There were only a few dozen fans in the stands in Dodge City, Kansas, and with a small group looking on and 7:44 left in the second quarter, Colin Jeter caught his first collegiate pass—an 11-yard grab—for Kilgore College.
Fast forward two years, and on third-and-goal, the 6-foot-7, 244-pound junior tight end was in the south end zone of Tiger Stadium in front of 102,321 screaming fans, catching his first career touchdown for LSU, a school he never dreamed he would attend until a long, winding road took Jeter to Baton Rouge.
Two weeks prior to Jeter’s graduation from Longview (Texas) High School, he could tell his mother, Wendy, was on the edge and something wasn’t quite right as they were trying to figure out directions to a wedding.
The next day, Wendy told her son that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer only a few weeks before he moved to Colorado Springs to enter the Air Force Academy. The two traveled to Colorado as Colin reported for basic training, a few days after one of his mother’s chemotherapy treatments.
“The day I left was probably the roughest that I’ve ever seen her in my life,” Jeter said.
Seeing his mother barely able to catch her breath and having to maneuver her around the airport in a wheelchair weighed on him as he went through boot camp, knowing his mother could have used his support back home.
“Knowing that my mom was in a tough situation and that I wasn’t able to do anything about it was hard on me. It really took my focus away,” Jeter said. “I knew I couldn’t be my best after seeing her like that with that constant thought of her on my mind.”
Jeter knew he was needed back in Longview despite the early success that he was having in Colorado. The letters to and from home reinforced that to him, and after only a few weeks at the Air Force Academy, Colin packed his bags in an effort to help care for his mother.
“I felt like I was making him come home, and I felt like it was my fault that he was giving something up,” Wendy said.
Moving back home was the only option for Jeter, and he enrolled in Kilgore College, a junior college only 15 minutes away from Longview.
He took his mother back and forth to doctor’s visits and chemotherapy sessions while at home, and he was there to rush his mother to the hospital when the chemo had an adverse effect on her heart.
“If I hadn’t gone home, I’m not sure that my mom would be here today,” Jeter explained.
Jeter knew when he made the choice to leave the Air Force Academy for a junior college to take care of his mother that he was going to make sure that he had another opportunity to play Division I football.
During the 2013 season at Kilgore, Wendy was cleared and received a clean bill of health, and Jeter worked on his receiving game and caught 14 passes for 137 yards, garnering looks from a few schools but never obtaining a solid offer.
While preparing for his sophomore campaign at Kilgore, Jeter was working out in the weight room at his high school when LSU tight ends coach Steve Ensminger paid a visit to the Longview High School coaching staff.
Ensminger was looking for a tight end, and the coaches told him there was one in the weight room that he may be interested in seeing.
A few weeks later, Jeter was at a junior college camp at LSU, and he received an offer from coach Les Miles. Two days later, Jeter was on the LSU campus.
“When Coach Miles offered him a scholarship, I was just shocked,” his mother explained. “I was really proud of him. I knew he was working, trying to get somewhere, but I was so happy for him because he had worked so hard to get there.”
He arrived on campus a day late and was immersed quickly into the LSU football family, having to borrow cleats and shorts from his teammates before he was even able to introduce himself to the squad. `
Making it back to a Division I program was always in Jeter’s sights, and he made an immediate impact in 2014 with the Tigers, playing in 11 games and earning the Alvin Roy Fourth Quarter Award and the Most Improved Award after spring practice in 2015.
Jeter said, “You can never set goals too low. If you have high dreams, you may not catch them, but you’ll always get better. That’s what I come every day to do, to work.”
The long, winding road that took Colin Jeter to Baton Rouge would not have been possible without his rock—his mom—pushing him to become the best man and football player possible.
“At the end of the day, good is great’s biggest enemy,” Colin stated. “If you’re satisfied with being good, you’ll never be great.”