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FLORHAM PARK Womens Lac Edwards Jersey , N.J. (AP) — Jordan Leggett remembers the sudden buzz on the sideline and in the stands as cellphones lit up with texts delivering the scary news.A young player from a rival high school football squad in Florida had been seriously injured during a game and he might not make it.“Everybody on the team where I was from was like, ‘Oh, man, he must’ve just got like a big hit,'” the New York Jets tight end recalled. “We heard later that he passed away, so it was kind of a big deal.”Taylor Haugen was only 15 on Aug. 30, 2008, when he went out across the middle of the field for a pass, reached up and grabbed the football — and was immediately slammed into by two defenders, one to the front of his body and the other to his back. The impact to Haugen’s abdominal area ruptured his liver and the Niceville High School wide receiver was rushed to the hospital, where he died a few hours later.“The surgeons who worked on my child all night said it looked like a car crash,” Kathy Haugen said in a telephone interview.Leggett, who was a wide receiver for nearby Navarre High School in the Florida Panhandle, had never met Haugen, but was shaken by his stunning death. Ten years later, Leggett is honoring his memory with his “Touchdowns For Taylor” campaign, working with Haugen’s parents and the Taylor Haugen Foundation to raise awareness about abdominal injuries in youth football and trying to educate parents, players and coaches about how to better prevent them.Shortly after Leggett was drafted by New York in the fifth round out of Clemson last year, his agents asked if he was interested in supporting any charities. Leggett talked to someone from back home, and they mentioned the Taylor Haugen Foundation.“It just brought back all those memories from back in high school because I was there (in Florida) when it happened,” Leggett said. “So, it was just something I wanted to be a part of.”The 23-year-old Leggett started the “Touchdowns For Taylor” charity campaign last season through the sports fundraising platform Pledge It, with donors contributing money for every touchdown catch by the Jets this season.“We’ve never been Jets fans in our entire lives,” Brian Haugen said with a big laugh, “but we find ourselves rooting for the Jets to score touchdowns.”New York has 11 TD catches so far http://www.jetslockerroom.com/authentic-sam-darnold-jersey , with Leggett contributing to the total with the first of his NFL career in Week 4 at Jacksonville.“Last year, I didn’t get to play at all and my soon-to-be mother-in-law actually thought it would be cool to donate as much as my jersey number, so with 86, she’ll donate $86 per touchdown,” said a smiling Leggett, who missed last season with a knee injury. “We had a lot of touchdowns last year and she thought it was specifically just for my touchdowns, so it was kind of funny because she was the biggest donor.”Leggett and Haugen’s parents met for the first time in July in Florida, where they were able to chat about life in the NFL, high school rivalries, chilly Northeast weather — and, most of all, Taylor, and their combined mission.“He’s just a great kid,” Kathy Haugen said of Leggett. “He’s a wonderful person and we’re really honored that he wanted to do something to give back to his community and chose the foundation and our son’s legacy to do it.”Added Brian Haugen: “He’s a sweet soul.”They are all fiercely driven by the same goal: spreading the word that abdominal injuries are potentially life-threatening to anyone playing football. And there are ways of offering better protection.“If you think about football, and I think this is the story that people don’t get is with the chop-block rules and helmet-to-helmet contact, where are they going to hit?” Brian Haugen said. “The torso is now the target.”The Haugens have spent the last 10 years doing all they can to educate by speaking at conferences and workshops around the country and collaborating with medical experts and others in the college and NFL communities to learn more.“The problem that needs to be fixed is, how do we avoid abdominal injuries, or at least try to better protect against them?” Brian Haugen said. “People say, ‘Wow, that never happens.’ No, dude, you don’t get it. Kathy gets phone calls almost daily from parents across the country who see this thing that ‘never happens.’“It happens all the time.”One of the most frustrating aspects for the Haugens is that statistics on abdominal injuries and deaths from football-related hits at the high school level are largely incomplete or inaccurate. It’s also a big reason the Haugens started the foundation bearing the name of their only child. They are pushing for consistent injury tracking and lobbying for better protection standards at the youth sports level.“Logic would say that if you’re going to protect the organ on top of your shoulders,” Kathy Haugen said, “you would protect the organs within the middle of your body.”The Haugens support a product called the EvoShield shirt, which provides padded protection to the abdominal region and is worn by players at every level of the sport Tarell Basham Jersey , including the NFL. They also started the Youth Equipment for Sports Safety (YESS) program to educate athletes and provide them with equipment to protect against abdominal injuries.They have also developed a six-part “Pledge To Protect,” which includes a goal of making sure that by 2028 everyone playing youth football throughout the United States is wearing abdominal protection equipment as an essential part of their sports gear.“It’s being aware that this is an injury that takes place, that there are steps as a parent you can take to make sure that your child is better protected,” Kathy Haugen said. “Ask questions and ask your coaches — be engaged. You are your child’s best advocate when it comes to safety.”The Haugens say they still wouldn’t have prevented their son from playing the game he loved. But they stress they are educated now about the type of injuries that Taylor suffered — and they would know now how to better keep him safe.And they, along with Leggett and their many supporters, want other families to learn how to protect their kids — and never experience the loss they did.“I think it’s always a terrible situation when parents have to bury their children,” Leggett said. “But they took the terrible thing that happened to their son and they’re trying to make it better for other families who have kids who are playing the sport of football, and they’re trying to make it better for everybody else.“I mean, they’re extremely strong for what they do and it’s good to see.” FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Quinnen Williams stepped through the doors of the New York Jets‘ training facility for the first time and couldn’t help but get a bit starstruck.The No. 3 overall draft pick looked around and saw his new NFL teammates — guys he once knew only from watching TV and playing video games.“I met Le’Veon Bell yesterday and I’m like, ‘Whoa! That’s Le’Veon Bell, the No. 1 running back in the NFL,” a smiling Williams said Friday. “It’s just crazy. I met Sam Darnold, that’s crazy. I met Jamal Adams. Man, I’ve got Jamal Adams on my (Madden) Ultimate Team. It’s just crazy.”It might seem wacky right now, but Williams knows he certainly belongs — even without video game controllers in his hands.The playmaking defensive lineman was considered by many to be the best overall talent available in this year’s draft, arguably the safest pick a team could make.Now, he’s going to be a 6-foot-3, 303-pound building block in coordinator Gregg Williams’ defense. The former Alabama star was a stubborn run stuffer and punishing pass rusher for the Crimson Tide, and will likely be asked to fill similar roles for the Jets while lining up at different spots on the line.“Wherever they put me, I’ll play,” Quinnen Williams said, flashing a mouthful teeth covered by braces. “If they put me on kickoff returns, I’ll go crazy. They can put me at anything, and I’m going to try to dominate.”He joins a defensive line that includes Leonard Williams Womens Rashard Robinson Jersey , Steve McLendon, Henry Anderson and Nathan Shepherd. So, adding another player to one of the team’s strengths wouldn’t seem to have been a priority entering the draft.But when Quinnen Williams was still sitting there at No. 3 and the Jets found no acceptable trade options to move down in the first round, New York couldn’t resist.“Any time you have a guy that we see as a really talented player, a guy that put a lot of good tape out there his last year in college, and add that to the group we already have, I think it’s really going to be something that could help our defense, especially up the middle,” coach Adam Gase said. “The push up the middle is going to be big for us, especially in this division.”That, of course, mostly means getting to Tom Brady and trying to end New England’s 10-year reign atop the AFC East.Speaking of the Patriots quarterback, Quinnen Williams was asked if sacking Brady would be a sweet moment in his young career.“It’s crazy because Tom Brady started playing in the NFL before I was born,” said the 21-year-old lineman.Well, not quite. Quinnen Williams was born in 1997 and Brady broke into the league in 2000 — but you get the idea.“To sack him, it would be amazing,” he said. “Just to get a sack and just being in the NFL is amazing, so just to get a tackle in the NFL, a tackle for loss, just to play a down, it’s a dream come true for me because I get to play at a high level. So, getting a sack will be like icing on the cake.”While he was considered a sure-thing prospect entering the draft, Jachai Polite was anything but.The outside linebacker was a force at times for Florida, a mix of speed, athleticism and power coming off the edge that had some considering Polite a potential first-rounder.But then came some up-and-down performances http://www.jetslockerroom.com/authentic-jamal-adams-jersey , a hamstring injury that hampered him at the NFL combine in February — and some shaky interview sessions and perceptions that he was immature.“It just opened my eyes to the real world,” Polite recalled. “It was just a humbling experience.”Polite slid to the third round, and that’s where the Jets pounced. And, he’s eager to prove they made the right call.“They took a chance on me,” he said. “I’m surrounded by great people, so I have no choice but to change and be great.”The Jets were well aware of the questions surrounding Polite, but met with him and felt comfortable that he could come to New York and thrive — on and off the field.“I don’t think a lot of us had it all figured out at 21,” Gase said. “Whatever happened in the past is irrelevant to me. Moving forward, it’s just going to be on him to do the right things and worry about what he can control, which is show up every day, be on time, know what you need to do, go out there and practice hard.“He does that, it’ll be smooth sailing for him.”And, perhaps not so much for opposing quarterbacks.Polite also was asked who would be the first quarterback he’d like to sack in the NFL.“The first one we play,” the rookie said with a chuckle.In that case, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills better be ready when the regular season opens Sept. 8.Polite enjoyed watching Dwight Freeney as a kid, particularly how the star pass rusher would zip past blockers on his way to taking down quarterbacks.“I liked the spin move a lot,” Polite said before being asked to grade his own move. “It’s all right. It’s not like his — yet. It’s going to get there.”NOTES: Gase reiterated that he’s not concerned Bell hasn’t taken part in voluntary workouts but said the running back told him he’d be with the team for mandatory minicamp next month. “We know where he is,” Gase said. “He’s working out. Every year that he’s played, he’s been ready to go.” … Gase rebuffed recent reports that there was tension between him and GM Mike Maccagnan. “Unless I say it, it’s really irrelevant to me,” Gase said. “It kind of (ticks) me off a little bit, because we have discussions on everything. That’s our job.”