LOUISVILLE, Ky. — They known as him “Nowhere.”
He was 11 years outdated when he confirmed up with little to no warning on the soccer area behind Doss Excessive Faculty. It was one of many few occasions that Tim Richardson, who ran the native youth soccer league, didn’t have the thin on one of many gamers.
“Nobody knew who he was,” mentioned Richardson. “We didn’t know what to do with him.”
The coaches have been so caught off guard they performed the child on offensive and defensive traces as a seventh grader. As soon as Richardson bought him as an eighth grader, he realized the quiet, mysterious outsider was outrunning everybody else on the group, a lot too quick and athletic to linger within the trenches. Richardson moved him to receiver, quarterback, operating again — any place the place he may put the ball in his palms — unlocking the perfect participant on one of many prime youth groups within the nation.
“I had him contact it about each different play,” Richardson mentioned. “He may need had 35 touchdowns that season.”
However at the same time as a star participant, with space highschool coaches scouting his video games, he remained the unknown child who confirmed up out of the mist, a hint of one thing unsaid at all times trailing shut behind him.
On the again of his jersey, as an alternative of his identify, they even put “NO-WHERE.”
In the present day, Jordan Watkins is a senior huge receiver for the Ole Miss Rebels, No. 16 within the Faculty Soccer Playoff rankings. Final Saturday, Watkins set two Ole Miss single-game receiving marks with 254 yards and 5 touchdowns in a win at Arkansas. This Saturday, the Rebels and Lane Kiffin’s high-powered offense will take the sector in Oxford, Miss., in opposition to the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in the hunt for a victory to bolster their possibilities of making the 12-team Playoff.
However earlier than he grew to become a record-setting starter on a top-rated SEC offense, Watkins was that child from nowhere.
When Watkins was 8 years outdated, he sobbed as he watched his mother was pushed away behind a cop automotive. He can nonetheless hear the officer telling him, “Don’t fear, your mother can be again quickly.”
He didn’t see her once more for nearly two years.
Paula Baker was a baby of habit. She began ingesting at age 12, smoked weed as a teen, used cocaine at 18 and bought hooked on OxyContin at 21. She was a mom of two by then, having Jordan at 17 and his youthful brother, Elijah, a couple of years later.
She did her finest to maintain the substance abuse out of the home and away from the children, however finally began trafficking medication to feed her behavior. At age 25, she bought kicked out of her residence in central Ohio, so she packed up her two boys and known as a pal again house in Ashland, Ky., asking if they may crash at her place. They arrived in the midst of the evening, Watkins and his little brother asleep within the again seat. Paula bought arrested the following day, busted for making a deal to scrounge up cash for a brand new place to remain, violating parole within the course of.
“That was the underside for me,” Paula mentioned.
She wound up on the Western Kentucky Correctional Facility, the place she spent greater than 18 months. The boys stayed with their aunt in Ashland, 5 hours away on the alternative facet of the state. They didn’t see their mother for her whole incarceration. Watkins would inform his associates that she was on a enterprise journey.
Paula was finally paroled and granted a conditional launch to The Therapeutic Place, a restoration heart in Louisville, the place she was required to spend one other 18 months. It was a few hours nearer to Ashland, and her sister introduced the boys to see her the week she arrived. All of them sat collectively within the widespread room round a Christmas tree.
She had been sober for greater than a yr and a half by that time, however rapidly realized she had no true understanding of habit or restoration.
“I didn’t know habit was a illness, or that I wasn’t a horrible particular person. However I heard these tales of restoration, and that’s what I wished,” she mentioned. “I didn’t wish to dwell a chaotic life anymore.”
By Could 2013, she had accomplished her restoration program and was working part-time at The Therapeutic Place, saving up sufficient cash to get a spot with Austin Baker, her future husband, who had simply gone by way of his personal restoration program. She regained full custody of her boys and moved them from Ashland to Louisville.
Eleven-year-old Watkins struggled with the transition. Watkins’ father had by no means been a constant determine in his life, and now he needed to depart his associates in Ashland for a brand new metropolis, to maneuver in along with his mother after greater than three years aside, and with Austin all of the sudden within the image.
“He was mad, and I understood why,” mentioned Paula. “He didn’t know what was going to occur, if I used to be going to finish up again in jail. It was all new for him too.”
The soccer area was Watkins’ haven.
“You might inform when he confirmed up, it was an outlet for him,” mentioned Richardson.
For the following few years, Watkins lashed out at house and picked fights in school, following a timeworn recipe of rebellious habits.
“It took me a really very long time to forgive my mother for going away,” mentioned Watkins. “I hate that on reflection, as a result of I really like my mother to loss of life, however I used to be clearly performing out to indicate how a lot resentment I had towards her.”
Richardson heard tales about Watkins inflicting hassle, however he by no means noticed it on the sector. Watkins would ask questions on route-running and schemes, however he largely saved to himself, burying that anger.
Issues began to show throughout Watkins’ freshman yr of highschool. He was ineligible for the soccer group at his public faculty due to all of the suspensions he racked up, so Paula and Austin enrolled him in a personal faculty, barely in a position to afford his tuition.
“They needed to sacrifice every thing simply so I may play soccer,” mentioned Watkins. “I messed issues up by being spiteful, however I noticed what they have been making an attempt to do for me.”
He didn’t come to this realization instantly, or all on his personal. There was lots of remedy, as a household and individually. Watkins bucked in opposition to it at first, then was drawn to it, working with a therapist named David for a couple of years. The 2 of them would seize a chunk to eat. Take walks. Go to the library to do homework.
“There are nonetheless lots of people in as we speak’s society that assume remedy is for sissies, that as a person you must be robust. I attempt to be open about the truth that remedy modified my life,” mentioned Watkins. “David didn’t count on something in return from me, didn’t want me to be somebody I wasn’t. He was simply making an attempt to assist me.”
As soon as Watkins accepted that his mother and Austin have been making an attempt to assist, too, the scars started to heal.
By his senior yr at Butler Conventional Excessive Faculty, he emerged as a three-star huge receiver and dedicated to play for Louisville within the 2020 class. He favored the thought of his household being a 10-minute drive from the stadium, however after two years with the hometown Cardinals, he entered the switch portal. Watkins obtained loads of curiosity, however Kiffin — who has been open about his personal journey to sobriety — offered him on Ole Miss.
“Coach Kiffin informed Jordan if he wished to go to the NFL, he wanted to come back play for him,” mentioned Austin.
Watkins has 118 catches for 1,739 yards and 12 touchdowns halfway by way of his third season with the Rebels. Paula didn’t love her son transferring greater than six hours away, however she acknowledged what it may imply for his future, that he was prepared for a brand new problem. And she or he was prepared, too.
Paula has been sober for greater than 14 years. Lately, Watkins is a self-described “mama’s boy” who talks to her daily. He’s grown shut with Austin, too, the primary particular person Watkins known as when he bought the brand new Faculty Soccer 25 online game that includes his personal likeness, and whom he instantly FaceTimed when he hit a hole-in-one this summer time, out of breath from sprinting to the inexperienced. Watkins will frequently ship photos to the household group chat of what he cooked for dinner on his flat-top grill.
“I’ve at all times held onto that little little bit of hope: In case you get up and preserve doing it daily, issues get higher,” mentioned Paula. “And it’s true.”
Ole Miss huge receiver Jordan Watkins, pictured along with his mom, Paula Baker, says remedy modified his life. (Courtesy of Paula Baker)
Ken Trogdon was giddy watching the highlights of Ole Miss’ win final week. The South Carolina alum and resident is a loyal Gamecocks supporter, however he’s change into a fan of the Rebels by way of his connection to Watkins, whom he met earlier this yr.
“5 touchdowns? I used to be so excited for Jordan,” mentioned Trogdon. “He’s such a particular younger man.”
About 12 years in the past, Trogdon, a healthcare administrator, based HarborPath as a nonprofit group that provides drugs to susceptible populations nationwide. That mission quickly intersected with the opioid and fentanyl crises, together with efforts to distribute and inform individuals about naloxone — generally generally known as Narcan — a drug that may reverse opioid and fentanyl overdoses. For the previous few years, HarborPath has labored to get naloxone inside arms attain of as many individuals as doable.
That’s what introduced Trogdon to Ole Miss this previous winter. HarborPath provided Narcan to the William Magee Middle, based in 2019 in honor of a former Ole Miss observe athlete who died of an unintentional overdose. Anybody can cease by and choose up Narcan free of charge, no questions requested.
Trogdon approached The Grove Collective, an Ole Miss-affiliated identify, picture and likeness group, about partnering with Ole Miss athletes in social media movies to unfold consciousness. Watkins, a outstanding soccer participant who was comfy in entrance of the digicam, was one of many athletes The Grove instructed.
Chatting with Trogdon and Mississippi Legal professional Basic Lynn Fitch between filming classes, Watkins shared particulars about his life earlier than coming to Ole Miss in 2022. About his childhood and his mother’s struggles with habit. About her time in jail and restoration facilities, and the way his stepfather, additionally in restoration, was twice revived with Narcan. About how his mother now works as a advisor within the restoration area with organizations identical to HarborPath.
Trogdon hoped for a charismatic soccer participant to assist message his trigger. As a substitute, he bought a participant with “a private connection to it like no one else.”
Faux drugs aren’t definitely worth the threat.
Ole Miss huge receiver @jordantwatkins is partnering with HarborPath to assist save lives from drug overdose and lethal fentanyl on school campuses.
🔗 https://t.co/vZE9w9Jy8j pic.twitter.com/zwN47gWSFk
— HarborPath (@HarborpathRx) March 8, 2024
When the Ole Miss movies have been launched in February, they generated 100,000 views on X on the primary day. Trogdon mentioned HarborPath is contemplating increasing the marketing campaign to further campuses, and that he may see Watkins being a nationwide spokesperson for the group.
Extra importantly, the Magee Middle skilled an uptake of Narcan after the movies circulated, and Trogdon mentioned the accessible treatment was accountable for reversing an overdose on the Ole Miss campus.
It’s additionally change into one other outlet for Watkins, who has additionally labored with restoration teams again house in Louisville. And his mother will put him on the cellphone with youngsters who is likely to be struggling these acquainted pains of household habit to supply perspective.
“It impacts so many individuals, not simply by way of private use however due to these round them,” mentioned Watkins. “I really like having the ability to use my platform or expertise to assist.”
Restoration will not be a beginning-and-end course of. It’s a every day enterprise, a plant that wants watering. However after 14 years, the roots have taken maintain. This weekend, Paula and the household will make their common 400-plus-mile trek to observe Watkins and the Rebels tackle Georgia. Cheering on the quiet child from nowhere.
“We’re not good,” mentioned Paula, “however we’ve come a great distance.”
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; pictures: David Jensen / Getty Photos; Courtesy of Paula Baker)
