“Go Ahead and Shock the World”: The Full-Circle Journey of Jobi Malary

When James Madison football learned its postseason path would run straight through Eugene, Oregon, one player felt the news hit a little deeper than the rest.

For senior running back Jobi Malary, the College Football Playoff isn't just another big-stage opportunity, it's a homecoming, a moment years in the making, and a chance to step back onto the field where his love for the game began.

Long before he wore purple and gold, Malary was a kid in the Pacific Northwest with a simple dream: to play football at the highest level.

He grew up mesmerized by the Oregon Ducks, captivated by their speed, their energy, and the roar of Autzen Stadium. He remembered the first time he saw Marcus Mariota carve through defenders, and De'Anthony Thomas explode down the sideline, and how those moments made him believe anything was possible.

The fire was lit beneath him to push himself to the next level.

But life has a way of looping back, often with more opportunity than you could have imagined.

As the college football playoff bracket began to take shape, Malary kept his expectations in check.

"I knew the opportunity was there. I'm one of those people that will tell you, I'll believe it when I see it, and not in the sense that we couldn't make the playoffs, just in a sense of us going all the way back to Oregon," he admitted. "It was one of the things where, like, it sounds cool, but if it happens, it happens. Being able to say that to see in real time, that we're going back to Oregon, my home state, it's something that I would have never thought."

Then the bracket dropped. JMU was headed to Oregon.

"There are family and friends that haven't seen me since I left, and so to be able to come back to Eugene and play in the college football playoffs against, against the team that I wanted to play for when I was 14. I think we have a chance to do something really special with that and I love the guys I'm doing it with."

For the first time all season, his family won't have to cross the country to watch him play. Friends who haven't seen him since high school will fill the stands. The young football player who once dreamed of wearing green and yellow is returning wearing purple, chasing something bigger than personal glory.

"Knowing I'm going to be going back home again for a different type of game, is something that I would have never thought would have happened. To be able to have my parents not have to fly out for this game too, is super dope."

Malary's journey to this point wasn't linear, it was defined by leaps of faith.

He began his college career at Portland State as a walk-on. By the end of his freshman season, he had earned a scholarship.

But after three years, he felt it was time to take another leap, one that would take him nearly 3,000 miles away from home.

"It wasn't easy. I'll be honest. It's not really a decision that everybody can make. But it was a risk I was going to take, I was willing to risk being away from what I was used to. So making a decision like that was, I felt like was for the betterment of myself and my football career."

He arrived at JMU as, once again, a walk-on. And once again, he earned his way onto scholarship before the Dukes' bowl game.

"I started as a walk-on at Portland State, and I earned my scholarship after the last game of my first season. Then I ended up being a scholarship guy until I left. Pretty much the same thing happened again when I was here. I came in as a walk-on here, and then before the bowl game last season, (Coach) Chesney told me that after the season, he was gonna make me a scholarship guy."

This season, Malary has been everywhere, breaking tackles, celebrating touchdowns, and hearing his name called over the speakers week after week.

"I feel like I'm a part of the best team in the country, as well as being with the best position group in the country. It's a long season. We prepare ourselves every week, that's just who we are. We never cheat the process, we never cheat ourselves. That's just not who we are."

The gratitude of being a part of a team this special runs deeper than football. It comes from years of betting on himself, starting over in new places, and trusting that the right people would find him along the way.

At JMU, they did. And when he talks about the relationships he's built here, you can hear the appreciation in his voice.

"Being from where I'm from it's important to have a certain sense of family. Every time I walk in the facility, I feel happy to be there and to be around the guys I'm around, it's a blessing. From guys on offense, guys on defense, guys on special teams, and even the coaches, they're top to bottom, it's a blessing to have a family oriented kind of team."

He talks about teammates with genuine admiration.

He mentions teammates who've told him his story inspired them to keep pushing.
JMU's culture, he says, is what makes the team special.

"The work started in January. That's where it really all began. Like I said before, we set the standard, we know we want. We didn't ever think that we couldn't do it to maybe just some people on the outside, this is probably mind blowing to them, but to us, being in the position that we are like this is not blowing our mind at all. We worked."

But when asked on what it means to leave behind such a notable legacy for JMU football, Malary didn't dwell on it. Rather, he acknowledged that this season is unforgettable. He remembered winning the conference title, his first championship of any kind.

Now, he gets another chance at a memory even bigger: facing the Ducks again—older, stronger, and with a new story to tell.

Now, he gets another chance at a memory even bigger: facing the Ducks again: older, stronger, with a new story to tell, and fueled by something deeper: the chance to play in front of his home state, his family, former coaches, and kids who now sit in the stands dreaming of the same path he once walked.

When asked what he would say to the kid who once dreamed of being in this exact position the kid who sat in the stands imagining himself on that field, Malary knows exactly what he'd say to his younger self:

"Go ahead and shock the world. A lot of people say we're probably not supposed to be here. We know what the outside noise is saying. I see it on my phone every once a while, I hear about it. Honestly, we don't really care because at the end of the day, they still got to play James Madison. They still got to play us for four quarters."

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