CORTLAND — There will be a Lehigh reunion of sorts Saturday night when the Jets play the Jaguars at MetLife Stadium. Perhaps before the game, and certainly after, Jacksonville offensive lineman Will Rackley and Jets free agent wide receiver Ryan Spadola will have a chance to chat and update each other on their respective training camps. The conversation should start with Spadola saying, "Thank you."
It was Rackley, drafted in the third round in 2011, who provided Spadola with advice on how to make the transition from college to the NFL. It has helped Spadola go from an undrafted free agent to a virtual lock to make the Jets' opening-game roster.
Bill Kostroun
QUITE A CATCH: The Jets signed Ryan Spadola as a free-agent receiver out of Lehigh and now he's a virtual lock to make the opening-game roster.
"He was the guy I reached out to throughout the whole NFL process from the Combine to getting ready for the draft and what to expect in training camp and how to prepare for it," Spadola said.
The Jets should offer their thanks as well. Finding a few skilled free agents who make the team is an essential part of training camp. The Jets think they have found a diamond in Spadola, who caught a 57-yard touchdown pass in the Green and White game and has impressed in just about every practice since. Yesterday morning, he burned past veteran cornerback Antonio Cromartie on a pump-and-go pattern and caught a deep pass from Mark Sanchez.
"He's extremely detailed in the classroom," said wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal. "Everything he's coached to do, the next day he tries to apply it, and it's really showing up on the field."
Spadola's emergence is much-needed with Santonio Holmes still sidelined after foot surgery in 2012. Clyde Gates missed yesterday's practice with a head injury; second-year player Stephen Hill remains a work in progress, and nine-year vet Braylon Edwards may not have much left.
"I just make sure I'm ready every day to execute any assignment thrown at me," Spadola said. "Once my number is called, I try to make sure I do all I can do to make a play and show off my talent a little bit."
It's uncertain why Spadola, who is a solid 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and runs a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, went undrafted. He caught 232 passes for 3,611 yards and 24 touchdowns during his career at Lehigh. It could have been because his stats were down after missing two games his senior season with mononucleosis. It could have been because he came from a small college. It could have been because he was suspended by the NCAA for one game as a junior for retweeting a racially insensitive tweet disparaging an opponent.
Whatever the reasons, the Jets are happy he spurned free-agent offers from the Colts, Dolphins, Bucs and Giants.
"I learned what the Jets were about and what they were trying to accomplish this year," said Spadola, a native of Howell, N.J. "I looked forward to being a part of it."
Spadola has worked with the first team offense at times during camp and is being featured on special teams. Those are all good signs he'll make the squad and fulfill the dream of his late father, Don, who passed away while Spadola was in high school. None of it has come easy.
"My whole life, I've kind of felt like I was the underdog," he said. "I came from a small high school. I didn't go to a big college. I was fortunate to go to Lehigh and had a great career, but people might have doubted me because I was a small-school kid. I'm just trying to prove people wrong every day."
Coach Rex Ryan has already given Spadola a nickname, another good sign.
The coach calls him "Spicoli," because of his resemblance to the stoner surfer in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
"I don't mind it," said Spicoli, er, Spadola. "Obviously, I don't stand for what Spicoli stood for in the movie. But there's some similarity with the blond hair and blue eyes. I guess it's nice to have a nickname when you're on a team."
He'll have to see what Rackley says about that.
george.willis@nypost.com
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