Quiet Confidence: Overlooked as a Prospect, Jude James Proved Himself Right

The true freshman tight end for the Missouri Tigers has always had unteachable competitiveness since he was just 5 years old.

A young Jude James poses in uniform. Photo courtesy of Amy James /

More than an athlete, Jude James is a performer. The football field is his stage.

Before each game in high school, he developed a pre-game routine. It started with high-energy dancing, inspired by his father, Dee Dee, a musician and an assistant coach on Jude's youth football teams.

"I'm one of the cool dads," Dee Dee said in a phone interview. "I'm a musician, I'm bringing a big boom box of music and that’s where all that dancing started."

After his time getting hyped with the rest of his teammates, Jude would head to the end of the field. A switch in his head would flip — one that he learned the mechanics of from a young age.

"Just before the game starts," his mother, Amy, said. "he walks away from everyone else, down to the end of the field and squats down and gets real focused. ... Then, when he stands up, he's like, 'I don't know if it's turning into the Hulk or if it's beast mode.'"

Jude is described by a caring and lovable person by most who know him. On the field though, he's the complete opposite. A merciless and fierce athlete. Its what made him an All-State defensive back at Francis Howell High School. What took him from an under-the-radar prospect to a Missouri commit.

Unteachable Drive

Jude James' athletic career began with a brief stint in soccer. Ended not by his choice, but from his opponents' parents.

When he was around 5 years old, parents started to complain that Jude, bigger than everyone else in his age group, was too much of a force. He scored too easily and ran through defenders.

"Parents were yelling at us," Dee Dee said. "He just had that body ... He started dribbling that ball, went straight, and kids were just bouncing off him like nothing."

He also played baseball for a short time, but the lack of physicality and action was unappealing to a young Jude. He had to find his own entertainment out of his boredom.

"Jude played baseball for about a year or two and he was done," Dee Dee said. "He was out there waiting on something to happen. No action. He’s dancing, break dancing in the field and he’s like ‘Man, this sucks.’ He wants to put his hands on you ... to wrestle with you."

After being kicked out from soccer and giving up baseball, Jude's parents asked him what the next move was. Though he was still a year too young to play it, he was dead set on playing football. He was fully committed when his time came around to play for the Chesterfield Bears, which Dee Dee was an assistant coach for.

Once he started playing football, Jude's parents and others began to recognize his rare drive and fierce nature. Once he steps on the field, he transforms into an unrecognizable force.

"He's a real sweet, lovable kid," Amy said, "but something then changes in him when he goes onto the court, onto the field. It’s like a switch. ... Coaches would say to me, ‘He's just got that thing,’ the quality that you can't teach somebody. You can teach them the skills. You can teach them plays. You can teach them about the sport. You can get a little faster.

"You can learn agility, but there's certain things that you can't teach."

There's a lot of emotions involved in the game for Jude. Winning is fun. But losing is devastating.

Jude James accepts a trophy for playing for a youth team in Chesterfield, Mo. Photo courtesy of Amy James /

"He always cared when he lost," Amy said. "He used to get upset, cry, when he was younger where some might people might not care, but he always wanted to win."

The circumstances don't matter to Jude. Whether it was a championship game for his youth league or a board game with family, Jude desperately wanted to win. He and his brother, Gabe, constantly competed against each other. His family often let win in games to avoid a moody Jude for the rest of the day.

"He's just always been that way," Dee Dee said. "He's always been a kid driven like that, and competitive, that's his M.O. He's going to compete. He’s going to show up."

During his youth career though, there was plenty of winning for Jude. Playing alongside Ryan Wingo, now a five-star freshman at Texas, the Chesterfield Bears made five trips to the championship game in Jude's career, winning three. Jude was a star for the team defensively and picked up receiver in his eighth grade year.

Bears ——>Zou 🐻🐯 https://t.co/5XAkQ478co pic.twitter.com/4Sd2wnLjrF

— Jude James (@judejamesss) July 14, 2023

"In second, third, fourth grade in football, the coaches would say he was a D1 athlete," Amy said. "I didn't really know what that meant. I didn't play college sports.

"I (just) knew he was bigger than other kids."

Defensively, Jude brought plenty of physicality to the field. It was the one space where he could unleash that violence, which didn't work out as well when he played basketball through high school. His mom would joke with him that he'd likely set the school record for foul-outs in a season.

"He’d be a little aggressive," Amy said. "Basketball players aren't really used to being touched. The body's coming at you or get out of the way kind of a thing. He just played it like get out or the way or you will be tackled. First to dive on the ball for a 50/50 ball, and that hurts when Jude James lands on you with all that force."

Amy says when he was playing basketball, it was clear that football was what formed his athletic identity. It was clear even before he started playing football, powering through soccer defenses in dancing in the open outfields of baseball.

Earning the "Athlete" Label

Having experience on both sides of the ball during his youth career, Jude played all over the field at Francis Howell High School. He first played outside receiver before adding defense to his repertoire his sophomore season. Starting on both sides, he hardly stepped off the field.

In his three years as a starting wide receiver for Francis Howell, Jude averaged 28 receptions, 574 receiving yards and seven touchdowns per season. He was a crucial part of a selfless receiver group. Jude, along with the rest of the receivers, put the team first and embraced their role.

"It was just a special group of guys," Francis Howell head coach Brent Chojnacki said. "Nobody was like, ‘Why doesn't the quarterback throw me the ball?’ There was just a good balance between those guys and a lot of that is just the relationships those guys have with each other. Nobody was ‘me me me’ guys. It’s like ‘Let's do what's best for the team.’"

He dominated alongside tight end Brett Norfleet, now a standout for Missouri football. The two created a bond during their high school careers and were constantly competing. During Norfleet's 2023 season that earned him a spot on the All-SEC Freshman team, Jude made sure those flames didn't falter.

READ: Missouri Tight End Brett Norfleet Has Always Stood Above the Rest

"Anytime some accolade came out on Brett," Chojnacki said. "I would send Brett a video of Jude saying, like, ‘Hey, that's going to be me next year. I'm taking your spot.’"

Brett Norfleet and Jude James, teammates at Francis Howell high school and now with the Missouri Tigers, pose at the 50 yard line at Faurot Field in June of 2023. / Photo via Francis Howell Football's twitter account.

For all his success as a receiver, Chojnacki believes Jude's career as a defensive player was even better.

In his final two years of high school as a stout defensive back, he recorded 242 total tackles, including 16 for a loss and five interceptions. He might've been a cornerback, but he was not afraid to get physical. His father compared some of Jude's brutal hits to those of Ronnie Lott — the unforgiving NFL Hall-of-Fame safety.

The "athlete" label, which Jude was recruited under, can be viewed as uncertainty. A player that doesn't quite fit anywhere yet. But Jude's father thinks it's the perfect descriptor.

"He is a athlete," Dee Dee said. "That's just what he is. You can put him on defense, he's going to knock your f***ing head off. You put him on offense, he’ll high point that ball, he’ll get his space and he’s a hard runner."

Jude's versatility for Francis Howell stood out to the Missouri coaching staff. The staff recruited him as a flexible piece they could put wherever need necessitates. After arriving on campus, Jude found his spot at tight end behind Norfleet.

"He impacted the game a lot of different ways," Former Missouri tight ends coach Erik Link. "I think that's that's something that was clear to see. He was a guy that we were tracking and watching and looking at really is a guy that's extremely versatile and can probably play a lot of different positions on the field."

Tight end might be the perfect fit for James' skillset. He was a stocky receiver for Francis Howell for three seasons. He certainly won't shy away from any contact as a blocker. He's been fueled off it since he was powering through kids on the soccer field.

"He’s really physical," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a fall press conference. "We knew he could provide value on special teams. (Tight end) kind of feels like a natural fit for him.”

Something to Prove

Throughout Jude's recruiting process, Amy became familiar with hearing her son say 'I believe in myself.'

He said it when the only offers he had were from non-Power Five teams. When he didn't have any from the SEC. When Nebraska would only offer if he committed the same day.

"He had a lot of offers, but they weren't in the SEC," Amy said. "He had 26 offers. They weren't necessarily the schools that he wanted. It's a tough position to be in, again, going through that whole process. It was really fascinating for me as a parent to watch how frustrated he was at times."

Since Jude split sides on both sides of the ball, he had an impressive resume but no stats that jumped off the page for either. Most schools were trepidatious when offering, not knowing where he would fit on their teams.

For Jude, that was frustrating. So, he'd call Dee Dee.

I said, 'Tell your mom to stop traveling up and down the highway,'" Dee Dee explained, "because to have a kid ... stop at these places just to (be told) ‘Oh, but we don't know where to put you.'

"Man, are you kidding me?"

"When we got to the end of his junior year, he said, ‘I just believe I’m a Power Five athlete, Mom,'" Amy added. "So, we took the 26 offers and we ranked them 1-26. ... And I said, 'Well, we'll go to camp.'"

The pair traveled to Nebraska, Kansas State and Missouri. Jude had an impressive performance at a prospect camp for Kansas State. The coaching staff saw that his stats and film didn't tell the whole story. But, like the others, they were unsure of where he would line up.

When Jude first went to a 7-on-7 camp at Missouri, he didn't draw much attention. Shortly after though, Francis Howell took a group of their rising seniors to Columbia for a prospect camp. Jude more than earned his stripes the second time.

"He just blew everybody out of the water," Amy said. "They were like, 'Listen, now we can't deny it. We want to offer you.'"

Once Missouri offered Jude, he was all-in on the program. Just like when he was dead set on playing on from football after being kicked out of soccer, he was dead set on committing to Missouri.

"Once he's in on something, that's it," Amy said. "The decision is made. There was never a concern of mine  ‘Oh, another school's going to come along and convince him.’ That's not the kind of kid he is."

A key part of Missouri's successful pitch to Jude was the chance to play for his home state. For his family and friends to be close enough to go to games.

"You find out later on, there's countless people that we know that I didn't know were graduates of Mizzou," Amy said. "Now, everybody is reaching out to him because they're all alumni, (to) which he'll say there's nothing better than playing for your family and friends and winning for them."

Missouri's gritty culture was also a significant selling point for Jude. He felt overlooked in the recruiting process, but held confidence in himself.

He had something to prove: His doubters wrong and himself right.

"I think he's always had to prove himself," Amy said. "You just put your head down and you do it, and I think that will serve him with whatever he does in his life. ... it's been a lesson I've taught him, no one's owed anything in life. You have to work for everything you get. And when you do, it's that much sweeter."

During the 7-on-7 matchup, Jude proved his worth as a player. His story proves his worth as the type of person and teammate that the Missouri football program has built its identity around.

“All of us at the University of Missouri kind of have a chip on our shoulder," Drinkwitz said back in April. "We look for that in the recruiting process.”

Missouri football's success has not been built off high-profile recruits who have had an easy path. Rather on dozens of people like Jude James.

The next time Jude steps on the field, nearly everything will be different.

He'll be playing in a different uniform, in a different stadium with a different team. But when he walks away from a huddle of dancing teammates, down to the end of the field to squat down, he'll hone in on his ferocity that brought him there.

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