Seahawks’ ‘Jadarian Price Day’? Why the 1st-round pick already had one in Texas

TL;DR

Seahawks' GM John Schneider celebrated rookie Jadarian Price with a press conference, dubbing it 'Jadarian Price Day.' Interestingly, Price already had a day named after him in Denison, Texas, on January 20, declared by Mayor Robert Crawley.

Key points

Jadarian Price is a first-round draft pick for the Seahawks.
John Schneider proclaimed 'Jadarian Price Day' during a press conference.
Denison, Texas, declared 'Jadarian Price Day' on January 20.
Price's mother raised him as a single parent.
Brent Whitson, Price's high school coach, spoke highly of his mother.

Mentioned in this story

Seattle SeahawksDenison, TexasRobert CrawleyJessica ButlerBrent Whitson

Jadarian Price

John Schneider wanted a celebration befitting a team holiday for their new, prized rookie.

“Cool! All right, Jadarian Price Day!” the Seahawks general manager proclaimed to begin a press conference for the team’s first-round draft choice Thursday.

Thing is, Price already had one of those. In his hometown.

On Jan. 20, while the Seahawks were in Renton preparing to his the NFC championship game, Mayor Robert Crawley declared that Tuesday “Jadarian Price Day” in the Denison, Texas. The town of about 25,000 along the Red River across the Oklahoma border is where Price’s mother Jessica Butler had him, when she was 17 years old. Denison is where she raised Price and two younger daughters.

“The single-mom thing, that’s a daily fact of our lives, especially in the high-school coaching business. But I don’t know that I’ve met very many like Jadarian’s mom,” Brent Whitson, Price’s coach his senior year at Denison High School, told me this week on KJR FM.

“She is a lioness. Fiercely protective of her kids.

“But has held (Jadarian) absolutely accountable.”

“J.D.,” as he’s known there, cooked for and tended to his younger sisters, Kzaria and Lyricah, when he was 12 and they were 10 and 6 years old. That’s because Mom — “my rock,” Price says — was diagnosed with breast cancer that year. While Price’s grandparents and an uncle drove Butler to her 16 rounds of chemotherapy, Jadarian cared for his younger sisters. He also played football and went into middle school into high school. “I had to mature,” Price said Thursday.

“His little sisters, his role in watching over them, protecting them, holding them accountable, was one of the most amazing things I got to see,” Coach Whitson told me. Price’s mom beat cancer two years after her diagnosis. J.D. became a star tailback at Denison High, a two-time all-district rusher for the Yellow Jackets. He rushed for 4,990 yards and 55 touchdowns at Denison, playing the sport he began as a tackle-football player in town at age 6.

Whitson recalled the 245-yard rushing game Price had in Whitson’s first game as his coach, the 125-year-old Battle of the Axe between Denison and Sherman. It’s Texas’ oldest high school football rivalry. Later in Price’s senior season, he rushed for 325 yards against a school from the Dallas suburb of Frisco.

“He was beyond the average high school football player, in a lot of ways,” Whitson said. “One, foremost, was scholastically.

“He didn’t get into Notre Dame because of his 40 time.” On Price’s first career carry for Notre Dame, he scored a touchdown. The 5-foot-11, 203-pound Price then rebounded from rupturing his Achilles tendon in 2022. He had only 280 college snaps playing behind Jeremiyah Love at Notre Dame for three years. Love became the third pick in this year’s draft, by .

Q&A

What is 'Jadarian Price Day' and when was it declared?

'Jadarian Price Day' was declared on January 20 in Denison, Texas, by Mayor Robert Crawley to honor the Seahawks' rookie.

Who is Jadarian Price and where is he from?

Jadarian Price is a first-round draft pick for the Seattle Seahawks, originally from Denison, Texas.

Why did the Seahawks celebrate Jadarian Price with a press conference?

The Seahawks celebrated Jadarian Price with a press conference to mark his significance as a prized rookie for the team.

What did Price's high school coach say about his mother?

Price's high school coach, Brent Whitson, praised his mother, Jessica Butler, for her dedication as a single parent while raising him and his siblings.