A Big Man with a Big Heart
Mar 28, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Jaylen Pickle looks like a giant. He stands in the middle of reporters and wears a gray Nike polo with a purple "Cats" embedded in trademark script, and he wears a gold rope chain with a "93" charm dangling in the middle, and he smiles at us, and thin dark dreads grow lighter as they reach the bottom of his neck.
His arms bear various black tattoos — "REALITY IS WRONG DREAMS ARE FOR REAL" is printed along his right forearm — while his hands are driven into his front pockets. He sports numerous customized silicon wristbands to support autism awareness, to support children who have cancer, and to support his mother, who battles breast cancer.
Jaylen is 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds. He's the biggest defensive tackle on the Kansas State roster. He's a redshirt senior. He arrived the final year of the Bill Snyder era. He has started multiple times in each of the past two seasons. In 2020, he tipped a pass that was intercepted on the first possession against No. 3 Oklahoma. In 2021, he recorded a hustle interception on a tipped ball in the flat against Southern Illinois — the first interception by an interior defensive lineman since 2016.
He has 27 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss with one interception and four passes defended in 22 career games. And currently, he's surrounded by reporters. He tells everyone how "I feel more comfortable" in the Wildcats' three-down defense during spring practice, and how defensive players are "more fluid" than last season, and how "we ran on Monday and then practiced on Tuesday." Oh, and he also shares that he drove to Pensacola, Florida, for spring break, and that he laid on the beach.
"We took our little break," he says. "It's nice to have that little break. When you come back, it's not as fun as being on the beach."
Everyone laughs. Soon after, everyone leaves.
Then Jaylen dives into another story. And another one. As the minutes wear on, his smile slowly fades. He looks at the words tattooed on his right forearm. He looks at all those colored wristbands.
"If all I do in life is play football," he says, "then I've failed."
• • •
Lisa Pickle received the first phone call when Jaylen was in kindergarten. He had gotten into a fight on the playground. She didn't know where he picked up "that fighting thing," but he had a small anger issue. He wasn't the big kid at the time, but he had a short fuse. Mother and son lived in Cimarron, Kansas, which is located at the intersection of US Highways 50 and 23. It is a town of about 2,000 people located 27 miles east of Garden City and 22 miles west of Dodge City, where Lisa worked at a telephone company.
One day, a Cimarron Elementary School teacher asked students to write about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Jaylen wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA and in the NFL. That, he said, was his dream. When he was 13, he dreamed of purchasing a dirt bike, but he had no money. He did, however, have something of great value: Wayne Pickle, his grandfather.
"My grandfather was the best father figure I could ever have," Jaylen says. "He stepped up into that father figure role for me. I mean, there are some things you have to learn from a father that you can't learn from a mother. My mom did her hardest and did the best she could to be both a mom and a dad, and she did a really great job of it, raising me. I made sure I could help her in the same sense that she helped me. I wanted to make sure I could help her with anything she needed. She couldn't do everything by herself around the house and in getting stuff done."
He adds, "I'd say I've been grown up since 13."
It wasn't always easy.
"We were in a small town, and I think he saw me struggle a bit because I was a single mom," Lisa says. "Most of the kids were white and had both parents. I think he just saw me struggle a bit and thought that was his responsibility, which it's not. He's just that kind of guy, you know? He wanted to take care of me instead of the opposite. That's sweet but it's not usually how it works."
Jaylen was 6 years old when he fell in love with the San Diego Chargers. He loved to watch LaDainian Tomlinson run with the football. But Jaylen still believed that basketball was his sport. That changed. "I was way better at football," he says.
His sophomore season, Cimarron High School head football coach Randall Rath told Jaylen, "If you put in the work, you can go places." Jaylen competed one year in golf, three years in track and field and four years in basketball, earning all-state honors. On the football field, he was a different animal. He blossomed into the third-best prospect in the state of Kansas and 44th-rated defensive tackle in the nation in the Class of 2018 by Rivals.
"I just put in the work," Jaylen says, "and played with the cards that God dealt me."
When Jaylen was 17, after some begging, Lisa reluctantly signed off on his first tattoo. She insisted that he place the tattoo where nobody could see it. He saved up money from working in a feedlot to purchase the tattoo. The tattoo is eight inches long and shoots down his back. It is a cross and bears the words, "I SHALL FEAR NO EVIL FOR THOU ART WITH ME."
"Tattoos are kind of addicting," Jaylen says. "I got one and kept going. I tell my story with the art on my body, really."
He received scholarship offers, about 15 in all — first from Western Illinois, then Wyoming, then UCF and Nebraska, and on and on. K-State began recruiting Jaylen in his junior season in 2017. K-State appealed to him. He wanted to play college football close to home. His mother and grandparents never miss a game in Manhattan.
Look up "Cimarron, Kansas" in Wikipedia and it lists two "Notable People." First on the list? Ian Campbell, the former All-American defensive end at K-State. Jaylen, at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, is another can't-miss K-State player in the town of 2,000 people. It's a hefty responsibility. Little boys look at him like he is a superhero out of Marvel Comics. He knows high school players would like to follow in his footsteps someday. He knows everyone is watching.
"I definitely take a lot of pride in being from Cimarron and I wear it pridefully, too," Jaylen says. "Anywhere I go, people are going to know who I am. I might not know them, but they know me. I went home for Homecoming, and they said, 'Oh, that's Jaylen Pickle,' and they began chanting. Just knowing, I mean, I'm helping the other athletes coming from Cimarron like Ian paved the way for me, it's pretty cool."
He has come a long way since fighting on the playground.
"Oh gosh, he just amazes me every day," Lisa says. "It's about how responsible he's become and how much of a leader he's become. He's just one of those guys that takes care of business, you know? He's grateful for what he's accomplishing. His attitude amazes me."
• • •
Tupac Shakur is regarded as one the most influential American rappers in history. He died at age 25 in 1996. The 2002 Hip-Hop Hall of Fame inductee sold more than $75 million in records. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Shakur among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Tupac's words live on today.
Seven of them are tattooed upon Jaylen's right forearm.
"REALITY IS WRONG DREAMS ARE FOR REAL."
"I'm a dreamer," Jaylen says. "Really, I just dream about what could happen, like the best things that could happen in my life. People think there's this reality, but in a sense, you're living in your own world. You control your reality and what you want to do with your life and what you put into your own reality is what you're going to get out of it.
"You can't just dream about it. You've got to do something with it. In a sense, yeah, I just dream about what everything could be. I'm not a person that sets any limits for me or anybody else. There's no ceiling."
Lisa says, "Ever since I can remember he's had big dreams."
"He's always had big dreams," she continues. "He believes in not letting people bring you down. People are always going to say you can't do it, so do it instead. I like that attitude."
Whenever Jaylen desires to test out his NFL possibilities — he hasn't yet ruled out returning to K-State for the 2023 season — the plan is to work out for NFL scouts at the K-State Pro Day inside the indoor practice facility. That's where he hopes to put on a show, put his skills on display, and perhaps turn some heads.
"It's huge, but I also understand football isn't my life, and there are other things," he says.
Which brings us to Jaylen's wristbands.
"I have one for my mother, the breast cancer one," he says. "I have one for 5-year-old Makenna Faurot because she has cancer and she's a little girl in Cimarron. I have one for 14-year-old Tigi Green, who has cancer. She was one of the first people with cancer who I visited in Cimarron. I heard about it during football season. This was when I was redshirting my freshman season. When K-State went to an away game, I'd go to the hospital and see her. That was a great time. I've been friends with her ever since. Makenna is a warrior. She's been going through cancer treatments and her mom has a Facebook page for her that I follow to see posts about how she's doing.
"I brought her a couple K-State gifts. Her mom is a huge KU fan, so I had to take her some K-State stuff. One of my friends back home, 19-year-old Jaden Smith, just got cancer, too, so I have a wristband for him. The wristbands serve as a reminder to realize how blessed I am to be in good health, and how I should use my platform to help others, too."
There's a story that still moves Lisa to tears. Last May, Jaylen returned home to drive her to Garden City for her final radiation treatment. Typically, one of Lisa's friends drove her to her 7:30 a.m. appointments. Due to the COVID pandemic, Jaylen couldn't join her inside the hospital. He dropped her off and drove to Walgreens. When Lisa walked outside the hospital to get into the car, Jaylen had loaded the passenger seat with presents — flowers, candy, a plant, and a candle. She bawled.
Then Jaylen drove her to breakfast at IHOP.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lisa says.
Today, Jaylen goes through spring practice in preparation for his senior season. K-State comes off an 8-5 season and a dominant 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl. A buzz has settled over the Flint Hills as K-State fans dream about the potential next fall. Jaylen dreams about it, too. But for now, there's something else on his mind as well.
Jaylen and some of his teammates recently tested to see if their bone marrow was compatible with people in need. Jaylen hopes to be a match with somebody to help save their life. According to Be The Match, the best transplant outcomes happen when a patient's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and the HLA of a volunteer or cord blood unit closely match. Volunteers provide a sample of their DNA by swabbing their cheeks. If there is a close match, volunteers do additional testing, usually a blood test or another cheek swab.
"Jaylen said, 'Mom, if you can help save somebody's life, why wouldn't you?'" Lisa says.
Jaylen has volunteered to go onto the K-State campus to promote bone marrow testing. K-State students could help save lives.
"Oh my gosh, he has the biggest heart," Lisa says. "A couple of my friends call him, 'Big Teddy Bear.' He does big things because he has a big heart. He has a kindred heart. He really does."
Jaylen Pickle looks like a giant.
He has the heart to match.
And he always dreams big.
Jaylen Pickle looks like a giant. He stands in the middle of reporters and wears a gray Nike polo with a purple "Cats" embedded in trademark script, and he wears a gold rope chain with a "93" charm dangling in the middle, and he smiles at us, and thin dark dreads grow lighter as they reach the bottom of his neck.
His arms bear various black tattoos — "REALITY IS WRONG DREAMS ARE FOR REAL" is printed along his right forearm — while his hands are driven into his front pockets. He sports numerous customized silicon wristbands to support autism awareness, to support children who have cancer, and to support his mother, who battles breast cancer.
Jaylen is 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds. He's the biggest defensive tackle on the Kansas State roster. He's a redshirt senior. He arrived the final year of the Bill Snyder era. He has started multiple times in each of the past two seasons. In 2020, he tipped a pass that was intercepted on the first possession against No. 3 Oklahoma. In 2021, he recorded a hustle interception on a tipped ball in the flat against Southern Illinois — the first interception by an interior defensive lineman since 2016.
He has 27 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss with one interception and four passes defended in 22 career games. And currently, he's surrounded by reporters. He tells everyone how "I feel more comfortable" in the Wildcats' three-down defense during spring practice, and how defensive players are "more fluid" than last season, and how "we ran on Monday and then practiced on Tuesday." Oh, and he also shares that he drove to Pensacola, Florida, for spring break, and that he laid on the beach.
"We took our little break," he says. "It's nice to have that little break. When you come back, it's not as fun as being on the beach."
Everyone laughs. Soon after, everyone leaves.
Then Jaylen dives into another story. And another one. As the minutes wear on, his smile slowly fades. He looks at the words tattooed on his right forearm. He looks at all those colored wristbands.
"If all I do in life is play football," he says, "then I've failed."
• • •
Lisa Pickle received the first phone call when Jaylen was in kindergarten. He had gotten into a fight on the playground. She didn't know where he picked up "that fighting thing," but he had a small anger issue. He wasn't the big kid at the time, but he had a short fuse. Mother and son lived in Cimarron, Kansas, which is located at the intersection of US Highways 50 and 23. It is a town of about 2,000 people located 27 miles east of Garden City and 22 miles west of Dodge City, where Lisa worked at a telephone company.
One day, a Cimarron Elementary School teacher asked students to write about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Jaylen wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA and in the NFL. That, he said, was his dream. When he was 13, he dreamed of purchasing a dirt bike, but he had no money. He did, however, have something of great value: Wayne Pickle, his grandfather.
"My grandfather was the best father figure I could ever have," Jaylen says. "He stepped up into that father figure role for me. I mean, there are some things you have to learn from a father that you can't learn from a mother. My mom did her hardest and did the best she could to be both a mom and a dad, and she did a really great job of it, raising me. I made sure I could help her in the same sense that she helped me. I wanted to make sure I could help her with anything she needed. She couldn't do everything by herself around the house and in getting stuff done."
He adds, "I'd say I've been grown up since 13."
It wasn't always easy.
"We were in a small town, and I think he saw me struggle a bit because I was a single mom," Lisa says. "Most of the kids were white and had both parents. I think he just saw me struggle a bit and thought that was his responsibility, which it's not. He's just that kind of guy, you know? He wanted to take care of me instead of the opposite. That's sweet but it's not usually how it works."
Jaylen was 6 years old when he fell in love with the San Diego Chargers. He loved to watch LaDainian Tomlinson run with the football. But Jaylen still believed that basketball was his sport. That changed. "I was way better at football," he says.
His sophomore season, Cimarron High School head football coach Randall Rath told Jaylen, "If you put in the work, you can go places." Jaylen competed one year in golf, three years in track and field and four years in basketball, earning all-state honors. On the football field, he was a different animal. He blossomed into the third-best prospect in the state of Kansas and 44th-rated defensive tackle in the nation in the Class of 2018 by Rivals.
"I just put in the work," Jaylen says, "and played with the cards that God dealt me."
When Jaylen was 17, after some begging, Lisa reluctantly signed off on his first tattoo. She insisted that he place the tattoo where nobody could see it. He saved up money from working in a feedlot to purchase the tattoo. The tattoo is eight inches long and shoots down his back. It is a cross and bears the words, "I SHALL FEAR NO EVIL FOR THOU ART WITH ME."
"Tattoos are kind of addicting," Jaylen says. "I got one and kept going. I tell my story with the art on my body, really."
He received scholarship offers, about 15 in all — first from Western Illinois, then Wyoming, then UCF and Nebraska, and on and on. K-State began recruiting Jaylen in his junior season in 2017. K-State appealed to him. He wanted to play college football close to home. His mother and grandparents never miss a game in Manhattan.
Look up "Cimarron, Kansas" in Wikipedia and it lists two "Notable People." First on the list? Ian Campbell, the former All-American defensive end at K-State. Jaylen, at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, is another can't-miss K-State player in the town of 2,000 people. It's a hefty responsibility. Little boys look at him like he is a superhero out of Marvel Comics. He knows high school players would like to follow in his footsteps someday. He knows everyone is watching.
"I definitely take a lot of pride in being from Cimarron and I wear it pridefully, too," Jaylen says. "Anywhere I go, people are going to know who I am. I might not know them, but they know me. I went home for Homecoming, and they said, 'Oh, that's Jaylen Pickle,' and they began chanting. Just knowing, I mean, I'm helping the other athletes coming from Cimarron like Ian paved the way for me, it's pretty cool."
He has come a long way since fighting on the playground.
"Oh gosh, he just amazes me every day," Lisa says. "It's about how responsible he's become and how much of a leader he's become. He's just one of those guys that takes care of business, you know? He's grateful for what he's accomplishing. His attitude amazes me."
• • •
Tupac Shakur is regarded as one the most influential American rappers in history. He died at age 25 in 1996. The 2002 Hip-Hop Hall of Fame inductee sold more than $75 million in records. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Shakur among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Tupac's words live on today.
Seven of them are tattooed upon Jaylen's right forearm.
"REALITY IS WRONG DREAMS ARE FOR REAL."
"I'm a dreamer," Jaylen says. "Really, I just dream about what could happen, like the best things that could happen in my life. People think there's this reality, but in a sense, you're living in your own world. You control your reality and what you want to do with your life and what you put into your own reality is what you're going to get out of it.
"You can't just dream about it. You've got to do something with it. In a sense, yeah, I just dream about what everything could be. I'm not a person that sets any limits for me or anybody else. There's no ceiling."
Lisa says, "Ever since I can remember he's had big dreams."
"He's always had big dreams," she continues. "He believes in not letting people bring you down. People are always going to say you can't do it, so do it instead. I like that attitude."
Whenever Jaylen desires to test out his NFL possibilities — he hasn't yet ruled out returning to K-State for the 2023 season — the plan is to work out for NFL scouts at the K-State Pro Day inside the indoor practice facility. That's where he hopes to put on a show, put his skills on display, and perhaps turn some heads.
"It's huge, but I also understand football isn't my life, and there are other things," he says.
Which brings us to Jaylen's wristbands.
"I have one for my mother, the breast cancer one," he says. "I have one for 5-year-old Makenna Faurot because she has cancer and she's a little girl in Cimarron. I have one for 14-year-old Tigi Green, who has cancer. She was one of the first people with cancer who I visited in Cimarron. I heard about it during football season. This was when I was redshirting my freshman season. When K-State went to an away game, I'd go to the hospital and see her. That was a great time. I've been friends with her ever since. Makenna is a warrior. She's been going through cancer treatments and her mom has a Facebook page for her that I follow to see posts about how she's doing.
"I brought her a couple K-State gifts. Her mom is a huge KU fan, so I had to take her some K-State stuff. One of my friends back home, 19-year-old Jaden Smith, just got cancer, too, so I have a wristband for him. The wristbands serve as a reminder to realize how blessed I am to be in good health, and how I should use my platform to help others, too."
There's a story that still moves Lisa to tears. Last May, Jaylen returned home to drive her to Garden City for her final radiation treatment. Typically, one of Lisa's friends drove her to her 7:30 a.m. appointments. Due to the COVID pandemic, Jaylen couldn't join her inside the hospital. He dropped her off and drove to Walgreens. When Lisa walked outside the hospital to get into the car, Jaylen had loaded the passenger seat with presents — flowers, candy, a plant, and a candle. She bawled.
Then Jaylen drove her to breakfast at IHOP.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lisa says.
Today, Jaylen goes through spring practice in preparation for his senior season. K-State comes off an 8-5 season and a dominant 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl. A buzz has settled over the Flint Hills as K-State fans dream about the potential next fall. Jaylen dreams about it, too. But for now, there's something else on his mind as well.
Jaylen and some of his teammates recently tested to see if their bone marrow was compatible with people in need. Jaylen hopes to be a match with somebody to help save their life. According to Be The Match, the best transplant outcomes happen when a patient's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and the HLA of a volunteer or cord blood unit closely match. Volunteers provide a sample of their DNA by swabbing their cheeks. If there is a close match, volunteers do additional testing, usually a blood test or another cheek swab.
— K-State Coach Van B Malone (@VanBMalone3rd) March 22, 2022About 8% of volunteers who complete additional testing will go on to donate. If a volunteer is asked to donate, that means they are the closest HLA match to the patient — the best donor.
"Jaylen said, 'Mom, if you can help save somebody's life, why wouldn't you?'" Lisa says.
Jaylen has volunteered to go onto the K-State campus to promote bone marrow testing. K-State students could help save lives.
"Oh my gosh, he has the biggest heart," Lisa says. "A couple of my friends call him, 'Big Teddy Bear.' He does big things because he has a big heart. He has a kindred heart. He really does."
Jaylen Pickle looks like a giant.
He has the heart to match.
And he always dreams big.
Players Mentioned
DT
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