Former Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta’amu is living out every football fan’s childhood dream.

He’s currently in sunny Florida, out of the cold and into the heat of preparing for the 2019 NFL Draft where he has a chance to solidify his status as a quarterback prospect at the NFL Combine later in February.

However, hearing his name called at the draft is just one part of his future. He’s also looking to fulfill a childhood dream of his own of being in law enforcement.

“I always wanted to be a police officer for a couple of years, have that experience under my belt and then try again to an FBI agent,” Ta’amu said. “I’ve always wanted to do that since I was a little kid.”

Ta’amu is currently a criminal justice major at Ole Miss, and is close to finishing his degree. In order to finish his studies, he’ll take on an internship with the Oxford Police Department that will give him real-life police officer experiences.

“That’s like the last thing on my plate and I need to take care of right before I can graduate in May,” Ta’amu said.

Ta’amu said a classmate pointed him towards the opportunity, and all it took was one phone call and a few signed pieces of paperwork to get the internship.

The internship itself has a requirement of about 400 hours in patrol, which Ta’amu will get hands-on experiences with police investigations and being involved in the community.

Ta’amu said he was thankful the police were very flexible with him, considering his upcoming preparation schedule.

“Everything that I was doing, they said yeah, just take care of that first,” Ta’amu said. “Once you get back to Oxford, then we can try and bust out your internship.”

Interim Police Chief Jeff McCutchen said this isn’t the first time an Ole Miss player has interned with OPD, but did acknowledge Ta’amu might have more stardom than any past Rebel police interns.

McCutchen said everyone is excited for Ta’amu to start his internship, where they can show him what his officers do and why they do it.

“We really get to show them the parallel of our field,” McCutchen said. “There’s a lot of responsibility in protecting the brand wherever you go.”

Luckily for OPD, Ta’amu prides himself on being protective, which is why he wants to be a law enforcement officer back home in Pearl City, Hawaii.

“I’m always like super protective of my whole family, so I really just want to protect the community around me,” Ta’amu said. “I always wanted to go back home and just protect and serve the community back by there and just give back to the community.”

After the NFL Combine, which takes place from February 26th to March 4th, he’ll begin his internship while still balancing training for Ole Miss’ Pro Day in March.

However, he doesn’t believe his upcoming balancing act will be a challenge, as he’s planning on training in the morning for Ole Miss’ Pro Day, and completing internship work in the evening.

Ta’amu has already gotten a head start on impressing NFL teams.

The Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons have all reportedly expressed interest in the quarterback, who watched him compete at the East-West Shrine game in January.

The college stats are there, too. Ta’amu started all 12 games in 2018, and competed 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,918 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions, and threw for over 300 yards nine times. Five of those performances came against SEC defenses.

He’s currently seen as a day-three, late-round pick, but that could change with his performance at the NFL Combine. Ta’amu is taking everything a day at a time, but is still nervous about the upcoming months.

“It’s my next chapter in life, so I’m just pretty nervous about that,” he said. “I’m excited at the same time but pretty nervous too, just seeing what my future holds.”

However, where he goes doesn’t matter. Ta’amu believes he’ll be on an NFL roster going into the summer months.

“I just have so much confidence in myself,” Ta’amu said. “I will get picked up by a team, and it doesn’t matter what round to me, it doesn’t matter what team.”