Roman Catholic standout Jah Jah Boyd’s ‘happy place’ led him through adversity and to James Madison

A beautiful piano ballad played by a young football player wasn’t exactly what onlookers expected last summer during Jah Jah Boyd’s recruiting trip to Boston College.

But the scene seems emblematic of the Roman Catholic senior defensive back and receiver.

It would be a mistake to judge this book by its cover.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder might need to be his best when the Cahillites (7-1, 3-0 Philadelphia Catholic League) host perennial power St. Joseph’s Prep (7-1, 3-0) at Upper Dublin High School.

Off the field, the quiet, sometimes shy kid from Frankford often bottles his best. Point him toward the field, however, and you’ll set him free.

“The field is my happy place,” Boyd said before a recent practice. “I don’t have to think when I’m on the field. I can just be me. I don’t have to worry about anybody judging me.”

Beneath his bashful exterior, Boyd is a talented player who was forced to beat the odds on and off the field, while still mourning the loss of his mother, who died on Mother’s Day last year.

“Everybody knows him because of football,” said Roman Catholic coach Rick Prete. “But he’s special to me outside of football because I know what he had to overcome.”

Boyd didn’t choose Boston College. He committed to James Madison in July.

In June, however, Boyd made an impression at BC when he, his father, Calvin, and stepmother, Kim, toured the campus with other recruits and their families.

At some point, Boyd fell a bit behind after he noticed a piano. In a phone interview, Kim said she almost didn’t notice him wandering off.

“Then I just heard, ‘Oh, you play the piano? Can you play us a tune?’” Kim said.

To her surprise, Boyd played John Legend’s “All of Me.” She hadn’t heard him play in years, and he wasn’t the type to play in front of others.

The Boston College coaches were so shocked that they called Prete.

“They said, ‘Coach, this kid plays the piano, too?’” Prete recalled.

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Boyd shrugged and smiled as Prete recalled the tale. He hadn’t even played the piano in years before that day.

In fact, when he arrived at Roman as a freshman, playing piano wasn’t even an option. So he played the flute instead and excelled at that, too.

More importantly to Kim, however, she saw a change in the shy little boy she’s raised almost his whole life.

“I was so excited because I thought he was coming out of his shell,” she said.

“If I was not there to witness it, I would’ve said, ‘No. No way. There’s no way he would’ve done that.’”

Perhaps Boyd needed a hard exterior when he first arrived at Roman as a 5-foot-3 freshman receiver.

He played junior varsity exclusively until his sophomore year, stuck behind upperclassmen on the depth chart.

“Sitting on the bench my first two years,” Boyd said, “I started doubting myself a lot.”

Guidance from the woman he calls “Mom” certainly helped.

Kim didn’t give birth to Boyd, but she raised him since before he turned 2 years old. That’s when, she said, she and Calvin got custody while Boyd’s mother battled addiction.

“We don’t do ‘step,’” Kim said of her stepmother status, “I just stepped up to the plate. In my heart, he is my son.”

She schooled her son, explaining that his work ethic and practice habits needed to improve if he wanted to play.

Then before his junior season, Prete suggested that Boyd’s path to the field would open sooner if he switched to defensive back.

In his first game as a junior, Boyd returned an interception for a touchdown that sealed a victory.

“One thing he has is determination,” Kim said. “When he puts his mind to something, he will see it through.”

Boyd, who expects to play defensive back in college, also returned to receiver at the end of last season.

Transfer rules had made former Roman receiver Tyseer Denmark, who’s committed to Penn State, ineligible when they faced Imhotep in the PIAA Class 5A District 12 title game last season.

Roman lost, 14-6, but Boyd led the Cahillites in receiving. Denmark then transferred to Imhotep this season. Boyd is currently Roman’s leading receiver with 27 catches, 508 yards, and six touchdowns.

Perhaps Kim’s advice to him years ago had come true.

“What God has for you is for you,” Kim recalls saying. “If you’re meant to play football, you will. If not, then God has a whole other plan for you.”

Boyd applies similar logic to the loss of his mother, Trina Russell.

“It hurt me a lot,” he said. “It still hurts today, but I try to think of it as everything happens because of God.”

He has a tattoo on the inside of his left forearm of a dove, a rose, and the date his mother died.

Kim says she and Boyd often light candles for his mother.

“I tell him she gave you the best gift she could ever give you,” Kim said. “She gave you life, and don’t you ever forget that.”

Prete said Boyd, who also is an excellent student with an aptitude for math and engineering, is an example of what can be achieved by children growing up amid similar circumstances.

“I tell people all the time,” Boyd said, “you got to beat the odds. You got to lock in on you. You can be your own person. You can do your own thing. I feel like football is my thing.”

Appreciation and love for both of his mothers also seem to be his thing.

“I always loved my mom,” he said. “I never blamed her for nothing.

“My stepmom means everything to me,” he added later. “She’s not a replacement for my mom, but she’s always been there for me. Yeah, I love that lady.”