The Details: Mickens Motivated, 'To Be The Best Man I Can Be'
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
It was a few days before Halloween. Jaydon Mickens was a sophomore. I was looking for a story.
So, I asked the loquacious receiver to share a childhood memory, something that fit the spirit of the season.
He started to laugh. We recorded a video, a short, 53-second clip. Three years later, I asked the senior about that story. For a second time, I asked Mickens to look into his past.
When he was 15, his mother, Judy, took him to buy a Halloween costume. They drove from Los Angeles to Marina del Rey. He knew exactly what he wanted, so he grabbed the first Spider-Man costume he found.
He didn’t check the size. It was too small. By the time he realized it wouldn’t fit, he was already back home. It was Halloween, so he didn’t have a choice, he had to make it work.
The mask wrapped around his head with a Velcro strap in the back.
“It was so tight, I really couldn’t feel my face,” he said, laughing at the memory. But, even though it was several sizes too small, “I had fun in it.”
For as long as Mickens can remember, he has been as stubborn as he is determined. He saw a costume he wanted and, at the time, he didn’t care about the size.
“That was just me picking out my own costume, thinking that I knew everything,” Mickens said with a laugh.
Growing up, Mickens knew what he wanted. His mother did everything she could to fulfill his wishes, finding a way to get the receiver, and his siblings, everything they needed.
“Understanding now what she went through and what she’s still going through drives me and motivates me to be the best man I can be to help her out,” he said.
Mickens understands loss and sacrifice, because he has experienced it. His father, James, died of lung cancer on March 5, 2008.
“My dad did things to make sure we had everything we needed,” Mickens said. “When my dad passed away and it became a single-parent household, it really became a burden on all of us. Sometimes we had to make sacrifices to just get by.”
But, as he processed the loss of his father and watched his mother work to support her children, Mickens made a decision.
“That really motivated me to make something of myself,” he said. “I told myself a long time ago I never wanted to struggle like that again.”
Whether it was a new pair of cleats or a Spider-Man costume, Judy, found a way to get her son many of the things he wanted.
And now, years later, “I’m very proud of what she did,” Mickens said. “My mom did everything she could, but some things we just couldn’t have, because that was life.
“It doesn’t matter if she was taking care of kids or printing up T-shirts and selling them, she did everything she could to give us a roof over our head, something to eat and clothes on our back.”
The example Judy provided for her children set a course for Mickens’ future. It helped him become a prominent prospect coming out of Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. It helped him contribute as a freshman at Washington. It continues to help him as he navigates his final year in purple and gold.
He is not quite as stubborn as he once was. No matter how much he wants something, he understands that the proper size is important, even in Spider-Man costumes. He has grown from a teenager to a man, a freshman with potential to a veteran leader.
He arrived in Seattle eager for the opportunity to develop into a man his mother can be proud of. He is exceeding expectations.
“I knew coming in I was going to go through a transition, but I didn’t know how much positivity, fun and development would jump out over the last four years,” he said.
When he arrived at Washington, the thought of mastering the playbook was daunting.
“Now I know the whole thing, front and back, whether it’s receiver responsibilities, quarterback schemes, where he’s looking, first read, second read, third read and also understanding safeties and coverages,” he said.
With an offense that features young faces at just about every position, Mickens’ understanding of what Washington is trying to do is as important as his ability to make plays. But, while he has matured as a receiver over the past four years, he has matched that growth off the field as well.
“I’ve also grown as a man, from a young man into a fully developed man,” he said. “I understand how to pay bills, how to do taxes, just being on my own for four years, going through the grind of not having a lot of money.
“I developed that bond with myself to understand what I can do today to make myself better.”
While the inspiration for Mickens’ success starts with his family, football provided the path. By getting where he needs to be as a player, he has become a person that will one day be able to pay back the sacrifices his mother made to help him get to this point.
“I want the best thing for myself and, after that, I want the best thing for my family, because ultimately, this sport can help my family tremendously, whether it’s financially or anything else,” he said.
When it comes to pure passion, few players match the emotion the 5-foot-11, 170-pound team captain brings to the football field. It is evident in the way he motivates his teammates in pregame huddles and in the shouts he lets out each time he runs out of the Husky Stadium tunnel.
“I love ball,” he said. “Ball is the best thing that can happen to anyone, I feel like. To come out here every day, to work for somebody next to you who wants the same thing and has the same passion and drive for the sport as you, you understand this is not given. You really have to earn this and work for it to grow as a player and a human being.”
Heading into Thursday’s 6 p.m. Pac-12 matchup with No. 17 USC, Mickens needs just three receptions to move into a fifth-place tie with Paul Skansi (161) on the program’s all-time list. He needs 22 more catches to match Jermaine Kearse (180), who is in second place on that list behind Reggie Williams, who caught 243 passes during his Washington career.
Over his four-year career, Mickens has totaled 1,616 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches. He also has a pair of rushing touchdowns.
No matter what happens off the field, football provides sanctuary.
“Football helps me get away,” he said. “It helps me put a shadow over those things and be the best I can be. Football also helps me be the best person I can be with my family and my friends, because it can get taken away from you any day.”
Football has given Mickens an opportunity. It led him to Washington. It made him “more appreciative of the things I have around me.”
He appreciates the sacrifices his mother made. He appreciates each practice and every game. He even appreciates that old Spider-Man costume – a distant, but memorable, moment of humility that shows the contrast between the child he was and the leader he is at Washington.
