![130991394_web1_JasonOcean
Darius and Jason Ocean may make history in the CIAA by being a father-son duo winning of The Year honors. Darius Ocean, QB for Johnson C. Smith, is in the conversation as CIAA player of the year. Jason Ocean was CIAA rookie of the year in 2000 and defensive player of the year in 2003.
Photo| Jason Ocean](http://heraldadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/130991394_web1_JasonOcean.jpg)
Darius and Jason Ocean may make history in the CIAA by being a father-son duo winning of The Year honors. Darius Ocean, QB for Johnson C. Smith, is in the conversation as CIAA player of the year. Jason Ocean was CIAA rookie of the year in 2000 and defensive player of the year in 2003.
Photo| Jason Ocean
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Former Marlboro County standout Jason Ocean made a career in high school and at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., taking out quarterbacks. The record-breaking linebacker owns records in Marlboro County and Division II college football. So, who would’ve ever thought that his oldest son, Darius Ocean, QB 1 at Johnson C. Smith University —Jason Ocean’s alma mater’s historic rival—would be leading the offense in the same league where his father made history?
Darius Ocean is on pace to be the CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) player of the year after leading the JCSU Golden Bulls to an undefeated start to the season. In week two of the season, Darius Ocean was named CIAA quarterback of the week after throwing for 296 yards, 20 completions, and one touchdown. The Golden Bulls defeated Lincoln University 52-6 that game.
Through the first six games of the season, Darius Ocean has thrown for 1,438 yards, has a 91% completion rate, and one proud dad — make that family. Jason Ocean said his mom, Darius’s grandmother, has probably been at every game.
“I had to switch from being an all-defensive guy to being an all-QB guy,” Jason Ocean said. “Once I saw his throw his first ball in the corner of the end zone, I knew my days as a defensive guy was gone. Darius has been one of those guys who was always under the radar. A lot of people don’t know this but he was the starting quarterback for the Shrine Bowl.”
Jason Ocean said though some of the quarterbacks his son played with at his previous schools at Valdosta State and Western Kentucky are in the NFL now, he knows his son has next.
“We felt like he should’ve started as a freshman and then we were like we couldn’t stay there another year without him playing.”
Then the Oceans met with JCSU head coach Maurice Flowers. “He had a swag to him and he was honest. This was the first time we went to a place where the coach was honest.” Jason Ocean said Darius was given a fair chance to compete for the starting job and as they say, the rest is history.
JCSU and Livingstone are the first two HBCU programs to play football. And historically, the programs haven’t been that good. The last time JCSU won a championship was in 1969. Prior to playing in the Florida Beach Bowl last year, the Golden Bulls hadn’t been in a bowl for over a decade.
“Flowers gave him the job, because D went in there and did what he always does,” Jason Ocean said.
While Jason Ocean isn’t shocked at the 6-0 start, after all, he’s been training his son for years and making some of the best position coaches available to teach his son how to be the best, many who’ve followed the Golden Bulls for years are shocked, excited and ready to see how far Darius Ocean and the new look Golden Bulls will go.
One thing Jason Ocean has always done is teach his son confidence and he said he learned how to be confident in his hometown of Clio.
When Jason Ocean played for the Livingstone Blue Bears, Darius would be on with the team. And according to his dad, Darius would hype the team up with a Clio chant.
“I used to have this song that went, Clio, Clio, what, what. And he used to on my shoulders singing the song right before I get on the bus to go to the games,” he said. “All my teammates helped me raise him. My head coach used to keep him. Darius’s mom is phenomenal. We were really a village raising him.”
And Jason Ocean passed on the lessons he learned in Clio to his son. “Deion Sanders didn’t just start this, this is something I heard from the Clio guys, you play how you look and you look how you play. These guys always told me you’re the best, these guys taught me that swag.”
So, of course, he passed it on to Darius.
While they may be on different sides of the ball, Darius and Jason Ocean embody the adage, “Like father, like son.”