![\"Jace\"](\"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/files\/2019\/04\/Jace.jpg\" "\\"Jace\\"")
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Jace Billingsley is 5\u20199\u201d and 189 pounds \u2014 among the shortest and lightest players on the Detroit Lions\u2019 active roster \u2014 but he\u2019s used to exceeding expectations. <\/p>\n
Billingsley grew up in Winnemucca, Nev., a town of less than 8,000 that lies about six hours south of La Grande. <\/p>\n
He was an all-state quarterback for the Lowry Buckaroos when he me Tim Camp, À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ\u2019s head football coach. Camp recognized Billingsley\u2019s potential instantly at a summer football clinic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of the hardest workers,\u201d Camp said. \u201cThat stuck out most. He was going into his senior year, and he had this ability to work really hard and passionately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Billingsley joined the Mountaineers as a wide receiver in 2012. He broke a school record with 69 receptions the following year and continued to improve.<\/p>\n
Billingsley found that many EOU professors and coaches invest in students the way Camp had first demonstrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could tell he cared a lot about the program and players \u2014 about everybody there,\u201d Billingsley said. <\/p>\n
At EOU, the community, small classes and genuine relationships kept Billingsley engaged on and off the field. He majored in history and found a role model in professor Ryan Dearinger.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a great teacher and advisor… someone I could always talk to,\u201d Billingsley said of Dearinger. \u201cAt EOU, coaches are looking after you on the field and helping you develop as a person, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his final season at EOU in 2015, Billingsley racked up 13 touchdowns for a team-high 78 points and made up his mind to take a shot at his childhood dream of playing professionally. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs far back as I can remember, I always believed that [playing professionally] could happen,\u201d he said. \u201cComing from a small high school and then a small college, I never knew it would happen \u2014 but I always knew I wanted to give it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started training for a Pro Day in Seattle, where NFL scouts could see him perform. In March 2016, he made an impressive showing with a 4.39-second 40-meter dash and 25 reps of a 225-pound bench press. A month later, on NFL Draft Day, Billingsley received a call from the Detroit Lions. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a dream come true,\u201d Billingsley said. \u201cI was starting to get a little worried because [the call] was later in the day, but it\u2019s such a big accomplishment to even have the opportunity to play for an NFL team.\u201d <\/p>\n
Reflecting on his time as a Mountaineer, Camp called Billingsley \u201ca real Mountie,\u201d and said he remains an inspiration to current and future student-athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to at least try and not be afraid of failure,\u201d Billingsley said. \u201cI hope my success motivates other EOU students to see that anything is within their reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 2016, Billingsley has adapted to the more business-like atmosphere of the NFL. After 20 years of playing on small stages with big heart, he said it\u2019s been an adjustment. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a competitive business,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes it tough, but that\u2019s also what makes it great.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a show-stopping entry to the league in the 2016 preseason, Billingsley spent the better part of the regular season on the practice team. He topped the team\u2019s preseason stats chart with 12 receptions for 146 yards in 2016, and returned to the active roster for six games in 2017. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s on the off-season active roster and maintaining the positive attitude he developed as a Mountie. <\/p>\n
Billingsley still visits campus on a regular basis, and said EOU keeps getting better while maintaining the friendly environment that made it feel like home when we he was attending. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I love most about EOU is that everyone has respect for one another \u2014 in the classroom, on a team \u2014 everyone enjoys being with each other,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I always try to keep doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the leading reasons Billingsley chose EOU was for the short distance from his hometown. However, his time in the blue and gold launched him to achieve his dream in stadiums across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cA small school doesn\u2019t mean small opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cEOU is a great place to see yourself grow as student, a person and an athlete\u2026 and it goes really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jace Billingsley is 5\u20199\u201d and 189 pounds \u2014 among the shortest and lightest players on the Detroit Lions\u2019 active roster \u2014 but he\u2019s used to exceeding expectations. Billingsley grew up in Winnemucca, Nev., a town of less than 8,000 that lies about six hours south of La Grande. He was an all-state quarterback for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":448,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,16,21,11],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","category-cover-feature","category-features","category-spring-2018","tag-athletics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/448"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}