It means so much to Jamie and Enevelyn Hyatt because they recall the sacrifices they made for this surreal dream moment to unfold before them on Friday night, when their older son Jalin races through the MetLife Stadium tunnel for the first time in his No. 84 jersey as a New York Football Giant and begins catching passes deep downfield and electrifying Giants fans.
And it means so much to them because this was the boy who sprinted past all the doubters who kept telling him that he wouldn’t make it to the NFL, because all he had was speed and speed alone.
“It certainly brings tears to your eyes, for both of us, Mom and Dad for sure,” Jamie Hyatt told The Post. “To have a dream realized. … It’s powerful stuff, just sitting here even talking about it.”
It only seems like yesterday when Jalin Hyatt caught five touchdown passes in October against Alabama, and Jamie and Enevelyn and younger son Devin, currently a receiver at the University of Arizona, stormed the Neyland Stadium field at the end of Tennessee’s 52-49 upset.
“He wants to be the best, and he always has,” Jamie said, “all the way from middle school to high school to college. For some reason, even though he’s always performed at a high level, he’s always been doubted, and I’ve never understood it. For some reason, whether he’s been small or he’s this or he’s that, but he’s always been doubted. He just wants to prove people wrong. I think he uses that as fuel.”
Jalin Hyatt: Young man in a hurry.
“He was always the fastest kid,” Enevelyn said. “Even with little league, we had to play him up a grade level or two because he was so fast, and people just felt it wasn’t fair that he was that fast. But he always struggled gaining weight, or keeping on weight. And people would tell him, ‘Just wait till you get to the next level.’ He’s always had that doubt that speed by itself wasn’t gonna be good enough the next level. But Jalin is more than speed.”
on his way to the NFL.
But he lasted into the third round of the draft, when Giants GM Joe Schoen traded up from No. 89 to 73 for him.
“It gives him that chip on his shoulder,” Jamie said.
Jamie and Enevelyn were high school sweethearts in Latta, S.C.
“Look, we were both high school teachers and coaches, and so, we’re not making a lot of money,” Jamie said. “Financially things are tough, and you’re just trying to pay the bills. We were using the money that we should be paying on a house payment or a car payment or a light bill, and we were putting that behind to get him to the camps or get him to the AAU tournaments. If the lights got cut off, the boys wouldn’t know why, but we’d get ’em put back on. They never got to take vacations like a lot of their friends. They had what they needed, and probably most of what they wanted. … We made a lot of sacrifices. Things were really, really tough for us.”
Their son’s NFL dream was actually an afterthought at one point.
“Five, six years ago, I would have told you he was gonna be a college basketball player,” Jamie said. “He was one of the top-ranked point guards in the country.”
Until Jalin’s freshman year in Knoxville.
“When you saw how effortless it was for him on the field,” Jamie said, “that’s when you realized his money’s gonna be in football.”
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone.
“His mom was an all-state [100-meter] sprinter,” Jamie said. “I was a college basketball player and pro cyclist. I was more of a distance guy. He doesn’t have your typical sprinter stride per se. It’s very long. I’ve always said he has the perfect combination of my muscle fibers and his mom’s muscle fibers. He has a huge engine.”
A concussion against Pitt early in his sophomore year derailed Jalin. There was a coaching change and a playing-time change.
“He learned that the world doesn’t revolve around Jalin Hyatt,” Jamie said.
It certainly doesn’t revolve around him now, not as a rookie. But at any moment, a great moment can come from Jalin Hyatt.
“He has some swag for sure,” Jamie said. “That’s always been him. When Jalin is swaggy, when he’s got that swag … a confident Jalin is a dangerous Jalin.”
Oh, and he’s easy to root for.
“Jalin has a huge heart,” Enevelyn said. “He loves to laugh, he loves to giggle. His brother’s his best friend. He has that smile that just takes your heart away. He’s had it since he was a baby.”
New York doesn’t scare him.
“He’s used to the bright lights for sure when you play in front of 104,000 people,” Jamie said. “I’ve always said he’s a gamer. And he is a gamer.”
And catch him if you can. Jalin said he was clocked by the Giants at 24 mph in practice, which is faster than anyone has ever been recorded in a game (Tyreek Hill, 23.24 mph).
“It would have been easy to give up,” Enevelyn said. “It would have been easy just to say ‘forget it’ and listen to the people say the things that you can’t do and let that become who you are. But he’s never done that. He’s always went against the odds. … Just being able to play Division I football is a great accomplishment. For it to get to playing for the New York Giants in MetLife Stadium … there are no words, there’s only emotions that can express how you feel. That’s why my husband and I are gonna be overjoyed — just so proud of him for never letting the world say who he is and limit what he can do.”
Jamie and Enevelyn will text Jalin on Friday morning. It will read something like this:
“Just soak this all up. You are playing for the New York Giants in the National Football League. Go out and just be you. Take care of your body, and just do Jalin. And just enjoy it.”
Cheers and tears for their son Jalin.
