Jalen Nailor’s annual return to Bishop Gorman a year ago lasted two or three hours for two or three days, forming natural pockets of time for catchup amid his offseason training. The former Gaels star wide receiver turned Michigan State standout turned Minnesota Viking professed to former coaches how he missed his alma mater.
Craig Canfield had a hope turned premonition.
“You’re going to get that big contract after this season,” Canfield, Gorman’s offensive coordinator, told Nailor, for whom he’d once summon double-move routes against helpless corners across the Las Vegas Valley.
“It’d be pretty cool if you came and played here.”
A week ago Friday, Nailor, 27, returned to Fertitta Field once again, but this time as a Las Vegas Raider and the host of his inaugural football camp. His drive to the school united him again with former Gaels teammates and coaches, summoning dozens of middle and high schoolers to its first-ever football camp hosted by an alumni.
Nailor came back to his adoptive hometown in conjunction with his three-year free-agent deal worth $35 million to don silver and black, including $23 million guaranteed. Nicknamed “Speedy” in his SoCal youth before moving to Las Vegas to play for the Gaels, he’s due an uptick in snaps and targets — at a lean 6 feet and 190 pounds as the team’s potential No. 1 receiver — after leaving Minnesota’s crowded wide receiver corps.
Perfect timing. Perfect fit.
Said Nailor after his free camp concluded, dressed in a grey shirt with white and black accents, his likeness on the front atop “Jalen Nailor Youth Football Camp,” the diamonds on his necklaces shining in the high-noon sun: “The Raiders came to me (during the NFL’s legal tampering period) right before (free agency) started and said ‘We’re going to come in hot.’ And they did, man. I’m very grateful that they did, and I’m very happy to be a part of an organization like that, the history and everything like that. …
“I haven’t had to settle back in,” he added with diamonds in his earlobes. “I’ve always been settled here. … I’m back home.”
The break between mandatory mini-camp last month and training camp later this month gave Nailor the chance to host his camp on campus. Gorman’s distinguished base of alumni has 16 players with NFL experience, but none before Nailor returned to host a camp.
“He values his time here,” Canfield said.
Nailor tabbed a group of this fall’s Gaels to help him lead campers through a series of drills (and water breaks) that ended with friendly no-contact competition. A black Raiders armband covered Nailor’s tattoos and matched the black shorts he wore with white socks and red Nike cleats that now belong to Cyrie Warren.
Warren’s father, Corey, beamed with joy from his post nearby, having watched the entire camp. “It shows (Cyrie) that you can make it here,” the elder Warren said.
“It was fun,” said the younger Warren, an 11-year-old running back (for Nike Darkside) who wants to play for Gorman a few minutes after Nailor gifted him his cleats, drawing a sideline-to-sideline smile. “Just being out there to have fun, be dominant. … I don’t really like skipping events that I’m not sure I can have a lot of fun (at).”
Fun indeed was had by the campers, clad in the shirts that Nailor wore and enjoying Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and fries after camp lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. Nailor’s wife, Mariah, watched from the sidelines, along with their 2-year-old daughter, Sevyn.
Nailor posed for pictures, signed autographs, conversed with campers and then reminisced, missing the tunnel he ran through on gameday and wishing momentarily to run through it again.
“(Playing for the Gaels) just taught us how to work,” Nailor said, his wedding ring too diamond encrusted, a father of two daughters since the spring. “And that things won’t always go your way, but it’s a matter of staying true to yourself and being who you are at the end of the day. You can’t try to be like somebody else.”
Nailor enrolled at Gorman as a freshman — after relocating from Palmdale, California — and helped comprise one of its most distinguished classes, winning mythical national championships in 2015 and 2016 as a sophomore and junior. He led the Gaels in receiving as a junior, twice catching touchdowns in his favorite game for Gorman: a 25-24 triple-overtime victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in which he caught the game-winner.
Canfield said Nailor’s team-first approach and steely work ethic foreshadowed the success he’d have with Michigan State and Minnesota, by which he was picked 191st overall (by the Vikings) in 2022 when the draft was in Las Vegas. Nailor played sparingly his first two seasons, totaling 151 offensive snaps, but stayed true to his developmental tract.
“Ultra competitive,” Canfield added, noting that Nailor returned to Gorman in between seasons when he played for the Spartans. “Great route-runner. Fast. And he was a team guy the whole time he was here. He was all about winning. That’s why he is where he is right now. He grinds, and he just loves football.”
Playing behind All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson and top-end No. 2 receiver Jordan Addison, Nailor amassed 858 yards to go with 10 touchdowns via 57 catches the past two seasons in Minnesota. His route-running, speed and quickness popped to the point he was due to cash in this spring for a bigger paycheck and bigger role.
Not that he expected to land in Las Vegas.
Nailor, though hoping to play in warm weather, said he expected to sign with a team out East. But expectations changed when the Raiders reached out and home came calling.
“I did not even think about (returning to Las Vegas) at all,” Nailor said. ” … I love it. It’s great. I know (my family) is excited for me, just to be in a familiar area. A place that my wife and girls can get settled in.”
That’s what Nailor plans to do before Raiders training camp starts this month, celebrating birthdays for his wife and daughter with a trip to Disneyland perhaps on the docket. Then it’s back to work again, what he dreamed about when he played for the Gaels.
“He’d probably think I’m crazy. He’d definitely think I’m crazy,” Nailor said of what his younger self what think about his football career. “He probably wouldn’t be thinking going to go to Michigan State for college, going to Minnesota, then coming back here. No, he wouldn’t think that at all. … Stay grounded. Be on your grind.”
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
