Good article from 247 Sports. My stupid mobile browser wouldn't let me copy the link, so you get copy/paste instead
Javon Wims' winding path to Georgia and the national title game
Chris Hummer - 19 hours ago
13
ATLANTA – Georgia senior receiver Javon Wims met with some of his teammates in a hotel room prior to the Rose Bowl and admitted something personal: he’d almost given up.
As he spoke, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver and semifinal standout thought back to three years prior. He talked about the ankle injury he sustained at Belhaven University in 2013 and how he departed the school after playing just a few games. A high school prospect with only one offer – to Elon (N.C.) University – Wims' NFL dream seemed crushed.
“It was rock bottom,” Wims told 247Sports.
Wims worked two different jobs during the 2014 season. His godsister got him a part-time opportunity as a spotter at a gymnastics gym. Wims could hardly contemplate doing backflip, but it was summer work. He also worked at Orange Park Mall in Jacksonville, Florida at a store called Designer’s Closet. The employee discount kept Wims well dressed but offered little else in the way of personal satisfaction.
So Wims began the work of resuscitating his football career.
Really, all he had working in his favor was his frame. Wims is a physical specimen at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds. But he played only one year of high school football in a Wing-T offense. Considering Wims had almost no highlights to speak of from his time at Belhaven, the only thing Wims could sell was 12 games at Ed White High School during his senior season in 2012.
Still, he passed out his film to anyone who’d look at it.
Eventually, he landed at Hinds Community College in Mississippi. There, finally, he had a sliver of a chance.
Wims frequently tells his teammates “it wasn’t easy in JUCO,” and it wasn’t.
But Wims shined when finally given the opportunity. He finished the 2015 season at Hinds with 47 catches for 775 yards and nine touchdowns. When Georgia had its annual “Dawg Night” camp, Wims attended and dominated. Junior College prospects weren’t previously allowed participate in that event. But Mark Richt changed the rule that offseason. Wims, finally, caught a break.
“I got their attention, Wims said. “I just believed.”
Riley Ridley entered Georgia in the same 2016 class as Wims, and he marveled at Wims’ natural talent upon arrival. Ridley, a four-star prospect and the brother of Alabama star receiver Calvin Ridley, only saw potential.
“If he learned how to use his body and frame, he could be something spectacular,” Ridley said.
Two years later, Ridley’s prognosis seems prophetic. Wims leads Georgia with 44 catches for 704 yards and seven touchdowns. PFF College grades him out as an 82.8 overall and a top five receiver in the SEC.
Not bad considering Wims played just one year of JUCO before heading off to Georgia.
“Javon has a great amount of confidence in himself,” said Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney. “I think he believes he belongs here, and he’s excited about demonstrating that to everyone else.
“When the ball is thrown up, he thinks he’s going to make every play.”
That’s the swaggering self-belief one must have to transition from gymnastics spotter to future pro wideout. It’s the same reason why Wims caught six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown against Oklahoma in the biggest game of his career.
Despite all of the obstacles and the low moments, Wims always believed he'd be here.
“I took a different path, not the more traditional route,” Wims said. “But it got me to the path I’m on now.”
This is what Wims communicated to his teammates in the hours leading up to the Rose Bowl. Those pregame moments are usually for calm preparation or self-reflection.
Instead, Wims told his story.
“It shows that dreams really do come true,” Ridley said. “It touches you. To see him almost give up like that and push all the way through … it’s nice.”
Wims experienced his fair share of rejection along the way and the rocks near the bottom hurt, but this is the path Wims had to take. Now he’s playing for a national championship and will shortly be off to the NFL. Listen to Wims for too long, as his teammates did before the Rose Bowl, and you just might believe this was all part of the plan.
“This year went exactly how I envisioned it,” Wims said. "That time was different, but I’m glad I had to do that time so I could appreciate this time more.”
Author
Chris Hummer
