Laramie – At first, it was just a Halloween costume: a helmet, shoulder pads and a jersey. All Michele Bouknight wanted was something to protect her little boy from the late October chill and any tumbles he might take charging across the lawns along Denver’s Monaco Parkway.
But before the last piece of candy hit the bottom of his bag, it no longer was his Halloween costume. It was his uniform.
Long before he scored his first official touchdown, 5-year-old Jovon Bouknight was a football player.
“That’s when it started,” Michele Bouknight said. “He cried when I took it off him. I think he wore it every day for the next two or three weeks. From that day on, he was always into football. Whatever his big brother did, he wanted to do, and Chamont was already playing little league football, so that’s what he wanted to do, too.”
If Chamont ever tried to ditch his little brother, Jovon doesn’t remember it.
“He’s always been everything to me,” Jovon Bou- knight said. “We talk every night. We eat, sleep and dream football. When I was little, all I ever thought about was following in his footsteps, and to this day, he’s my motivator. He’s the one that pushes me.”
Too young for the Police Athletic League, Jovon Bouknight fed his hunger for football in backyard games against his brother and older boys in the neighborhood, developing the running and passing skills that would make him the terror of Pop Warner play, the all-Denver Prep League quarterback at Manual High School and, if he’s not the best college football player on the Front Range this season, certainly the most productive.
The latest in a long line of star receivers at Wyoming, the senior has caught a pass in 43 consecutive games, the longest streak in the nation. He ranks 12th in the nation in receiving yards (656). Among active Division I-A players, he ranks third in career all-purpose yards (5,107), receiving yards (3,166), receptions (213) and touchdown catches (25).
Bouknight has 40 receptions this season, including eight for touchdowns – at least three of which Wyoming coach Joe Glenn will take to his grave.
“He’s been phenomenal,” said Glenn, whose 4-3 team plays Saturday at Colorado State (3-3). “I just wish I had him for another year, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be moving on to the big leagues. We keep saying we need to get him the ball more because the guy just has the knack and the desire to make big plays.
“He’s one of those special players that come along once in a lifetime. He’s just amazing after the catch. I mean, when he catches the ball, that’s when the fun begins.”
Also a threat on kickoff returns, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Bouknight uses what Glenn calls “unbelievable body control” to rack up big numbers, including a 36.5-yard average on six returns this season. “Great hand-and- eye coordination, and you just don’t find many guys with that kind of desire,” Glenn said.
That desire surfaced in backyard games, said Chamont Bouknight, a former record-setting running back at Western State.
“He always had that passion and a ton of athletic ability, and when you combine that with that desire not to go down, that’s why he makes so many big plays,” Chamont said. “I’ll tell you what, he could have been a great college basketball player, too. Everybody in the family thought that was his best sport, but he always wanted to be a football player.”
That’s why, when Jovon was a sophomore at Denver’s East High, he decided to give up basketball and transfer to Manual.
“I wanted to play for (coach) Nate Howard, and that’s where he was,” Bouknight said. “There just wasn’t much interest in football at East.”
It was in his two years at Manual that Howard, now the principal at Smiley Middle School, realized his young quarterback was destined for stardom.
“You’re talking about a scholar, an athlete and a gentleman,” Howard said. “All the kids at Manual, from every walk of life, respected him. … It’s too bad Wyoming didn’t keep him at quarterback, because when you have a kid with that kind of athletic ability and a never-say-die attitude, that’s where you want him. But he’s going to be a wide receiver in the NFL. There’s no question about that.”
Bouknight was moved from quarterback to wide receiver as a redshirt freshman at Wyoming, before Glenn arrived.
“It just kind of came natural,” Jovon said of the move. “Malcom Floyd and Scottie Vines – they’re both in the (NFL) now – and some of the older guys kind of showed me the ropes. And once I got routes down, catching the ball and running with it, that’s just something that came natural.”
Wyoming receivers coach Ron Wisniewski agrees.
“When the scouts come in, that’s the first thing I tell them,” Wisniewski said, adding Bouknight’s instincts are as good “as I’ve ever seen. He sees things at a different speed than most people, and that allows him to make moves that you don’t see other guys do. If you get him the ball, it’s pretty certain something special is going to happen. We’ve had close to 20 NFL teams here in the last month and every single one wants to talk about him.”
While scouts have been beating down Wisniewski’s door, agents have been calling Shelton Bouknight.
“My phone won’t stop ringing,” said Jovon’s stepfather, who adopted the boys when they were toddlers and helped raise them as his own. “I’ve probably talked to at least nine or 10 of them in the last month. But he’s not really ready for any of that right now. He just wants to beat CSU Saturday and see if they can’t get back into another bowl game.”
Staff writer Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
