Jalen Thornton is still creating his own legacy

When one considers that on that same 1998 team was linebacker Gary Stills, whose sons, Darius and Dante, played such a big role over the five previous years, and tight end Anthony Becht, whose son, Rocco, is quarterbacking Iowa State, one gets the feeling that one is watching a rerun of “All in the Family” when he tunes in Big 12 football games this year.

The roster in 1998 and 1999 was as talented as any that Nehlen put onto the football team, with Thornton, Becht and Stills playing long NFL careers and with the likes of Marc Bulger, Amos Zereoue, Barrett Green, Charles Fisher, Solomon Page, Jerry Porter, David Saunders, Shawn Foreman, Shawn and Nate Terry and Kevin Landolt all building memories.

Certainly, these men were Mountaineer royalty, and the progeny that has carried on the tradition has added not only to the Nehlen legend but to the players and their sons themselves.

How the Stills brothers handled it has now been entered in the history books, and the young Thornton’s story of being a son of football royalty is now being written.

John Thornton put together an All-NFL career with the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals and followed that up by becoming a successful player agent in Roc Nation, which made Jalen Thornton’s childhood eventful but added something difficult to deal with when he became a West Virginia player.

“I thought it was normal, really,” Jalen Thornton said of being a player’s son. “I think it was 2006 or 2007, I’m in the locker room, I see Carson Palmer, his brother who at the time was a backup, and then Chad Ochocinco comes up to me along with T. J. Houshmandzadeh and it was like, ‘What up, my man?’ and I’m like, ‘What’s going on.’ I didn’t appreciate it as much then as I do now. It’s just moments like that that I’ve been able to share with my dad and my family; that’s what the game will bring you.’”

But how do you handle the expectations of being a star player’s son? Among athletes raised in Cincinnati, Ken Griffey Jr. was able to reach his father’s standards and exceed them all the way to the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose Jr. made it to the big leagues but didn’t stay.

Jalen Thornton’s career did not get off to a fast start and it was because he was trying to live up to his father’s legacy.

“I made it way too hard on myself in the beginning of my career,” he admitted on Monday. “Just trying to be my Dad,’ trying to be something I’m not. I’ve watched him for a really long time. He brought me to games here when I was younger. I watched old film of him and the players he played with.

“But at the same time, that’s not me. Coach (Andrew) Jackson told me, ‘You don’t have to be your dad. You don’t have to be some of the other good players he played with. You just have to be the best version of you; the best Jalen Thornton you can be.’

“It’s working out.”

It took a while, though, for the lesson to set in.

“It took me a long time to get past that. Now that I’m just being the best version of myself, that’s pretty good. I appreciate everything my dad’s done for me and my family, for the state of West Virginia, for this program.”

John Thornton had been a loving, caring influence on his life and understood that Jalen would have to find his own way.

Asked the best advice John had given Jalen, the answer was quite simple.

“Have fun,” Thornton said.

But doing that wasn’t easy.

“Harder; way harder, but I appreciate it went that way,” Jalen Thornton said. “I took so much more than personal accolades, being a starter, having a chance at the NFL was what mattered, but it’s not. The lessons I’ve learned from this game that I’m going to take with me in my career path, whatever that may be, those are the things I will look back on and be happy it went that way because it’s easy to be satisfied and have a great time when you are winning and everything is going your way but your true character shows when nothing is going your way.”

His playing time has increased dramatically this year as he backs up Eddie Vesterinen at defensive tackle. He picked up his first solo sack against Oklahoma.

He has reached the point in his career where he has decisions to make. This is his fifth season but he has his COVID year available should he want to return to WVU. Does he stay or transfer? Does he move into a career?

“This is my fifth year. It technically counts as my redshirt year. I have the COVID year after that. We’ll see what happens down the road. For me, last year getting hurt and not knowing what would happen after that ... I talked to my dad and he said ‘You may be done.’ At first it was like, ‘OK, that’s just the way it’s supposed to be. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a good football player ... and that’s fine.

“But, going into this season I put my all into it and said, ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to leave it all out there and put my faith in God. No matter what happens, instead of saying, ‘Why me? Why does this happen to me?’ This is what is supposed to happen and it’s all part of His plan for me.

“I’ll take time to reflect on that, too. I really want to finish this the right way.”

He says he wants to stay in athletics, either as a scout or follow in his father’s footsteps further by becoming an agent, but right now there’s work to be done creating his own legacy at WVU.