SASKATOON — From the oil field, Jake Parker dreamed of being back on the football field.
So, after three years away from the game, he returned to the college ranks and amassed eye-popping pass-catching numbers at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas.
Inspiration was provided by a close friend and former teammate — Kansas City Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Just watching him kind of got me back into it,” Parker recalled after Wednesday’s workout at the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ rookie camp. “I was thinking, ‘Maybe I can do this if he can.’
“I was watching him put up big numbers in the NFL while I was working in the oil field (in West Texas). Honestly, he kind of gave me some motivation without knowing it.”
Parker returned to football in 2019, catching 32 passes for 415 yards and two TDs in 12 games.
Due to COVID-19, the American Southwest Conference (of which the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets are a member) moved the 2020 season to the spring of 2021 and shortened the schedule.
In five games, Parker registered 39 catches for 754 yards and six TDs.
The following fall, he enjoyed a 52-catch, 1,113-yard gem of a season, catching 13 TD passes in 10 games.
In June of 2022, he signed a contract to play with the Schwabish Hall Unicorns of the German Football League.
The Roughriders took notice of Parker’s talents and signed him shortly after the 2022 CFL season. On Day 1 of last year’s rookie camp, he turned heads right away, only to suffer a broken wrist.
“It’s amazing to be back out here again,” he said with a smile. “They told me to stay ready and wait for that call to get another chance this year. For the whole year, I’ve been working out and trying to stay as ready as I can for this opportunity.”
That was another example of how being away from football can whet someone’s appetite for the game.
In the first case, Parker enrolled at Texas Tech in 2015 and rejoined Mahomes, who was then in his sophomore year as a collegian.
Eventually, though, Parker reached a point where he felt a major change was needed.
“I was young and dumb,” he said with a chuckle. “I wanted to go make some money. Things weren’t working out for me in school. It was a few different things.
“I’d be out there working (on the oil field) for 20 days straight. We’d go back to the man camp and watch football and I’d be thinking, ‘I still have years to play football. I don’t want to waste it before I’m too old.’ I had eligibility to go back and decided to run with it.”
And to run away from defensive backs, as he had done while teaming up with Mahomes with the
Whitehouse Wildcats high school football team. Parker is from Whitehouse, Texas; Mahomes hails from nearby Tyler.
Their association actually dates back much further, to Little League baseball.
“We grew up together,” Parker said. “He has been one of my good friends for years.
“I just met him playing sports and we ended up being on the same team. We ended up going to middle school and high school together.”
The first impression?
“Man,” Parker said, “this kid throws a baseball hard as hell.
“He was so young and was throwing it so hard. I was thinking, ‘I want to be on his team. I don’t want to have to face that.’ ”
They became such close friends that, in March of 2022, Parker was in Mahomes’ wedding party — a group that also included Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“There were some other guys from our high school,” the 28-year-old Roughriders hopeful noted, “and we had a good time.”
So did Parker on Wednesday, nearly a year after his introductory, abbreviated audition with the Roughriders.
“It was good to get through Day 1 and to be back out on the football field,” he concluded. “This is what I love to do, so I really enjoyed it.”
