Big WR Owens overcomes tragedy, triumphs at JC

The call came late at night last August. D.J. Owens, who was participating in a basketball tournament at Florida International University, was already back in his hotel room when he answered his cell phone and heard an urgent voice on the other end.

Get home on the next plane. There's a family emergency. It's your dad.

Owens' mind raced. What was wrong? What happened? Was he OK?

He received no answers - just instructions. Owens, a junior football star at Bel Air (Md.) John Carroll, left his basketball teammates and was quickly escorted to the airport for a redeye flight back to Baltimore.

"I had no idea what was going on," Owens said. "At first, I'm thinking, This is going to be OK. I'm going to get to the hospital and he's going to be fine. I'm going to get in there and laugh and be like, 'What did you make me come home for you goof?'

"I was hoping it would be that easy, but in the back of my mind ... I had a feeling it would be bad."

Owens arrived at BWI airport around midnight. His uncle and his father's best friend were there to meet him. Owens could tell by the looks on their faces the news wasn't good. When his uncle spoke, his fears were confirmed.

"They told me my dad passed away earlier that day of a heart attack," Owens said. "I talked to my dad just that morning and he wished me luck in the tournament. He was fine; he was on his way to work ... I was stunned. I couldn't believe it."

Owens struggled emotionally. He spent the entire next day thinking ... questioning ... regretting.

But Owens, who also plays baseball, told himself that sometimes God throws people curveballs. When He does, you have a choice: let it go by for strike three ... or swing for the fences.

Owens chose the latter.

*****

Two-a-days were just starting for football season, and Owens, a 6-foot-6, 190-pound wide receiver, was slotted to start for the Patriots. Even so, the team would have understood if he didn't show.

He did anyway.

"To get him back on the field two days after his father died is a testament to his character," said first-year John Carroll coach Rich Stichel, who was the team's offensive coordinator last year. "He's a strong individual and he's a competitor."

For Owens, there was no place he'd rather be. The football field was his escape, the one place where he felt most at home.

"My team is like my second family," Owens said. "To have those guys through the ordeal helped so much. I wanted to be with them more than anyone else."

Everyone on the team supported Owens like a brother. They attended the viewing, held his hand at the funeral, hung out with him at the movies, took him to dinner, spent hours playing video games. Not to mention they pushed him on the football field.

"This is a real family atmosphere here," Stichel said. "This isn't a place where it's just a bunch of guys who play together and that's it. It's team in the truest sense of the word. When D.J.'s father passed, we took him in, and he really felt a part of our family."

*****

But this isn't a fairy tale. Owens still felt the pain from the loss, especially when he was alone. Although he worked out daily and found solace on the football field, he was obviously not performing up to his maximum capabilities.

After Week 3, then-Patriots head coach Keith Rawlings sat Owens down for a talk. Rawlings told his tall, lanky receiver it was becoming evident that he wasn't together mentally. He couldn't let his father's passing hamper him the entire season.

Owens understood, and in Week 4 he vowed to make an impact against Brooklandville (Md.) St. Paul's. Before the game, Owens - as would be his ritual the rest of the season - scrawled "RIP Dad" on his eye black. He dedicated that game (and every game) to him.

Owens responded with a season-high three catches, including the game-winning touchdown reception. When Owens came down with the jump ball in the end zone, he pointed skyward and whispered, "That was for you, Dad." Seconds later, his teammates mobbed him.

"That was a big moment for me, real emotional," Owens said. "It meant a lot."

"I'll never forget the play," Stichel added. "It was a waggle pass in the corner. I wanted to give him something positive and get him in the end zone. It was just great and we were all excited."

From that point on, Owens began to live up to his talent. At 6-6 with a 4.6 40-yard dash and hands big enough to palm a basketball, Owens is the definition of a mismatch. All he needed was a little wherewithal to exploit any cornerback the MIAA threw at him.

"I told my coaches and my teammates I would make them proud," Owens said.

"He'd been through a lot in his life, and when he came back he pretty much was willing to go out there against anyone and prove himself," Stichel said. "That set him apart from other players - his mental toughness.

"Physically, he is always a threat. You can't single-cover him. With his size, it's impossible. And I don't care how good of a cornerback you are, you won't out-jump him either."

Owens' specialty was the deep fade route, which is basically a fancy name for a jump ball. If he ever got one-on-one coverage on the outside, Owens' eyes would light up and he'd signal the quarterback.

Then he would hightail it down the field, wait for one of those high, arching passes and leap over three defenders before coming down with the ball.

But that didn't happen as often as Owens would have liked. His final statistics suggest a subpar season. Owens managed just 12 catches and two touchdowns (although he did average 23 yards per catch).

Of course, John Carroll ran an option offense and threw about as much as the Naval Academy in a rainstorm. With dynamo runner Stephen St. Clair at quarterback, the receivers were often relegated to blocking and decoy duty.

"I love Steve to death, but I've never had a true quarterback to throw me the ball," Owens said. "I think if I had that I'd put up better numbers and get a little more exposure. I talked to Coach Stichel and he said next year we're going to throw it more."

Stichel said he's not changing the offense even with St. Clair graduating. That being said, the coach admitted he'd like to see Owens catch around 30 balls this year.

When Stichel was the head coach at Owings Mills (Md.) New Town, a small 1A school, he ran the same run-first offense. However, star receiver Douglass McNeil still caught 29 passes and earned a Division I scholarship to Virginia Tech.

"Well, you know if teams put nine guys in the box against us you can stop our run game," Stichel said. "So that's when we'll go with D.J; he's always a threat and you have to respect him. It's like Georgia Tech with Demetrius Thomas, who was a first round pick. Is D.J. that good? I don't know. But it's the same concept, and it works."

*****

Next year Owens is preparing like he is the next Thomas. He dropped both basketball and baseball in order to concentrate solely on football training. Owens has shaved 0.2 seconds off his 40 time and added 20 pounds of muscle, a result of twice-a-day lifting sessions.

"Since the last snap of last year, I've never worked as hard or prepared as much to get ready for football," Owens said. "I'm doing everything possible to get better and be a leader for this team. I've got championship on the mind and hopefully I'll earn a scholarship, too."

Stichel opines that lack of exposure, the Patriots' offense and, most of all, Owens' route running have all contributed to the scholarship shutout.

"If he were a little more polished in his route running he could be a Division I-A kid," said Stichel, who said Towson, James Madison and Delaware are currently interested in Owens. "But he's still raw ... That being said, he has the necessary tools to play at a high level. He'll get noticed, if not at the I-A level, then I-AA."

A scholarship would be the ultimate reward, a fairy tale ending in a world where fairy tales don't conclude with "happily ever after."

Owens says all he needs is a chance. With his father watching him, he can't fail.

"I always think of what he told me - never give up and believe in yourself," Owens said. "I carry those words with me every play, and they've been an inspiration. Just give me the opportunity, and I can perform at any level."

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