Fast-rising Ferndale Linebacker has Lake, Locker Connections
Jazen Guillory really shouldn't have any trouble getting a long look from University of Washington football recruiters.
He's a 6-foot-3, 210-pound middle linebacker for Ferndale High School, the alma mater for former Husky quarterback Jake Locker, as well as for current UW offensive guard Geirean Hatchett.
Even better, he's the son of former Eastern Washington linebacker Justin Guillory, who teamed with a strong safety named Jimmy Lake to help lead the Eagles to the 1997 Division 1-AA semifinals against Youngstown State — the eventual winner and coached by Jim Tressel, later of Ohio State.
Justin was a second-team All-Big Sky selection who also played in Cheney with his late brother Raphael Guillory, a standout free safety and a beloved Eastern professor who died in 2020 after a long bout with cancer.
Now it's time to get the next Guillory, a member of the class of 2022, ready for the college game.
"My dad and I watch the game after the game," Jazen Guillory said. "We look at how I played and how I can play better."
The extra film work has paid off this season, in particular against rival Lynden High.
"We hadn't beaten Lynden since 2017, when I was in middle school," Guillory recalled.
With the extra meaning given to that contest, the Guillorys spent additional time breaking down the limited film on the Lions.
Late in Whatcom County's biggest grudge match, with Ferndale holding a slim lead and trying to stop Lynden on a 4th-and-1 play, it paid off.
Jazen Guillory saw a familiar formation across from him.
He knew the play that was coming.
"I saw Lynden lined up for a quarterback run," Guillory recalled. "I knew what I had to do."
The Ferndale linebacker met the guy at the line of scrimmage and stopped him inches shy of a first down, turning Lynden away. His Golden Eagles added a late TD and went on to win 28-19.
As a junior, Guillory has averaged nearly 10 stops a game in helping Ferndale to a 5-1 record.
With his own strong play and connections to Lake and Hatchett, the latter the older brother of one of his current Ferndale teammates, Jazen Guillory has turned himself into a young recruit worthy of a long look.
He plans on backing up his current showing with spring and summer evaluations on the camp circuits.
And who better to help get his body right than Locker, who returned from his NFL football career to Ferndale to live and run his own gym.
"He encourages me a lot," Guillory said. "It means a lot to have someone who has played ball at the highest level giving me tips on how to improve. It really means a lot to me."
Because of the late start to the Washington high school football season, Guillory has been somewhat of an unknown quantity for many college programs, but that could change soon.
"I feel that I've shown that," he said.