Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY— When he was a junior, Salisbury graduate Jaden Warren — he graduated in December — was a backup receiver and defensive back for his high school team.

Now he is a Division I football player, a North Carolina Central University signee, an Eagle.

Warren has been recruited by a program that won the 2022 Celebration Bowl, beating favored Jackson State for the HBCU national championship. He’s been recruited by a nationally ranked program that made its debut in the FCS playoffs in 2023.

Sports are all about opportunity, and an injury to a teammate changed Warren’s life. With a Hornet down, Salisbury needed depth at defensive end, and assistant coach Wesley Jackson suggested taking a look at Warren there.

“Coach Jackson saw me as this DB with long arms who might be able to play defensive end,” Warren said.

The position change cracked the door open, and Warren, who registered a sack and experienced the adrenaline rush that came with it in his first game as a pass-rusher, kicked that door down. He’d found the position he was born to play.

Warren was still nowhere close to being on any college’s radar when his junior season ended, but the weight room became his home for several months prior to his senior year. He transformed his body from 195 to 225 pounds, with major gains in his arms. legs and chest. The 6-foot-2 stud gained confidence and swagger and became a monstrous force on the Hornets’ powerful defensive line.

“I think I realized that a defensive end is what I was always meant to be,” Warren said.

Coach Clayton Trivett and his staff had Warren penciled in as a starter for the 2023 season, but his name was on the depth chart in ink after opening night. They were hoping that he might be good, but he was more than that. He became a nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators.

“Two sacks in the first game,” Warren remembers. “And I knew then that everything was going to work out for me. I guess the North Rowan game (three sacks) was my best game, but I was pretty consistent all season.”

The final numbers were crazy. He was recognized as the state’s leader in sacks with 20. He had 50 quarterback hurries, 37.5 tackles for loss, six fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. High School OT put him on the All-State second team for all classifications, public and private schools.

Close to home, Warren was the Post’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year for Rowan County, along with North Rowan tackling machine Khor’on Miller. Warren was voted Central Carolina Conference Lineman of the Year by the league’s coaches.

Recruiting for Warren never reached a fever pitch. He’d announced his presence with authority, but he’d done it late in the game. Most of the Division I schools had their recruits identified and solidified when they were still juniors.

“I had two main goals as far as recruiting,” Warren said. “I really wanted to go Division I and I wanted to go to an HBCU school.”

It was getting late, mid-January, with Signing Day fast approaching in early February. Savannah State had shown the most interest in Warren at that point and was an option.

Gardner-Webb, not an HBCU but Division I, had lost some portal guys, had found out about Warren and had scheduled an official visit to Boiling Springs.

But then Warren got a call from North Carolina Central.

“They had contacted me earlier, and they were one of the schools we sent film to,” Warren said. “They wanted to talk, wanted me to visit, and I went up to Durham the weekend after I visited Gardner-Webb.”

That was the perfect Saturday visit — the coaches, the players, the campus, the city — with everything falling into place. Coaches took Warren and his family out to eat. By the time he finished the meal, he was ready to commit.

“Felt like home, felt like family from the minute I got there,” Warren said. “I bonded with North Carolina Central right away.”

N.C. Central checked all the boxes — Division I, stout program, flagship HBCU school, strong academics.

Warren is an excellent student, who has aspirations for master’s and doctoral degrees that go well beyond the football field.

He’s working at Dick’s now, earning paychecks, and will be heading to North Carolina Central in July.

“They want the football players to enroll early in summer school,” Warren said. “I can get a head start, six credit hours, with the goal of graduating in 3.5 years.”

On the field, it should be just as eventful. N.C. Central’s schedule for 2024 opens with a trip to Miami to play Alabama State. The Eagles also will take on Elon, UNC and rival North Carolina A&T before starting league play against traditional foes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.