Jason Fox has love for the outdoors

Allen Park -- Lions rookie offensive tackle Jason Fox grew up in North Texas loving country music and hunting deer, turkey and hogs in his spare time.

So how does an outdoorsy guy like that end up in South Beach playing college football for the University of Miami?

"I just fell in love with Miami," he said. "When it came down to choosing a college I just wanted to win. I wanted to win championships and I thought Miami would give me the best chance to do that. We obviously didn't get it done, but I still enjoyed my time there and it opened all other doors in my life and probably being here is one of them. I don't regret it at all."

Fox said he turned down a number of offers from Big 12 teams to sign with Miami.

Drafted by the Lions in the fourth round, the 6-foot-7, 315-pound offensive tackle is already getting the feeling he'll be right at home in Michigan.

He said he's already done some homework on the many hunting and fishing opportunities in Michigan and is even hoping some of his new Lions teammates, who hunt and know the Michigan outdoors scene, will let him tag along when the time comes.

"This is my first time in Michigan. I don't think I'll have a lot of free time, but when I do get some free time, I'll definitely check it out," Fox said about Michigan reputation as a recreational state. "I'm going to try to get with (Jeff Backus) and some of those guys and see if they'll take me."

Mr. Reliable
If you could use only one word to describe Fox's four-year career at Miami, it'd be reliable.

That's why choosing to have surgery instead of playing through a painful patellar tendon injury for the last two games of his senior year, including Miami's bowl game, was a tough decision for Fox.

"It was a collective decision with our medical staff and our coaches. They said that, 'you've played with the injury all season and we appreciate that and it's now time that you need to look out for your future; you'll get an extra month of rehab and recovery if you get the surgery right now.' I went with their decision," Fox said of missing his last two games.

Fox started 47 games for the Hurricanes.



(detnews.com)