Former Blue Waves football star Mike Owen has been invited by the New York Jets to try out for the team.  Owen, a Syracuse University tight end, was called by the Jets on Saturday within an hour of the NFL draft ending.

"We're just ecstatic," said his father, Donald Owen of Riverhead. "But we're trying not to get too, too excited."

Owen will be flying from Syracuse to the Jets rookie camp on Thursday for a three-day tryout, his father said. "We're hoping that when he leaves Sunday, he'll have a contract."

Owen, a 2005 graduate of Riverhead High School, where he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, was awarded a full athletic scholarship to Syracuse University. He will graduate next month with a degree in child and family studies, his father said. If a career in the NFL is not in the cards for him, he intends to pursue a career in coaching football, he said.

His Riverhead High School football coach, Leif Shay, sang Owen's praises this morning. "He had a very distinguished high school career," Shay said. "He was All-County both years that he played for us [2003 and 2004]. In both years the team was a big four champion, and in '03 the Waves were Suffolk County champs and won the Rutgers trophy," Shay said. "Mike was a big part of that."

Being invited to tryout camp as a free agent is a very big deal and a great opportunity, Shay said. "Less than 1 percent of the kids in the country get an opportunity to play professional sports. Maybe five or six free agents are invited by an NFL team to try out," he said.

Shay is optimistic about Owen's chances. "Mike is one of the most determined kids I've ever coached," said Riverhead High School football coach Leif Shay. "I've never seen him fail at anything he set his mind to do."

"Mike has always been a great kid with a big heart," said Riverhead school district athletic director Bill Groth this morning. "He is the type of young man that makes a coach's career worthwhile, the kind that makes you say 'that's the reason I got into this business'," Groth said.

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Owen Field
written by Angela DeVito, June 18, 2010

Hooray for Mike Owen. If he is successful [and all indicators say he will reach his goal] and signs a pro contract, why not re-name the Riverhead Stadium in his honor? what better means to show our pride and respect for this exceptional former Blue Wave. I am sure Bill Groth, our athletic director, will agree this is a good idea...

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