Bay Port football star JoJo Azure commits to North Dakota State University

JoJo Azure was a complete unknown when it came to high school football entering 2021.

Before suiting up for Bay Port during the alternate spring season – he previously was homeschooled and attended Providence Academy in Howard as a freshman – the outside linebacker never had played the sport. He didn’t know how to put on shoulder pads and certainly had no idea how to tackle.

Just look at him now.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Azure is a future NCAA Division I player after making a verbal commitment to North Dakota State University.

He visited the school again earlier this week with plans to commit to the Bison and made it official while sitting in the office of NDSU coach Matt Entz, who was the first to extend Azure a DI offer.

That came in April, when Azure visited the campus and stadium and even ran into San Francisco 49ers quarterback and former Bison star Trey Lance.

NDSU had competition for Azure.  He picked up several offers the last month, a list that includes Northern Illinois University, South Dakota, Navy and Army.

But none swayed him from making NDSU his future home, the place he always sort of knew would be the one. He loves everything about it.

“But specifically, kind of the culture and tradition of the team,” Azure said. “The relationship I see between the players and the coaches.”

NDSU had more active NFL players than any DI FCS school last season and had two more drafted in April.

The Green Bay Packers selected wide receiver Christian Watson in the second round, while offensive lineman Cordell Volson was taken in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals.

It was the second straight year the Bison had multiple players selected. They have had 11 players drafted since 2014.

Azure still is a long way from playing in the NFL, but who would doubt anything at this point?

He became a starter for the Pirates by the end of the alternate season and flourished as a junior a few months later, developing into what Bay Port coach Gary Westerman believed was the best defensive player in the state when healthy.

He also was the kicker and punter thanks to the soccer he played when he was younger.

Azure had 91 tackles, five sacks and three forced fumbles in 10 games while being named the Fox River Classic Conference defensive player of the year and a first-team all-state selection by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

Westerman has coached future NFL and college players during his career. He has had late developers who became DI players, but he’s never had anyone quite like Azure. Star players don’t often come out of nowhere.

“He just kind of showed up,” Westerman said. “Having done it for a while, every time a kid just shows up, it typically never works out. But JoJo as a sophomore was physical. I don’t know his exact weight, but probably 175 pounds.

“Then he just got tremendously strong. It’s a credit to him, his work ethic, his character. His parents believing in him, that his dream was to play football and moving him to school so he could do that.”

Azure called his journey from being homeschooled most his life to a prep football standout almost overnight a crazy one. He still doesn’t understand it all, mostly because it doesn’t seem real.

But Westerman brought up more than once all the intangibles Azure has that aren’t even about football. He’s an “incredible kid,” is what the longtime coach first pointed out.

“A lot of time and effort,” Westerman said. “Certainly gifted genetically, but he put on an exceptional amount of weight in a positive way, got tremendously strong. When you combine that with high-level athleticism, the sky is the limit.”

The recruiting process was fun, but Azure feels relaxed now with his final high school training camp starting soon. He knows he has his collegiate future secured.

There was some thought of taking his recruitment into the season, but he wanted to commit so he could fully appreciate his senior year.

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Perhaps there wasn’t as much pressure overall, since it wasn’t that long ago that being a college recruit would have been an absurd thought.

“I was just kind of playing football,” Azure said. “In my head, I was, ‘I’m going to be the best football player I can be and enjoy it.’

“But it definitely puts me at ease knowing that senior year, I’m set to go to a powerhouse Division I school that is dominant.”

Westerman has done his part to make sure his pupil never develops an ego. He liked to jokingly refer to Azure as the homeschooled soccer player after he made the team. When he won his FRCC defensive honors, he still called him that.

There might be a new nickname needed for Azure now that he’s a DI talent.

“I think he’s still a homeschooled soccer player,” Westerman said.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Bay Port football star JoJo Azure commits to North Dakota State