Frank Verducci, a former Nebraska senior offensive analyst, couldn’t help but laugh when he first watched Cam Jurgens’ high school tape.

A supercut of plays portrayed a hulking Beatrice High School tight end storming downfield, the ball tucked in the crook of his arm, with pint-sized opponents trailing in his wake. Jurgens put up blocks and bodies flew backward — evidence of the strength he cultivated en route to multiple Nebraska Class B and All-Class state titles in the shot put and discus.

“It was literally the saying, ‘Like men playing with boys,’” said Verducci, now a senior personnel analyst at Nebraska. “It was comical. We would just sit there and laugh at highlight after highlight because poor kids would bounce off him. They’d run away from him.”

But when Jurgens entered the program in 2018, Verducci and the coaching staff, led by then-head coach Scott Frost, determined that he wouldn’t play tight end for long. Nebraska lacked a young center with starting upside. Jurgens, despite weighing roughly 250 pounds at 6-foot-3, displayed the high-contact traits, the initial quickness, and the explosiveness on film that made him an attractive candidate to start at center.

Now, two years after his three-year stint as the starting center at Nebraska, the Eagles’ 2022 second-round pick (No. 51 overall) is making another transition. This time, the 303-pound Jurgens is sliding over a spot to right guard as the apparent front-runner to replace former starter Isaac Seumalo, who signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, a lifetime of preparation set up Jurgens for the initial switch to center in college. His transition to right guard in the NFL is just an extension of that trajectory.

“He’s scaled a smaller version of the mountain,” Verducci said. “I’m sure this one he’ll do just as well.”

Work ethic nurtured on the farm

Beth Jurgens will always remember the shoes.

Whenever Cam, her youngest of three, would have friends over at their house on their cattle farm just outside of Pickrell, Neb., which boasts a population of fewer than 200 people, the children left their shoes at the door. Jurgens’ were always twice the size of his friends’.

“He kind of grew pretty quick, but yet a lot of kids that maybe grow fast have an awkward stage,” Beth said “Cam never really had an awkward stage. He was just always very athletic.”

Jurgens took after his brother Colby and sister Courtney, who are eight and four years his senior, respectively, by competing in a variety of sports throughout his adolescence. Kindergarten tee-ball gave way to baseball, then basketball, soccer, and eventually flag football at the YMCA. Jurgens graduated to tackle and played nearly every position on the field except for offensive line and defensive line, sticking with tight end and linebacker later in high school.

He also balanced sports with assisting his father, Ted, on the farm. In the 100-degree summer heat, Jurgens stacked hay bales up to the barn rafters, holding his breath to avoid inhaling clouds of dust. He sprayed swaths of thistle in the pasture in an attempt to keep the weeds from popping up again the next year.