College Football

Meet Jared Folks, college football's first eight-year athlete

Published Dec. 22, 2021 8:08 p.m. ET

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By Charlotte Wilder
FOX Sports Columnist

There’s a scene in the movie "Tommy Boy" in which Richard (David Spade) is tasked with picking up the delinquent graduate Tommy (played by Chris Farley, of course) from college. Because it has taken Tommy the better part of a decade to successfully pass all of his classes, Richard gives him a hard time.

Tommy, trying to defend himself, says, "You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years."

"I know," Richard says. "They’re called doctors."

When I mentioned this scene to Jared Folks on the phone recently, he cracked up. This fall, the 26-year-old from Pennsylvania became the first athlete to play college football for eight years, due to a combination of redshirting, injuries and second chances.

"Everyone asked me why I didn't get my doctorate," Folks said, laughing. "It dawned on me that I'm getting probably a million dollars’ worth of education for free. So, I really started taking advantage of it and appreciating [my education] for what it was."

Let’s be clear: The only thing Folks has in common with Tommy is the amount of time spent in academia. Well, that and the fact that Folks’ story reads like a movie script.

While Folks might not have a PhD, he does have a bachelor’s degree in communications from Temple University and a master’s degree in brand and media strategy from East Tennessee State University. This spring, he’ll finish his MBA at ETSU as well. 

Along the way, he has won three conference championships with two different teams, made the all-academic team at two colleges and become a leader of young men. His teammates this past season called him "coach."

Folks has also failed drug tests and classes, undergone multiple surgeries, almost lost (and regained) his scholarship, retired several times and weathered a global pandemic in a locker room.

His remarkable story is one of self-awareness and accountability. It’s also the consummate American coming-of-age tale, a time-stamped example of what it means to grow up while navigating a system with little room for mistakes.

*** *** ***

Folks will be the first to admit that he didn’t always appreciate the value of education. The eldest son of Jamie and Jonathan, Jared grew up with his four younger siblings in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

The Folkses were not a huge football family — Jared was the one who, at age 5, begged his parents to let him start playing in youth leagues. When his father, Jonathan, a construction foreman, or his mother, Jamie (whom her son describes as a "Swiss army knife" of a stay-at-home mom), couldn’t take him to practices, Jared would walk or ride his bike. He had an insatiable appetite for the sport. 

School, however, was another story.  

"His mom and I knew for a long time that Jared was going to be a leader," Jonathan told me. "But it was something that we really, really had to shape him into. Because there were a lot of things in life that Jared just felt, like, ‘Why does it have to be that way?’ You know, even things like, ’Why is the red light on top and the green light on the bottom?’"

Folks’ innate curiosity and analytic mind meant he chafed at rules that he deemed pointless and often felt like he was the only one in trouble. Jamie would explain to Jared that the reason he was getting caught for minor transgressions was that everyone saw potential in him. They held him to higher standards. Still, in one semester of high school, Folks posted a 1.7 GPA.

Jamie and Jonathan weren’t steeped in the world of college recruiting and didn’t follow signings the way some families do. They urged their son to apply to Division II schools in case things didn’t work out for him at the highest level, but Folks was adamant about playing Division I.

Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule was, at the time, the head coach at Temple. (Rhule has gone from Temple to Baylor to the NFL in the amount of time Folks has been playing college football). He saw something in Folks eight years ago, but the grades were an issue. 

"I remember on the official visit, sitting down with him and his parents," Rhule told me. "And almost saying, ‘Hey, I don't know if this is gonna work out. I don't know if you have the maturity academically to show up.’"

Rhule told Folks that there were classes he had to pass to be accepted on a football scholarship. Folks was being recruited by a number of other schools — UConn, Buffalo, West Virginia and UMass had all expressed interest — but he was drawn to Temple because of how seriously Rhule took him. He wasn’t acting, in Folks’ words, all "buddy buddy" to lure a player. Right off the bat, Rhule was willing to have the hard conversations and hold someone accountable. 

Folks respected that. In his final year of high school, he did everything he needed to do to be academically eligible, and Rhule offered him a full ride.

His parents were "mind-blown" and thrilled. 

But Folks’ four years in Philadelphia were bumpy. He redshirted his freshman year in 2014, then tore his right labrum two weeks before the start of his sophomore season and redshirted that year, too. He was finally healthy and able to play a pivotal role the next season, starting eight games and helping Rhule win a conference championship in 2016. 

When I asked Folks if he and Rhule were still in touch, Folks hesitated. 

"Well, that's the thing. I've been thinking about getting in touch with Coach Rhule," he said. "We really butted heads a lot in my younger years. But he always tried to get the most out of me. He was very honest, a very tough-love type of guy, and he gave me what I needed there. But I didn't realize it until I, you know, had an extra four years."

Rhule actually threatened to take away Folks’ scholarship in the summer before the 2016 season. Folks had been up and down academically, so his coach sent a letter home saying that Folks had the summer to prove that he could show up and take school and football seriously, or else Rhule would take him off scholarship. 

Folks’ parents immediately got in the car and drove to Temple.

"I don't know if I actually would've done it," Rhule told me. "But sometimes some of us don't truly, truly change until we have a paradigm shift. Something we're taking for granted, we don't realize what we have until it's gone."

After a meeting with his parents and coach, Folks got his act together. Rhule put him back on scholarship, and not only did Folks help his team win a championship that year, but he was also named to the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. 

In the championship game against Navy, Rhule said Folks — who wasn’t starting at that point — had to step up due to injuries on the team. Folks played tough against the triple option and was a pivotal part of the win. 

Jared Folks records a sack in the 2016 AAC title game against Navy.

"[Rhule] really lit a fire under me," Folks said, looking back. "I gotta get in contact with him, just because I know the things that he saw for me and the things that he knew I was capable of achieving. I think I'm starting to get to that point, and I really owe him a lot."

Rhule, for his part, couldn't be prouder of what Folks has accomplished.

"I think the biggest thing for me is, with him as a player, as a person, as a student, you always saw that he had tremendous potential," he said. "I’m obviously extremely proud of him for not just the football and the degrees, but for the man that he is and the responsibility he has taken in his life."

After the 2016 championship, Rhule was hired to be the head coach at Baylor, and Folks was left with a new coaching staff. He struggled a bit. After tearing his labrum once more (the left one this time) and failing a drug test, Folks yet again redshirted what would have been his junior year of playing. He graduated from Temple with a degree in communications, thinking his college playing career was over.

Then he received a call from someone at East Tennessee State. 

*** *** ***

During Folks' time at Temple, Marcus Satterfield was the team's offensive coordinator, and Logan Marchi played quarterback. Both ended up at East Tennessee state. Satterfield took a job at ETSU, his alma mater, in 2018 (he is now the OC at South Carolina), and that same year, Marchi transferred to ETSU for his final year of college ball. Marchi knew the team was looking for a linebacker, so he called Folks. 

After their conversation, Folks immediately got into his car, put East Tennessee State University into his GPS and started to drive. 

When he arrived, however, he realized that he was in the wrong place. He called Marchi to get the correct address and, shortly thereafter, showed up at the athletic facility to meet with head coach Randy Sanders and linebackers coach Billy Taylor. 

He’d never spoken to them in his life. 

They put Folks on the team, and he enrolled in a master's program for brand and media strategy. But Taylor told me that — despite Folks’ growth under Rhule — in the beginning of his career at ETSU, Folks was once again not as dedicated to the game as he needed to be. 

Taylor took a special interest in his new player. He had not just attended East Tennessee but also was the captain of the 1987 team and has coached there since 1997. He pushed Folks on his practice habits and told him that he needed to act as a role model for younger players.

"I just called him on it, you know," Taylor told me. "And I said, ‘You can either live in reality, or you can, you know, try to scam us.’ I think it hit home with him. And, my goodness, he made such a turnaround after that. I just think he grew up. 

"He’s like a son to me. He’s someone who I will always have a relationship with for the rest of my life." 

Taylor wasn’t the only one who thought Folks had too much potential to squander it. One of Folks’ professors in his master's program failed him in a class and then told Folks he wanted to mentor him. Folks eventually excelled in his program, and the two are still close. 

The nudges from people who believed in him made a difference. In fall 2018, Folks yet again helped his team to a conference championship. It was East Tennessee’s first conference title since 1969. Folks was also named to the all-academic team again and was finally embracing his role as a leader.

The next few years should’ve been smooth sailing, but Folks suffered a season-ending injury in 2019, when he tore his groin and core muscles. He stayed on campus to finish his master's and then went home to have what his parents described as "gnarly" surgery. 

By that point, Folks figured he was finished playing. He moved back home to Pennsylvania and took a job as the marketing director for a local credit union. Jonathan and Jamie loved having him around; Jared is a great cook, gifted at making "something out of nothing." Jonathan was working highway construction, leaving the house before sunrise and returning after sunset. He would come home to find that the lawn was mowed and that Jared was quietly handling the maintenance of a few other properties the family owned.

Jonathan offered to turn the garage into an apartment for his son, so he could have some privacy. 

"And Jared looked at me, and he said, ‘Nah, Pop,’" Jonathan said, laughing. "He said, ‘There's a lot of things that I wish I would've gotten from you when I was at home. I remember the things that you were telling me, and I kind of ignored it. There's some things I still need to learn, so, nah, I’m gonna stay in the house.’"

Jonathan paused, then continued: "Wow. Yeah. That kind of blew me away. I almost fell off the deck when he said that."

Despite all the comforts and wisdom of home, however, Folks wasn’t satisfied with how his playing career had ended. 

And he was still eligible to play. 

*** *** ***

At the age of 57, Taylor still has the itch to suit up. He would say to Folks, "How often do you drive down the street and see people playing a game of pick-up football? You can’t put pads on and suit up the way you can play company softball." 

Taylor coaches not only because he loves the game but also because he feels he owes it to the young men who play. Taylor’s college coach, Mike Ayers, made such an impression on him that he named his daughter Michaela. He wants to carry on a legacy. 

Folks feels about Taylor the way Taylor feels about Ayers. So when Taylor suggested Folks come back to ETSU for his last year of eligibility, Folks quickly agreed and enrolled in the business school.  

Folks’ parents were not as excited as their son. They didn’t think it was a good idea. Besides the fact that Folks was earning good money and excelling in his job at the credit union, Jamie and Jonathan worried about their son’s body. After so many injuries, what parent wouldn’t? 

But Folks was determined. He drove back down south.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, meant that East Tennessee’s 2020 season was postponed to the spring. In that six-game schedule in spring 2021, Folks played football like he’d never played before. He won Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Honors in the Southern Conference. 

Perhaps most importantly, he was voted captain by his teammates, some of whom were eight years younger.

"It's really been rewarding because it's almost like it keeps me focused," Folks said. "I know I just have this weird responsibility being 25, 26, with all these 18- and 19-year-olds watching me. If I even do the slightest thing that can be misconstrued, it just gives them even more excuses to go nine more yards. Really, they've been great accountability partners."

Because of COVID, Folks was granted an eighth year of eligibility for the 2021 season. This fall, ETSU won its second conference championship in Folks' time on the team after a 50-year drought. Folks had 94 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and one interception.

But for all his statement wins on the field, Folks set a quiet example off it. Jonathan told me that Folks insisted on taking the extra meals given to the team and driving them to the local homeless shelter after games.

Now Folks is planning to declare for the NFL Draft, and Taylor thinks he has a good shot at playing at the professional level. But what Folks really wants to do is coach. Sanders, the ETSU head coach, retired at the end of the season, but Taylor says that if he or any of the assistants still have jobs in the spring, they’ll hire Folks in a heartbeat.

Folks said his marketing and public relations studies will be applicable to leading a team. He understands the importance of specific communication, telling me that no two people are the same, so "you have to coach everybody the same thing, but you gotta coach them a different way."

"I've seen a lot of growth in his communication style," Jamie said. "It's not just about what he says. It's also about how he pays attention, reads people and is able to adapt as needed or lift up as needed. It's not just about words with him. He's very good about reading situations."

*** *** ***

Folks’ story sounds unbelievable on its surface — the first college athlete to play for eight years and come away with three degrees? But it’s even more incredible when you dive deeper. 

Listening to Folks tell his story is like watching a plant grow in hyperlapse. It’s a revealing look at someone learning to accept and celebrate who they are while understanding that the systems and institutions designed to teach and raise them might not have been a perfect fit. 

Folks persevered anyway. With the help of his family, coaches and teammates, he came to see something in himself that gave him the confidence to believe what others knew was true: He was a born leader. 

"For some young men, it takes when they're 22 or 23 to grow up," Taylor said. "I was that way."

Folks’ story is a good one for any kid who felt that he didn’t fit a mold and, therefore, initially gave up trying. But after some self-examination, Folks faced his tendency to self-sabotage and made the decision to take himself seriously. 

He’s so self-aware because, through football, he has been able to extend his formative years and change what he wished he’d done differently the first time. It hasn’t been without a high cost to his body, but he believes the rewards have far outweighed the risks. 

Folks’ life, so far, has a better narrative than most sports movies. And now, he wants to take what he has learned from the plot twists and pay it forward. After all his years of school, Folks might not be a doctor, but he still hopes to improve lives. 

"I’ve just been really thankful to have an opportunity to help people," he said. "Because that's really what the people I've had in my life have done for me — even seniors that I came up with and coaches. I wouldn't be where I am now without them.  

"So, yeah, I’m just glad. I'm glad I can help."

Charlotte Wilder is a general columnist and cohost of "The People's Sports Podcast" for FOX Sports. She's honored to represent the constantly neglected Boston area in sports media, loves talking to sports fans about their feelings and is happiest eating a hotdog in a ballpark or nachos in a stadium. Follow her on Twitter @TheWilderThings.

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