Struggles dealing with COVID-19 and other issues led Jonathan Stokes to consider giving up football after his freshman year at Randleman (NC) High School.
“My freshman year, it was like a big change from middle school speed to high school,” Stokes said. “That was also when COVID was big and it kind of set me back a little bit. So, I was thinking about quitting.
“Coach (Shane) Timmons, my head coach, told me he’d come back to me at the end of summer workouts, and I could tell him if I wanted to stay or not. I ended up staying.”
The decision has turned out to be a life-altering one for Stokes, who in the two years since has developed into one of North Carolina’s top-ranked prospects in the football recruiting Class of 2025. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound center took himself off the recruiting market on March 25 by making a verbal commitment to East Carolina.
Stokes is the second player to join ECU’s Class of 2025, following Louisville, Kentucky, wide receiver Connor Hodge, who committed last August. Stokes chose the Pirates over offers from Charlotte and Elon, although he was also receiving interest from Duke, James Madison and N.C. State.
Despite his size, Stokes didn’t begin playing organized football until the seventh grade at the urging of his mother.
“My brother (Stephen) played football at Randleman High, and he was also a center,” Stokes said. “When I was in the seventh grade my mom wanted me to try out for football to see how I liked it. It was my first year playing and I wasn’t very good. I was like the big, soft kid.
“But in the eighth grade I kind of flipped a switch. I came out destroying people and playing physical.”
It was as an eighth grader that Stokes also rubbed elbows with Randolph County’s most famous citizen — NASCAR legend Richard Petty. Petty, a Randleman High graduate and former all-conference offensive guard, was raised in the town of Level Cross, located just North of Randleman.
“He came to one of our games that year,” Stokes said. “I saw him and it was insane. It was the first time I had seen him, and I got my picture taken with him.”
Stokes played tackle when he moved up to the Randleman High varsity as a freshman. But after opting to continue his gridiron career, he made the switch to center as a sophomore. The Tigers went 4-7 that season before bouncing back with a 10-2 mark in 2023.
For his performance during the 2023 season, Stokes was named All-Randolph County and earned a spot on the Piedmont Athletic 1-A/2-A Conference first team.
East Carolina’s coaching staff initiated contact with Stokes last November by first following him on X, formerly known as Twitter. Pirate head coach Mike Houston and assistant Roy Tesh then visited Stokes at Randleman High and extended an invitation to attend a Junior Day function in Greenville on January 28.
Stokes received the star treatment from the ECU coaching staff during the Junior Day.
“I had all the coaches paying attention, so right there I thought I was going to get offered,” Stokes said. “We got through everything (during the Junior Day), then I sat down with the offensive line coach, the head coach and the head of recruiting. It was my biggest offer at the time.
“Deep down, after that, I knew ECU was my home. Originally, I was scheduled to go to about four or five spring practices during my spring break. But I didn’t really feel like doing that because after that I would have made the decision to go to ECU anyway.”
Two days after returning from Greenville on an unofficial visit March 23, Stokes pulled the trigger on his commitment.
East Carolina has recruited Stokes to play center, but he’s more than willing to help anywhere he’s needed.
“They see me as a guy who can play an interior lineman, but they recruited me mainly at center because they like the way I play it,” Stokes said. “But honestly, I told them I’ll play any position you put me at. It’s better to be a flexible player.”
Stokes said the Pirates are getting a player with an aggressive physical and mental attitude.
“I’m a physical player. I love finishing my blocks and I love pancaking people,” said Stokes, who recorded 43 pancake blocks as a junior. “I want to break the school record next year and get something like 90.”
Soon after that senior campaign is finished, Stokes plans to enroll at East Carolina. He’s on schedule to graduate from Randleman in December.
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