Nate Jones smiled as he watched his son throw the Horns Down and pull on an Oklahoma shirt.

The proud papa long thought a day like this would come. For several years, he suspected his son would land a major-college scholarship and maybe even have a big commitment ceremony with family and friends, coaches and reporters, balloons and cookies.

Thing is, until about 15 months ago, Jones figured Jaden Nickens would be recruited for basketball.

Saturday afternoon after the four-star receiver from Millwood High School committed to play for the Sooners, his dad admitted to feeling a little weird toting around a crimson OU football jersey instead of a basketball one.

“Ah, yeah,” Jones said with a sheepish smile, then a chuckle. “Yeah.”

Even as OU added to its impressive summer haul in the Class of 2025, many wondered how Nickens went from a big-time basketball recruit to a big-time football one. He is widely considered to be one of the best basketball players in the state, a 6-foot-3 dynamo who can shoot and defend and soar like his legs are pogo sticks.

The junior already has a pair of state high school championships in basketball and hoops in the summers with the likes of Bronny James, LeBron's oldest son.

Nickens' dad is the one who got him into basketball. Jones played collegiately at Langston, then professionally in places as close as Enid and as far away as Argentina. When he got into coaching, Jaden was young, but he was always in the gym with his dad.

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Still, for as much as Jones loved basketball and loved seeing his son play it, he may well have been the first to know Nickens’ future was in football.

Jones realized it two springs ago.

“When he got back into football,” Jones recalled.

Nickens, you see, didn’t play football for three years. After playing in sixth grade, he left it behind and focused on basketball, and when his dad got an assistant coaching job with the Millwood boys basketball before Nickens’ freshman year, he figured he’d sink even more into the sport.

But that fall, Nickens went to all the football games.

“I was front row every game,” he said.

After the Soul Bowl ― the annual rivalry game between Millwood and Douglass ― Nickens went to the football coaches with a promise.

“I’m gonna be out there next year,” he said.

He remembers them laughing him off.

“Nah, nah,” they said.

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But when spring football practices rolled around, Nickens made good on his word. He committed himself to practices and workouts ― he says he only took off Sundays ― but even as Nickens worked with receivers coach Nick Henderson to learn a position he’d only played sparingly growing up, Jones saw a familiar look in his son’s eyes.

It was the same way Nickens looked when he first played football as a 6-year-old. The same way he looked in second and third grade when he got to play against much older fifth and sixth graders.

It was love.

“When I saw that joy on his face,” Jones said, “I knew that basketball was out the window.”

Didn’t hurt that 10 minutes into Nickens’ first spring practice, he had his first college scholarship offer. North Texas happened to have a recruiter at Millwood that day scouting other players, and even though it had been almost four years since Nickens had played organized football, the recruiter saw enough to offer a scholarship.

Nickens would’ve had a second one that day, but a recruiter from Sam Houston State didn’t offer because, as he told a Millwood assistant coach, there was no way Sam Houston State would ever be able to get Nickens.

The scholarship offers only grew over the past year. OU. OSU. TCU. Texas Tech. Penn State. Arkansas. Texas A&M.

“When I stepped back onto that football field,” Nickens said, “I knew what I was going to do.”

Even though he hasn't completely rule out the idea of playing basketball at OU ― “Hopefully, if OU lets me play basketball … I will be able to do it,” he said ― it is no longer his focus. Still, unless the football coaches at OU tell Nickens to stop playing basketball, he intends to keep playing for Millwood and in the summer.

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“When he came to Millwood, he said he wanted to win four state championships,” Jones said. “And that’s still the goal.

“When he plays, he wants to be the best. He wants to be No. 1 in everything he does.”

But as much as Nickens enjoys playing basketball, Jones knows his son’s heart is in football.

By the way, that OU jersey Jones was carrying around at the commitment ceremony? He waited until the day before to buy it. He didn’t want to spend time calling a bunch of stores and driving all over Oklahoma City to get the No. 7 ― like Nickens plans to wear at OU ― if there was a chance Jones might have to return it later.

“Maybe he’s gonna change his mind about where he’s gonna go,” Jones thought.

Sure, that could change.

But the sport?

Jones realized that was set. The basketball dad knew he had a football son.

“Football was his first love,” Jones said.

And now, it will be his next chapter.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or on Threads at jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU receiver commit Jaden Nickens sees future in football, not basketball