Jaden Dugger put all of the effort in leading up to the NFL Draft. The Penn Hills graduate went to all the meetings. He grinded through all the workouts.

Dugger, who played collegiately at Georgetown and Louisiana, plans to trust his agent to handle what happens next. He isn’t totally able to remove himself from trying to see into the future, though.

“I do lean on my agent,” Dugger said. “I’m secretly on Twitter looking around a little bit. I can’t do much now. The hard part is over with.”

Dugger, a 6-foot-5 senior linebacker prospect who finished with 125 tackles and four sacks with the Ragin’ Cajuns last season, plans to watch the draft at home with his mom, Tanisha Worthy, and other family.

“Definitely my mom,” said Dugger on who would be most excited watching the draft. “The day of the draft, it will be close family, then we plan to go out on Sunday after.”

Projections vary, but many draft analysts have him going somewhere on Day 3.

With the draft being held in Pittsburgh for the first time, Dugger felt like everything fell into place for him.

“I felt everything was aligned for this year,” Dugger said. “I felt like it was special.”

Making the move to linebacker from safety paid dividends for Dugger, who also intercepted a pass and knocked down three others for Louisiana.

What teams seemed most excited to talk to him about in meetings was his mobility.

“With my versatility and athleticism, I can play a lot of different positions,” Dugger said. “People my size usually can’t move this well. That’s what a lot of teams seemed excited about.”

Dugger, who was a first-team All-Sun Belt conference pick, had an opportunity following the end of the college season to compete against other top prospects when he played in the 101st East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas.

While Dugger had heard from some scouts as a junior, he felt the Shrine Bowl is where he saw the interest ramped up.

“It was important to me,” Dugger said. “I wanted to show I can compete against those guys. During the week, I felt the meetings increased from the first day to the second day and to the third day. It was good to show that to other people.”

Jaden’s brother, Julian, also plays Division I football. He is now at Washington State after starting at Pitt.

Jaden Dugger originally committed to Georgetown out of high school and played two seasons as a safety for the Hoyas. He chose to make the leap from the FCS to Louisiana to try and pursue his dream of playing in the pros.

Dugger quickly grew into a contributor and now is in a position to have his shot at the NFL.

“That decision took a lot,” Dugger said. “It feels good looking back at it. A lot of people didn’t believe in that decision and a lot of people questioned it. I’m just blessed.”