Almost a year after being shot, Northeast High QB Jayden Boyd is ready ‘for the biggest game of our season’

Jayden Boyd, on occasion, catches it in a mirror. He doesn’t purposely look for it. He’s come to realize the scar, a dark blotch the circumference of roughly an inch slightly to the left of his spine, is a part of him. It serves as a reminder of a near-tragedy he won’t forget and a moment he can’t erase.

Within a blink last Labor Day morning, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior quarterback at Northeast feared everything he worked for, a future he envisioned married to football would be severed by a 9mm bullet that lodged into his back when he was shot. Boyd had been playing video games with some of his Northeast teammates at an assistant coach’s house in Frankford when a stray bullet fired on Adams Avenue struck him through a window.

There were many nights he would muffle the sound of his sobs, so his parents wouldn’t hear him. For months after the shooting, he harbored doubts whether he would be the same dynamic playmaker he was before he underwent surgery to remove the bullet.

After missing his junior campaign, except for one quarter on Thanksgiving, Boyd is finally getting his chance this season. It’s been a twisting, turning odyssey filled with psychological torment, seven months of grueling therapy, and conquering a small mountain of uncertainty.

Jayden, now 18, knows if the bullet struck him another inch to the right, he probably would have been paralyzed, and this story would have taken a whole different tenor.

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“Instead, I’m here, getting ready for the biggest game of our season,” said Boyd, whose Vikings are 3-3 overall and will be hosting perennial Philadelphia Public League powerhouse Imhotep Charter (5-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. “Coming back wasn’t easy. I didn’t talk to a lot of people about being shot. Kids my age thought it was cool, like it made you a man being shot. For about a month and a half after I was shot, I would have nightmares and flashbacks. Yeah, you can say it was like combat, where guys get shot and the last place they want to be is where they were shot.

“I didn’t want anyone to know, but I was a little paranoid of being in the city and being in that situation again. I would wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night thinking about it. But I didn’t cry, I didn’t get emotional even when I was shot and lying in the hospital. The first time it hit me was when the doctors told me I wouldn’t be able to play my junior year.

“I had worked so hard for everything. I just transferred into Northeast (after starting his freshman and sophomore years at quarterback for Archbishop Carroll), then I was robbed of playing. I’ll admit it. There were times I told my mom, and times that I thought to myself, ‘Why me, why me?’”

Bahisha and Victor Boyd have eight children, seven boys and one girl ranging from ages 30 to 14. Jayden is the second youngest. His siblings were all there last Thanksgiving when Jayden scored against Northeast rival Central.

This season was the bigger step.

“We all tried to be there for him, and right now, Jayden surrounds himself with only positive people, and he takes things more positively now,” Bahisha said. “I got him involved with football when he was around 6, 7 years old because he had ADHD. Football helped him focus his energy. He learned to love it. Football has been his medicine getting back to normal.”

Police arrested Nasir Johnson, 26, in the shooting of Boyd and charged him with aggravated assault, a firearms charge, and related offenses last November, shortly before Jayden’s return to the team on Thanksgiving. The case remains active.

The nightmares dissipated by last November. He has gone from 165 pounds to a solid 180 this season. But the gunshot wound forced him to push himself harder physically than he normally would have. He pushed extremes, sometimes getting the shakes and throwing up after workouts and runs. Vikings coach Nick Lincoln grew concerned.

Lincoln is familiar with tragedy. He lost two players to gun violence: Zion Vaughan, a Penn Wood High School linebacker, was killed in December 2016; and Kristian Marche, a two-sport star at Imhotep, was heading to Penn State when he was shot and killed in August 2018.

“My players are like my children, and each time something tragic happens, it stays with you,” Lincoln said. “So, naturally, when I got that call from one of my assistant coaches at 5 [a.m. on] Labor Day morning about Jayden, you immediately think the worst. It’s hell. I remember thinking the worst and hoping for the best when I was driving to Temple that morning. First off, he comes from a great family. Not a lot of inner-city kids come from stable homes like Jayden.

“Jayden was so calm and strong, we all derived our strength and inspiration from him during his recovery. His first question to me was when he could play. The kid loves football. We had some high expectations with Jayden last year. In trying to come back, Jayden would push himself so much, he would get sick. We had some back-and-forth about him taking it easy.

“He wanted to come back in a blink. He had to take his time. Jayden had his share of nightmares after the shooting. But Jayden’s resilience and attitude got him through his tough moments. We wanted to keep Jayden engaged and keep him within the brotherhood aspect of the team.”

Bahisha works two jobs, averaging around 14 hours a day, she said. She tries to find time to watch Jayden play on the weekends. Victor makes almost every game. His parents have noticed a marked difference in their son after the shooting.

Jayden, who carries a 3.7 grade-point average, is starting to talk to college coaches. He has noticed a change in himself.

“Life has slowed down, there are small, meaningless things that I used to get upset about, and a lot of simple things that I appreciate more,” he said. “I can’t change what happened. Yeah, you can say it was tragic what happened to me, but a lot of good has come out of this. I learned there is a lot of love out there. Against Downingtown East, Chester, and Chester’s coaches, they dapped me up. If I wasn’t shot, maybe I wouldn’t push myself as hard as I do. I am a different person. You can’t take life for granted. I’m good now. I’m stronger. I feel nothing can break me now.”

Boyd makes the Vikings serious Public League title contenders. Northeast seemed done 10 different times against Chester, the No. 1 PIAA Class 5A team in District 1. But Northeast kept battling back in a 32-30 loss.

Jayden led the charge. On one play, he eluded seven tacklers.

He finds it compelling how his story has spread.

Postgame handshake lines are longer, because opposing players and coaches want to pay their respects to him. After the Chester game, one prominent Clippers assistant specifically sought him out and hugged Jayden at midfield, conveying to Jayden how brave he thought he was, and how the world is a better place because he’s here.

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“The love and respect from other teams and coaches is something I didn’t expect,” Jayden said. “It’s taken some time, but I have learned I can laugh about what happened. I never thought I would a year ago. All my anger over what happened went into lifting, working out, committed to getting back.

“There was anger over being shot, almost being paralyzed, almost losing my life, and losing my junior year. I did shut people out. I remember standing up after surgery, how small that is, in the hospital knowing I was an inch away from not walking. It’s why I play every play like it’s my last. Football was an inch away from almost being taken away.”

Robert Moran contributed to this article.