Ro Simon looked around the huddle at his Fast Houston starters and posed a question: “Is he different?” Everyone, from eventual Texas signee Brennan Eagles to eventual TCU signee Taye Barber, raised their hands.

He was referring to Jaylen Waddle, then a relative unknown in both 7-on-7 and recruiting circles.

A few minutes earlier, in the opening round of the 2017 Adidas 7-on-7 Las Vegas National (the biggest event on the 7-on-7 calendar), Waddle came off the bench for Fast Houston and laid waste to the opposing defense. Simon, in polling his team of future D-I signees, wanted to know if Waddle, a new addition to the team, should start. Everyone agreed. By the end of the event Waddle scored 49 touchdowns in just eight games.

“The most dominant player I’ve ever seen in my life,” Simon, who also serves as Waddle’s trainer, told 247Sports.

Waddle’s 7-on-7 supremacy translated to the SEC.

A True Freshman All-American for Alabama, Waddle, all of 5-feet, 10 inches and 177 pounds of him, has 41 catches for 803 yards and seven touchdowns. Those 803 yards are already the 14th-highest single season total in Crimson Tide history. Add in Waddle’s punt return theatrics – he’s sixth nationally in average yards per punt return – and Waddle, rated as the No. 39 overall player in the 2018 class per the 247Sports Composite, is a freshman of historic proportions for the nation’s No. 1 team.

In some ways Waddle’s production for Alabama evokes something Simon recalls from that week in Las Vegas.

“He took it over,” Simon said. “And that was a special team …”

***

Waddle grew up in Houston with the nickname “J Dubb.” Around the campus of Bellaire Episcopal High School, however, he went by a different moniker – Magic. This was no joking epithet used in passing. Said Episcopal head coach Steve Leisz: “Our offensive coordinator, I don’t even know if he knows his name.”

Kary Kemble knew Jaylen’s name, of course. He just couldn’t help himself.

When Kemble would watch film after games, he’d constantly see Waddle escape two or three defenders or come down with a jump ball next to a pair of defensive backs. Then he’d watch the same play on repeat attempting to solve the riddle of Waddle’s athletic genius.

“The same thing you do when you watch a magician,” Kemble said. “I know there’s something to it, but you can’t explain it.”

Yet early in Waddle’s career, at least relative to other top prospects, he struggled to gain traction.

Leisz coached in the 2017 Army All-American Bowl, and he remembers telling his fellow coaches he had a player, Waddle, capable of playing in the game as a junior. They scoffed. A few months later when the selection process started for the 2018, Leisz says he again met resistance despite Waddle claiming a handful of Power Five offers.

Waddle, who weighed at most 170 pounds as a high school senior, was thought to be too slight. The Army Bowl eventually relented, however, in large part due to Waddle’s Las Vegas showing.

Recruiting, too, had its hurdles.

Earlier this month Leisz had a conversation with an SEC special teams coach who came to check in on Episcopal’s prospects. After chatting a bit, the coach mentioned Waddle, saying his offensive coordinator thought Waddle too small. He then added, “This guy is beating our asses. What are we doing?”

“The size was something to it,” Leisz said.

In the annals of receiving greats, size isn’t always the only separator. Odell Beckham is only 5-foot-11, 200 pounds. Antonio Brown stands 5-foot-10, 181 pounds. Both players came up more than once in reference to Waddle’s receiving traits, specifically Waddle’s innate ability to wiggle and accelerate away from tacklers in close confines.

Waddle is much like a jitterbug on the field – near impossible to grab.

During 7-on-7 sessions in high school, teams had to cover Waddle with the sandwich method – one defender below and one defender above him. No matter. During a 7-on-7 event in New Orleans during the summer of 2017, Waddle caught three straight touchdown passes to the championship game. All of them came on the same play Simon dubbed “Money.” Waddle lined up in the slot with the option to run a 10-yard route or take the ball vertical depending on his read. “It was just unbelievable,” Simon said.

It’s worth mentioning that Waddle did so against the LA Bootleggers, a team that included future LSU cornerback signees Kelvin Joseph (No. 42 in 2018) and Derek Stingley (No. 3 in 2019).

Waddle might be slight (at least when considering the wide receiver prototype) but his feel for space and quickness separate him in the slot. Add in a pair of mitts for hands – Waddle’s caught a team-high, among receivers, 76 percent of his targets– and you manufacture a rare blend of skill.

“His ability to recognize space is god-given,” Simon said. “You just can’t do that. You have to really know your body. That just doesn’t come. That’s something like Odell Beckham and Antonio Brown have. It’s those type of dudes with unique skillsets. He has that.”

Kemble taught Waddle in 10th grade history. And while he called Waddle an average student, Kemble always marveled at Waddle’s intuitiveness in the classroom. That translates to the field.

Once during Waddle’s senior season, Bellaire needed Waddle to make an emergency start at quarterback. Waddle didn’t really want to. Said Kemble, “He agreed to play QB.” Halfway through the game, however, Waddle started making checks at the line scrimmage.

In one such instance, the call from the sideline was for an RPO to the overloaded side of the formation. Waddle saw the defenders loading up on that side and flipped the play. Then he saw a safety creeping down. Waddle pointed at the safety and told his receiver to run a skinny post. Waddle took the snap, faked the run, stepped back and delivered a strike to the receiver he’d just directed. “It’s a play he basically drew up on the field,” Kemble said. Waddle finished that game with six total touchdowns under center.

Waddle often made similar audibles for Episcopal. Waddle played with three varsity quarterbacks during his career, so he often knew the offense better than the signal caller. Waddle would habitually recognize something defensively and tell and instruct an outside receiver to flip with him to the inside. Sometimes, Waddle would signal his QB when he saw a blitz or a hole in coverage.

“He has the ability to do that just off seeing the field,” Leisz said.

***

Waddle specializes in first impressions.

Called up during a playoff push his freshman season, Waddle’s first varsity touch went for a kick return touchdown. Waddle touched the ball seven times in his Alabama debut against Louisville, leading the team with 143 all-purpose yards (3 catches for 66 yards, 4 punt returns for 80 yards).

It’s hard to provide Alabama something it lacks. But Waddle offers the Crimson Tide a rare fresh element. Alabama didn’t return a punt for a touchdown in 2017 and the Tide have never had an inside compliment to its outside receivers like Waddle.

"He's very explosive,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said earlier this year. “He's got great quickness. He can get out of the break. He can change direction. And he has very quick acceleration. I think that makes for great punt returners, and I think it makes for really good slot (receivers) that are really difficult to cover.”

Ironically, Waddle’s presence calls up what Saban predicted on National Signing Day 2018: “Maybe a little different than some of the guys we have,” he said.

There’s no doubt about that.