And although Aliza didn't mention it, she did have a slight influence on one aspect of his football career.
"She would be up in our weight room and she would lift," said Pinelands football coach John Tierney. "She was like one of the strongest people in the weight room. And she was always just up there working hard and I didn't even put the two together."
It's an example of the grounded mindset within the family and also underscores the nature of Jayden's success. His parents glowingly recall the initiative he showed at a young age.
"I remember him telling me, Mom, when I go to high school, I'm going to go do my thing with football and I'm going to get offers." Lalitta said. "Everything that he said that he was going to do when he entered high school, he accomplished."
His dad credits his son's work ethic, combined with some helpful family genes.
"He's only a junior, that's unheard of — 6-foot-5 and 280-plus pounds," said Suad. "And he gets it from probably my side of the family. I'm Albanian and my wife's family is from Thailand. She's born in the Bronx, but I was born back in Kosovo. So we call our kids the Thai-banian mix, it's a beautiful thing."
The mix of a strong family unit, a disciplined upbringing, and incredible personal drive molded Jayden into a ready-made football star for his coach.
"99 percent of what he got was from home," said Tierney. "But the 1 percent maybe (is) what we're trying to teach in our football program and the type of man we're trying to be."
More: A star Rutgers football player nearly transferred. Here's why he stayed
'You have to be loyal to the people that matter'
Pinelands has not had a Division I football recruit since 2011, when Jake Hartman went to Bucknell. It is the southernmost high school in the Shore Conference, appropriately tucked away among the trees of Ocean County. Nearby schools to the south Absegami, Atlantic City, and Cedar Creek have all produced football recruits with Power 5 offers in the past few years, while Pinelands has been stuck in irrelevance on the recruiting front.
And as is the case with any Shore public school, there's always the risk that a player could leave to compete for one of the non-public programs. That was never the case with Hadzovic.
"It's great being able to play with my guys that I've been going to school with since I was a third-grader," Jayden said. "Before we were the kids in the stands looking at the older kids playing, but now we're filling those shoes. And now we're the ones and the younger kids are looking up to us. It's definitely a great thing, great to be a Wildcat."
That pride was on display as he guided a photographer to various locations on campus that show off Pinelands High School. At his current pace, he'll be among the esteemed former players to live on in the hallways.
"A college coach was in the other day, he asked me what's the highest he can go," said Tierney. "I said 12 years from now, you're gonna walk through this building and his jersey is gonna be retired. We have a picture of him in the NFL, and he'll play 12 years in the NFL."
And as for the low — well it's still pretty high.
"He's gonna go to your college. He's gonna be a phenomenal student athlete. He's gonna be a great teammate, he's gonna start for three years," Tierney added. "He's gonna go on, he's gonna be as successful as he wants in any job. And that's the low end."
Tierney's own experience helps inform his evaluation of Hadzovic's potential. He was an All-Shore offensive lineman at the former Mater Dei High School in Middletown before continuing his football career at D-I Towson University. He credits Jayden's impeccable technique as a separating factor for him as a prospect.
"He needs to just have that phenomenal footwork and hit placement," said Tierney. "Jayden does a really job on his hips. His hips are very good. We do yoga here and that's helped him a bunch. I would say probably his biggest thing is to work on his punch striking, just to get that defender off balance."
Jayden will continue that development heading into his senior year at Pinelands, as he potentially has the versatility to play multiple positions on the line in college. But the final year of his decorated football career is about much more than the final destination - it's about enjoying the journey and staying true to his principles.
"You have to be loyal to the people that matter," Lalitta said. "He's very loyal to his coach and to his team and to his school. He wants everybody to make it, not only for himself. That means him staying there (for) his team and his school, and the pride that he has for the community — that speaks volumes."
Jayden's mom Lalitta: 'This is all his drive'
On the same day that Jayden Hadzovic spoke about the possibilities in his future, hundreds of football players were preparing to realize their dreams of playing professionally as selections in the NFL Draft. It could be a glimpse at a best case scenario of his future, but he prefers to focus on how it's relevant to him in the current moment.
"That's anyone's dream who plays football. To get drafted, hear their name called and then go to an NFL team and support their families," said Hadzovic. "It motivates me. Like, that could be me one day."
The top draft pick in this year's draft was USC quarterback Caleb Williams, who was described as a "generational prospect" by one former NFL general manager. The moniker gets thrown around a lot — a hyperbolic term for a player that theoretically only comes around once in a generation.
It has a different meaning for Hadzovic, and the definition is much more literal. He's the best player in 13 years to play at Pinelands. The son of a dedicated family that takes great pride in the values embodied by their children.
"I've been so proud of him. And honestly, I would like to add that this was all him," Lalitta said. "This is all his drive."
It seems no one in Jayden's orbit, including him, is inclined to take full credit for his breakthrough as a student-athlete. It's a reflection of the mindset that got him here in the first place.
"The household I grew up in, it turned me into who I am now," Jayden said. "It definitely impacted me."
The offers keep coming in, growing from the first offer from Monmouth late last year to a dozen FCS programs, including the aforementioned Ivy schools. He now holds FBS offers from Temple, Buffalo, UMass and Delaware. At the current pace, it appears inevitable that the Power 5 schools will take notice in due time.
As for the media, well Jayden is not really about that. He's about his academics, his family, his high school, his community and of course, football. For awhile, he was the best player in New Jersey that no one knew about.
Now, he's impossible to overlook.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jayden Hadzovic, Pinelands tackle: 2025 football recruit has 19 offers
