Twice in recent years, including this past September, Saquon Barkley has returned to Whitehall to be honored by the Zephyrs’ athletic department. First, he had his number retired, and more recently, he was inducted into the school district’s hall of fame.
Each time, Barkley was honored at halftime, while the Whitehall football team stayed in the locker room getting ready for the second half.
But when Jahan Dotson returns to Nazareth on Friday night to have his number 5 retired by the Blue Eagles’ administration at halftime of an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference game against Bethlehem Catholic, Nazareth coach Tom Falzone wants his team to experience what figures to be one of the most special nights in the program’s history.
“He’s the first player in [school] history to have his number retired, so it’s a huge night,” Falzone said. “It’s hard to know how to handle a night like this as the coach of a team, and I haven’t had the chance to sit down with our staff and actually go over that portion of the night.
“The way it is set up now, he’ll be honored at halftime at a time when you’re in the locker room with your team, making adjustments for the second half. And that’s important. But at the same time, this is a real important night for Nazareth football history in recognizing what Jahan did. So, we have to discuss this more and figure out how to navigate this because it’s obviously something the kids should have the ability to see and be a part of, and it’s special for our coaches, too.”
During his career at Nazareth, Dotson set school records with 187 receptions for 2,755 receiving yards and 40 touchdowns.
After graduating from Nazareth in 2018, he went on to have a stellar career at Penn State, where he had 183 catches for 2,757 yards and 25 touchdowns over 42 games. In 2021, he had 91 catches for 1,182 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He was drafted by the Washington Commanders with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He spent two seasons in Washington, where he had 84 receptions for 1,041 yards. He was traded to the Eagles before the 2024 season and caught 18 passes for 216 yards in the regular season and then had three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown in the postseason and very nearly scored the first Eagles touchdown in the Super Bowl.
But while forging his career at Penn State and in the NFL, Dotson has been no stranger to Nazareth.
“Obviously with his parents still living here, he comes home whenever he gets a chance,” Falzone said. “We’ll get a quick call, and he’ll say he’s stopping by to say hello. Or sometimes, he asks if he can get a quick workout in, and we’ll open up the weight room for him. His schedule is tough. Obviously, when you are an NFL football player, you are constantly busy. His offseason is all about training. But any chance he gets to be home, he does it and it’s awesome that he comes back and says hello. That all means so much to all of us.”
Falzone said that Dotson has not changed an iota from the kid he was at Nazareth.
“You know it would be easy for him to become somewhat different, but he’s not,” Falzone said. “He doesn’t act any differently around us than he always did. He’s still the same kid we had here. He’s still on the quiet side. He’s very humble, and we’re just so proud of everything he has accomplished.
“He came out of here after dominating at the high school level, and some people questioned whether he was good enough to play in the Big Ten at Penn State, but he proved a lot of people wrong there. And then some felt he would be undersized to do well in the NFL. It was the same deal. But again, he proved those people wrong. He’s just a special athlete, a special human being. He doesn’t fit the persona of some of the guys you see in the NFL. He’s there 100% for the team.”
Falzone was a teacher at Whitehall when Barkley was a student-athlete, and he said the two of them are very similar in the classy way they handle themselves.
“They’re both great guys; very humble,” Falzone said. “They both have worked so hard and they’re the best representation from the Lehigh Valley you could ask for in the NFL.”
Dotson was also a 1,000-point scorer for coach Joe Arndt in basketball and could have had a career in that sport as well.
“Guys like him and Saquon are generally pretty good at everything,” Falzone said. “When Jahan comes back he doesn’t walk around here like a big shot. He doesn’t gloat. He’s pretty much the same kid. It’s easy to root for a kid like that.”
And that’s why Falzone would like his current team to see Dotson on the field during the ceremony, even though it will take them out of their normal routine.
“Halftime is generally an important time for the kids to rest and for the coaches to make their adjustments,” Falzone said. “So maybe the kids can still get their rest on the sideline. But we also have to have time to make the adjustments because we’re obviously coaching to win a game. You want to be there to witness it and support Jahan, but you want to win as well. We’ll try to figure things out and get organized. No matter what, it’s going to be a great night for Jahan and for Nazareth.”
