For a young football player, two of his biggest influences are usually his father and coaches.
Both played prominent roles for two highly-recruited Jesuit High School players who signed letters of intent Wednesday.
Demetrius Douglas signed to play at Minnesota, and Jaxson Kirkland signed with Washington. The teammates, who played prominent roles on Crusaders teams that went 25-1 the last two seasons and won a state title in 2015, both ended up at schools their fathers played at, but only after a roller-coaster ride that saw them rescind commitments to Pac-12 schools.
“Literally I feel like I could write a book on how the process plays out,” said Omar Douglas, Demetrius’ father.
The 2016 football season started with both athletes seemingly set with futures at Pac-12 programs. Douglas, a standout receiver and defensive back, had committed to play for Oregon. Kirkland, a 6-foot-8, 318-pound lineman, had committed to UCLA.
“That was the nice part about it, just focusing on football,” Kirkland said. “That’s why I wanted to commit before the season so I can just concentrate on my senior year, get a state championship. I know that didn’t happen, but that was the ultimate goal.”
Douglas had come to Jesuit before his sophomore year, as Omar Douglas moved his family from Minnesota after he took a job with Nike. Demetrius Douglas started at cornerback as a sophomore, and was set to be a key two-way player in 2015, but he suffered a lacerated kidney during an early practice.
He missed the first four games before returning, then suffered another setback in the state quarterfinals, when he broke a hand. He sat out the semifinals, then played in the championship game with a huge cast.
That adversity, coming after making the move from Minnesota, was a big step in his son maturing, Omar Douglas said.
“It was frustrating, but I think he’s learned a lot between moving here and making a big transition, having a year where he had some significant injuries that he had to overcome and still was able to be successful, that’s really the testament to the character that you are,” Omar Douglas said. “That’s where you learn the most, through adversity.”
As Douglas was battling health issues, Kirkland was developing into a top offensive lineman. Jesuit has a deep tradition of developing linemen, and as part of Wednesday’s signing ceremony in Jesuit’s gym, two of Kirkland’s linemates signed letters of intent, with Jarred Daul signing with Brown, and his twin brother, Joel Daul, signing with San Diego.
After a good junior season, Kirkland worked with assistant coach John Andreas and drove himself to get even better.
“After watching the film from my junior year and saying, OK, what do I need to work on, and kind of fixing those in the off-season, I just got bigger, stronger, my fundamentals got better,” Kirkland said. “I think it was a drastic change.”
After the 2016 season in which Douglas and Kirkland were first-team all-state picks, drastic changes happened in both players’ futures. Oregon, after a 4-8 season, fired coach Mark Helfrich, replacing him with Willie Taggart. The change prompted Douglas to rethink his options.
“When the coaching change happened, it wasn’t a done deal, like, nope, I’m not going there,” Douglas said. “It was more I didn’t have good communication with the coaching staff, I hadn’t really talked to them, I hadn’t really built up a relationship with them. And that just kind of gave me a chance to step back.”
Minnesota, which had previously recruited Douglas, also underwent a coaching change as Tracy Claeys was fired following a controversial season in which 10 players were suspended for the Holiday Bowl after allegations of a sexual assault. The school hired PJ Fleck to take over, and the Golden Gophers were again in the mix for Douglas.
Whereas Oregon had tabbed Douglas as a cornerback, Fleck’s staff has him pegged as a receiver.
“I’m not sure exactly what the offense will look like, but from what I’ve heard and what I know, it will be a pretty big receiver base,” Douglas said.
In Jesuit’s run-oriented offense, Douglas didn’t get a huge number of receptions, but made the most of what he got. Of his 38 receptions this past season, 10 went for touchdowns, and he averaged 23.3 yards per catch.
Meanwhile, Kirkland’s commitment to UCLA began to waver. After a 4-8 season, the Bruins fired offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.
“They underwent some coaching changes, and that was the main factor because the coach that recruited me got fired,” Kirkland said.
Meanwhile, two teams put themselves in the picture for Kirkland. Oregon, which had not recruited Kirkland under Helfrich, made its pitch. Kirkland was especially impressed by the Ducks’ hiring of Mario Cristobal, who moved from Alabama to become co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
“He’s a phenomenal coach, has a lot on his resume,” Kirkland said.
But Washington was also in the mix, with the Huskies being able to sell a rising program that made the College Football Playoffs. After cooling on UCLA, Kirkland decided he wanted to stay “local” and choose between the two Northwest schools. The choice was tough.
“I’d say it was almost 50-50 between the two,” he said.
Kirkland’s father, Dean, played for the Huskies and was co-captain of the 1990 team that was co-Pac-10 champion. Dean Kirkland’s UW connections were a big lure.
“I read about it, obviously there’s photos at my house of him holding the Rose Bowl trophy, cool stuff like that, and I heard a lot of stories about what his career was like up there,” Jaxson Kirkland said. “I know a lot about it.”
Kirkland’s decision, made with an oral commitment Monday, came down to what felt right.
“Obviously, the bloodline kind of draws it, but coming up with that gut feeling, I’ve been around UW all my life, I’m just saying that’s the place for me,” he said.
Douglas’ decision had a different approach. Although Omar Douglas was a standout receiver at Minnesota, he went out of his way to not influence his son’s decision.
“My parents did a really good job through the whole recruiting process of making sure that this is where I wanted to be, making sure they weren’t influencing me or telling me where they wanted me to go,” Douglas said. “They made sure it was my decision, and that place happened to be the place that my dad played.”
Ultimately, the prolonged process turned into a life lesson for Kirkland and Douglas.
“I definitely learned a lot,” Douglas said. “One of the biggest things was people skills, talking to people, having conversations, learning information, processing information, making big decisions. I definitely learned a lot from this whole experience.”
— Mike Tokito
mtokito@oregonian.com
@mtokito
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