Jaxon Smith-Njigba: Let the story begin
Getting into the history and beginning of the Seahawks' newest and shiniest offensive weapon
On October 26, 2020, Jaxon Smith-Njigba posted “Let the story begin” on Instagram, two days after making his first career catch and scoring his first career touchdown as a college receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Smith-Njigba had only five yards that day, only four catches for 12 yards over his next four games, and only 10 catches for 49 yards during his entire season as a true freshman. Statistically? What’s the big deal?
Aesthetically, JSN’s career started like this:
I REPEAT… Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s career started like this:
The Seattle Seahawks made Smith-Njigba the third-highest drafted receiver in franchise history and the first of his position off of the board when they picked him 20th overall last month. Playing in between Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, JSN could have a similar showing as a rookie as what former teammates Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, both of whom were out-produced by Smith-Njigba in 2021, had during their first seasons a year ago.
Described by some as “the perfect slot receiver” and by Wilson (“I feel like I’m the best on the field every time, but then I saw Jaxon for the first time and I was like, OK, he’s everything and then some”) and Olave as having higher upside than either of them, even forcing Jameson Williams to transfer to Alabama based on moments like the one above, expectations are extremely high for Jaxon Smith-Njigba entering the 2023 season.
That’s okay, he’s had high expectations and surpassed them once before.
Just imagine a 6A Texas high school player who has 1,828 yards and 20 touchdowns…as a junior…and then crushed both of those numbers with 2,094 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior. How much higher could expectations be for a five-star recruit like that? But two years later, JSN led every Power-5 receiver in yards (1,606) despite playing with two future first round picks and playing in 13 games, as opposed to 14 like most of his peers.
Where does JSN’s story actually begin?
This post was originally posted as a “Super Joes” bonus for all the generous members who signed up for $120 per year, but today I am making it available for ALL to read so that you can see that I’m not lying when I say that the premium content at Seaside Joe is unlike Seahawks content anywhere else on the internet. Sign up today to not miss anything like this, either FREE, $5/month, $55/year, or $120/year to help support a small Seahawks mom and pop business.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: The Beginning
Born in Nacogdoches, Texas on Valentine’s Day in 2002, Smith-Njigba grew up in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall. In his draft guide for The Athletic, Dane Brugler described the early beginnings as this:
“He started training with his father (Maada), who is a fireman and paramedic in Dallas, when he was eight years old and naturally gravitated toward sports, especially football.”
It was in Nacogdoches where Maada Smith-Njigba played linebacker at Stephen F. Austin University. Who knows why, out of many thousands of college athletes, only a select few end up being the parents of far better athletes, but Smith-Njigba certainly had some gift to pass on: Jaxon’s older brother Canaan was a fourth round pick in the MLB draft in 2017 and has made major league appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates over the past two seasons.
Brugler mentions “eight years old” as the key moment for Smith-Njigba, probably because that’s when he started running up “Walmart Hill” with his father and older brother. As written in The Columbus Dispatch in 2021, Maada notes that as opposed to Canaan, Jaxon loves to work out:
“According to his father, the hill is at least a couple stories high and rises at about a 45-degree incline. Maada Smith-Njigba would regularly take his two sons, Jaxon and Canaan, there early in the morning to work out. Jaxon, who is almost 3 years younger than Canaan, started running the hill at about 8 years old.
“My older boy hated it, but he loved it,” Maada said. “Jaxon always loved to work out.”
Of the hill, Jaxon said “It was really steep” but that he never balked at pushing himself to the limit of his abilities each time, guessing that it would take about 15 seconds to run to the top and that he would do about 20 reps per work out. “I was always willing and wanted to work out,” he told Columbus Dispatch, noting that he wanted to make his dad happy.
As far as becoming a football player and specifically a receiver, Jaxon was helped out by the fact that he naturally became Canaan’s go-to target as a quarterback.
“I was always the one running the routes and stuff… I always did that ever since I was little. He would line me up 10 yards away and throw as hard as he could, and he told me not to move. All that stuff helped me.”
His mom, Jami Smith, recalled the boys removing cushions and pillows from couches in the living room to serve as obstacles like tackling dummies. “They constantly ran routes,” she said. “Jaxon would take socks and put them on his hips like they were flags and he would run pretend routes, the defenders as pillows. He would make-believe these all-out games, making sure his toes would stay inbounds. And Canaan constantly threw him the ball.”
As far as becoming a leader, Jaxon says that he also gets that from his parents. His father would pack extra food in his sons lunches in case anyone at school couldn’t afford their own meal and would harp on not being bystanders if they were to ever encounter bullying of others.
“Those are things we harped on rides to school,” Maada said. “Others before yourself. You’re more than a football player. You’re more than a ballplayer.”
These are all foundational aspects that led to Jaxon Smith-Njigba becoming “JSN”, but a growth spurt going into his sophomore year of high school also helped him become one of the all-time greatest players in Texas history.
In Texas history.
High School Stats
Following his growth spurt, Smith-Njigba became a starter on Rockwall’s football team (6A is the biggest level in Texas) and caught 81 passes for 1,299 yards and nine touchdowns. Rockwall won their first playoff game that year, one of the most “shocking” upsets of that postseason:
As the last team in from their division, Rockwall was supposed to be a one-and-done. But they won 23-7 and JSN can be seen on this end-around as one of the highlights:
A week later, they lost on a goal line stand to Sachse High, but even as a sophomore, Smith-Njigba was a key player on that offense. That was only the beginning.