Freshman wide receiver follows in accomplished football-family’s footsteps

For the Jamiel family, football is a family affair.

Freshman wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel’s dad, Joseph “Jo-Jo” Jamiel, was an All-American at Brown University and was inducted into the Warren RI Athletic Hall of Fame after finishing his 1977 senior season with the seventh-highest kick return average in the nation. One of his brothers played football at Sacred Heart University and another at Stonehill University. His sister was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots.

“We’re kind of just a football family,” Geoffrey Jamiel said. “I remember trying to be on the sidelines at my brothers’ practices, or even being the waterboy.”

Jamiel is the recipient of two back-to-back Patriot League Rookie of the Week awards, the second of which he won on Oct. 3. He leads the Mountain Hawks in receiving yards with 321 total yards on the season.

Jamiel said after Lehigh football offensive coordinator Scott Brisson first got in touch with him at the beginning of the high school recruitment process, he took his first trip to Bethlehem in the spring of his junior year and committed the following winter. He said, since then, the team’s upperclassmen have been a large part of what has made his transition to collegiate football so smooth.

“In the first few weeks I committed, (junior quarterback) Dante (Perri) made a group chat with all the freshmen and just said that he was always here for us,” Jamiel said. “Everyone is selfless, they all just want to be good.”

Lehigh football coach Tom Gilmore said he was impressed with Jamiel from the start of the recruiting process. 

“He is one of those cases that when he arrived, he reinforced everything that we thought he would be,” Gilmore said. “He is fast and quick, and not everyone has that combination.”

Jamiel said the summer football camp is difficult and time-consuming, and tests the player to see their potential. Other players would describe their exhaustion from the 8 week-long training camp, but Jamiel expressed a love for it. 

Jamiel said he heard about summer camp’s challenging nature from the other players, and he wasn’t sure if people were just trying to scare him. He said he loved it because football is the most important thing to him.

Junior wide receiver Eric Johnson is someone Jamiel said he looks up to.

“I told him the fastest way to get on the field is to just be consistent,” Johnson said. “Making crazy plays here and there and then doing bad the next day isn’t going to solidify you a spot.”

Johnson described Jamiel as a player who is “all football.” He said he prepares well and is constantly watching film. He said Jamiel’s talent is always good to have in the room 

Gilmore said even though Jamiel is a freshman, he’s someone who has a great feel for the game and a high football IQ. Gilmore said his physical skill allows Jamiel to execute the game at a high level.

Jamiel and the Mountain Hawks’ (1-6, 1-1) next match-up is against Bucknell (0-6, 0-2) at Goodman Stadium on Oct. 22.