Prince George's County native Leah Joseph making her mark with the Jacksonville Jaguars
WASHINGTON/7NEWS — A Prince George's County football family making it in the NFL.
Leah Joseph joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in August of 2021 as General Manager Trent Baalke's assistant.
The 26-year-old is a sports fanatic. She played college volleyball at Georgia Southern, but always gravitated back to football.
After graduating, Joseph became the Director of Volleyball Operations at Virginia Tech University. She eventually found herself with the Hokies football program, taking the job of Director of On-Campus Recruiting.
Football has always been in her blood.
Her father, Bernard, is the head football coach at St. Stephens and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia.
Her cousin is Chase Young, one of the star players for the Washington Commanders. Now, it's Leah's turn, paving her own way in the NFL.
7News sports anchor Scott Abraham caught up with Leah about her journey to the NFL.
"This started at birth for me. I've always been in a football family. Football was never new and I've always wanted to dip my toe in it and I got that opportunity at Virginia Tech," Joseph told Abraham. "Ever since then, I was like I have to do this at the highest level. So coming to the NFL was just par for the course for me. Football has been ingrained in me forever, I have always had a love for it."
Making that transition from college football to the NFL is never easy. Leah has adapted quickly, finding a new home in the Sunshine State.
"I like to say my learning curve is completely vertical, but it's been awesome. I'm already on my third journal of note-taking at work just from September. I've learned so much, you don't even know what goes on behind the scenes of working in the NFL," Joseph said. "We have the first pick in the draft this year so we've been honing in on all the players, going to combine and trying to figure out who we're exactly going to get."
As far as her long-term goals in the NFL, Leah is still figuring out what she would specifically like to do.
In this current job, Leah has her hand in almost every department, calling it a complete learning experience. She is very proud of the fact, that she has an opportunity right now that hasn't always existed for women in football.
Leah understands that she is now a role model and mentor for women that want to get involved in football.
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"So much pride, it's been amazing, just over the last couple of years, to see how much paving the way some women have done," Joseph said. "I look up to a bunch of women, who have just made little steps in high school or college to make way for me to be here. It's been awesome to be one of those women that other little girls can look up to."
The 2022 NFL regular season schedule has not been released yet. But Washington will in fact host Jacksonville this year at FedEx Field. It will be a special homecoming for Leah with her cousin Chase on the opposite sideline.
"I think I'm going to be invisible that day and probably wear all black. We have marked that on our calendars, it's going to be huge," Joseph said. "It's something we always talked about, it's going to be super special, especially that the game is going to be in D.C. I just know there are going to be so many of us at that game. I'm trying to bargain with people to wear teal so we'll see how that goes."
