Ed Puskas: Jabbar Price’s college football dream brings him back home

Jabbar Price went east and west in pursuit of a college football scholarship.

The former Ursuline High School standout learned a lot during an odyssey that began after his 2016 graduation and took him to a Connecticut prep school and a Kansas junior college.

Price’s journey ended Wednesday where it began — in a classroom on the second floor at Ursuline — and a new one will begin for him in three weeks at nearby Kent State.

Price signed his letter of intent flanked by his parents Gerald Price and Carolyn Jenkins, who hadn’t seen him play college football until his Garden City (Kan.) Community College team played for the NJCAA national championship last month.

Now they can be in the stands at Dix Stadium in less than an hour and watch Jabbar play for the Golden Flashes.

Garden City lost 10-9 to East Mississippi in the title game, but Price — a defensive end for the Broncbusters — had caught the eyes of Kent State staffers. It turns out several Golden Flashes assistants had been in Pittsburg, Kan., for the game and two of them were familiar with Price.

They had been on the Bowling Green staff when Price participated in a summer camp there several years ago.

“They saw me play and end up calling me two days later and giving me a scholarship,” Price said. “It was right and home, so I felt it was the right thing to do.”

The lanky kid played offense, defense and special teams at Ursuline. Irish assistant coach Ryan Kelly said Price “literally never came off the field.”

Kelly is also excited about the chance to watch Price play for an FBS program.

“He’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached,” Kelly said. “He’s one of my favorite kids. I call him my son. He’s everything you could want in a player to build a program. Those guys at Kent are getting a great kid.”

The journey that brought Price back to northeastern Ohio and earned him a scholarship also taught him lessons he’ll never forget.

“When I first went off to Connecticut, it was hard because I’d never lived on my own before,” Price said. “I had to wash my own clothes, do my own thing and be at meeting on times without my parents waking me up. It was a challenge at first, but I got used to it and got better and better at it.”

And he got better on the field, too.

Price played in eight games for Garden State (10-1) this season. He finished with 30 tackles, with six tackles for loss and four sacks. He was listed at 280 pounds by the Broncbusters, but looking at Price, that seems a stretch.

Price said the Kent State staff has told him they expect him to play right away.

“They just want to put on about 20 pounds and get up to 260 or 270 and they said I’ll fit right in and play immediately because I fit their scheme on defense,” he said.

After going Youngstown to Connecticut to Kansas and home again, finding opponents’ backfields should not be a problem for Price.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.