Story by Zachary Crain
Jonathan Paylor is fast.
So fast that he’s sprinted his way to five state championships before the conclusion of his junior outdoor track season. So fast that he’s attracted attention from football scouts and coaches from Alabama and Clemson to N.C. State.
So fast that Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines took to Twitter after meeting the Hugh M. Cummings High School star and wrote “Did my homework and watched the highlight tapes and track times… he can play ball at a high level …. ” According to 247Sports Composite, Paylor is the No. 3 player in his class in North Carolina and the 14th-best athlete in the nation. Paylor’s speed has made him an elite prospect in two sports — but with life-altering decisions lying ahead, he’s taking his next steps slowly.
Coming off the heels of winning two indoor track state crowns in February and entering a summer of official visits to some of the country’s premier programs, Paylor is focused on the moment.
His community, mentors and drive have made sure of that.
“Right now, we’re just taking it step-by-step,” he said.
‘We’re going to see this kid playing on Saturdays’
Six years ago, Paylor hopped on his bike and rode to Bernard Pinnix’s house.
There, Pinnix, a volunteer football coach at Broadview Middle School, asked him if he was coming out for football that fall. The next day, Paylor was on the field. Pinnix immediately recognized something special in the then-undersized seventh grader.
Pinnix said the coaching staff had to blow the whistle seconds after Paylor received kickoffs because he had already blown past would-be tacklers. When Paylor took defensive snaps, they had to send multiple blockers to slow him down. He finished first in every drill. And despite Paylor’s smaller stature, Pinnix noticed his teammates were afraid to make contact with him.
“It was literally like he was playing with little boys,” Pinnix said. “He was a varsity player playing with middle school players, that’s what he looked like.”
So, the staff sent Paylor to compete in a blocking drill with Broadview’s biggest player. He beat him so badly that Pinnix quickly blew the whistle.
“I looked at my head coach,” Pinnix said. “And we actually said this to each other: ‘We’re going to see this kid playing on Saturdays and possibly Sundays.’”
‘All of these things can be true’
Pinnix, who has been Paylor’s trainer and mentor since middle school, has been helping prepare him for the expectations and responsibilities placed on a high-level recruit.
“We’ve talked about this since he was in middle school,” Pinnix said. “We would go eat and just sit and talk, and basically, I would just let him dream and fantasize. And I would tell him, ‘All of these things can be true.’”
But for those dreams to come true, Pinnix knew Paylor would have to take on a level of responsibility — both on and off the field — exceeding that of his peers.
In Paylor’s second high school game, he scored seven touchdowns. Offers and attention came quickly, and though it was the first time entering the world of recruiting for either of them, Paylor was prepared.
That preparation started with a simple set of values.
Among them were punctuality, respectfulness and setting an example for kids in the Cummings community — all of which were characteristics those around Cummings mentioned Paylor exhibiting.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I’ve got to carry myself a certain way being a high-profile athlete,’” Paylor said.
In between excited whispers about just how special of an athlete Paylor is, those in the Cummings program made sure to point out that it’s not just his speed that makes him rare.
Cummings track coach Donald Davis told stories about Paylor raking the long jump pit at a middle school meet without being directed to. Pinnix noted a similar story, this time running chains at a youth league football game, again unprompted. His teammate and friend, Khavarie Hightower, said he’s always good for a ride home from practice.
“That’s just him, that’s him, and you don’t find too many,” Davis said. “For every right there’s responsibility, but unless it’s in you, it’s not going to come out.”
‘I treat him as my son’
Two years ago, Pinnix became Paylor’s guardian.
Both said it was a practical decision — as Paylor’s career began to progress, Pinnix spent more time with him than anyone and had the means to guide him to the next level.
Though their relationship developed on football fields and in weight rooms, it’s come to mean much more to both of them.
“I tell people he’s my son, I treat him as my son,” Pinnix said. “I have two other children that are biologically mine, and I treat him no differently than I would treat them.”
Pinnix is there to ensure Paylor is eating healthy, progressing as an athlete and is a point of contact from college recruiters — but he’s also there for the little moments as Paylor wades through the normalities of high school life.
When Paylor was studying to get his driver’s license, for example, Pinnix was there to quiz him. Paylor, to no surprise for Pinnix, was always caught up on his readings.
Some of the importance Paylor assigns to community involvement can be assigned to Pinnix, too, from advice he gave him in some of those post-workout talks.
“(Kids) are going to be expecting to see you, and they’re going to be happy to see you,” he told Paylor. “I said, ‘We’ve all had help at some point. You’ve been fortunate enough to get help, the biggest way you can repay me in life is to help somebody else.’”
To hear Paylor tell it, his guardian’s off-field advice has been paramount in his development.
“He teaches me about things I’d never heard about,” Paylor said. “About credit, about managing time, about school and also stuff such as being responsible as a young man and how to carry myself … The training room has always been a factor, but it just goes beyond that.”
‘He just has a dream’
On Friday nights, it doesn’t take long to pick out Paylor on the football field.
In Cummings’ final game of the season — a third round playoff loss to Princeton High School — he scored on more than a third of his rushing attempts. Seven touchdowns in just 20 carries.
“I was like, ‘OK,’” Hightower said. “‘Now that’s just crazy right there.’”
This past fall, he scored on 22 percent of his rushing attempts and 18 percent of his receptions, all while defenses centered their gameplans around slowing him down. Measuring touchdown statistics in percentages is unorthodox — but an unorthodox approach is necessary when evaluating a player who scores one out of every five times he touches the ball.
Paylor’s impact on the program, head coach David Grimm said, goes beyond his production.
“He’s just a good character guy,” he said. “And a lot of times people miss that because his athleticism is so good. But his character is just as good as his athleticism.”
Countless hours from Pinnix, Grimm and others in the Cummings community have gone into creating Paylor’s moments of Friday night excellence, but his internal motivation is what those close to him say make him stand out the most.
“He just has a dream, and he knows what needs to be done to accomplish that,” Grimm said. “I think that’s really what’s driving him.”
‘Keep moving forward’
Sitting in Cummings’ home side stands on a hot March afternoon before track practice, Paylor knows what he wants right now.
He wants to get under 10.4 in the 100-meter dash and under 20.9 over 200 meters — state titles are a given — he wants to lead Cummings to another deep playoff run this fall and he wants to choose a college destination where he can get on the field right away.
His personal records on the track are 10.44 and 21.44, respectively — putting him not too far off his sprinting aspirations. And with Pinnix saying Paylor has grown and added muscle since the fall, when Cummings listed him at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, getting on the field early as a wide receiver is looking increasingly attainable.
But he’s also aware of what he wants long-term — part of which, as always, revolves around supporting the community that’s helped raise him.
“I want to graduate in three years and end up in the (NFL),” he said. “Then after that, come back and get these guys a turf field and a better track.”
To Pinnix, watching Paylor’s post-workout dreams start to shape into reality has been surreal.
“I’m watching him develop into a superstar athlete, it’s mind boggling to me, because I’m just like, ‘Wow, this kid is the truth,” he said. “I just tell him, ‘Everything you’ve got is right here in your hands. And the goal is to keep moving forward.’”
