At the moment, Oak Harbor High School senior Dejon Devroe is focused on running 400 meters. In the future, his goal, he hopes, will change to rushing for 100 yards per game.

Devroe currently owns the fastest 3A 400-meter time in the state this season, 49.46 seconds.  His goal is to stay on top, all the way through the state finals.  In the process, he would like to break the  long-standing Oak Harbor High School record in the event, 48.7 seconds, set in 1971 by David Garrison.

He is obviously an elite Washington high school track athlete, but his passion is football, and it is on that field that he would like to compete collegiately.

There is one problem, though. Schools have shown little interest in recruiting him. The knock against Devroe is his size – 5-feet, 10 inches, 155 pounds.

Several small colleges have inquired about Devroe competing for their track teams, and more are likely to come calling as the league, district and state awards pile up.

If track is a means to help him earn a college degree, he is willing to go that route. First, however, he would like to give football a try.

He will attend the Atlanta Sports Academy, a prep school, next year to enhance his college football opportunities. Devroe went to middle school in Georgia, and one of his former coaches helped him secure a spot in the Academy.

While colleges have been slow to acknowledge Devroe’s football talents, it didn’t take long for the Oak Harbor coaches to see his abilities.

Devroe was a four-year starter on the football team, a rare occurrence at a school the size of OHHS. He also lettered in track his freshman year, placing in four events in the league championship meet.

Devroe moved to Florida the second semester of his sophomore year and didn’t compete in track for Oak Harbor that spring.

Although he isn’t from a military family, he has moved seven times while growing up. The final move was when his mother, Lynette, brought the family back to Oak Harbor, her hometown, just as the football season was starting the fall of his junior year.

Devroe started for the Wildcats as a defensive back his first two seasons, then doubled as a running back the final two.

Last season he rushed for 1,214 yards (fifth best in school history), averaged 12.6 yards per carry (a school record) and scored 16 touchdowns (nine by 40 yards or more).

For his career, he rushed for 2,199 yards (third most) with a 9.7 average gain (again, a school record).

He would have placed  higher up the record chart but missed one game as a junior because of an injury, and Oak Harbor played two fewer games this past fall than most seasons when a Canadian team backed out of a game and Oak Harbor did not play the day of the Marysville-Pilchuck shootings.

Oak Harbor High School football coach Jay Turner said Devroe is a true football player, not just a sprinter wearing a helmet.

“He always did a great job of waiting for his blocks to develop, and then when he needed to turn on the jets he could to burst through the hole,” Turner said. “He also possesses a lot of balance, which makes it tough to bring him down with one tackler.”

Turner said that the colleges “are missing something” by not recruiting Devroe.

“Dejon is a special athlete with some amazing natural abilities,” Turner said. “But what makes me most impressed with him is his relentless desire to get better. He is one of the hardest workers that I have coached. The guy is never satisfied and is always trying to improve and make himself better. Without a doubt, Dejon can play college football.”

Devroe said his current goals, the 400-meter school record and state title, are achievable because of the help of his teammates.

“We compete and we push each other to get better and better and better,” he said. “I learned a lesson from my brother (Devante), to be one of the best, you have to work against the best.”

He is also getting help improving his football stock from Oak Harbor High School graduate Rodrick Rumble, who went on to be a record-setting receiver at Idaho State University, and Terrance Booker, a member of his church.

“Rodrick told me you have to keep pushing and pushing because there will not always be someone there to push you.”

Rumble is helping Devroe improve his football and track skills through weight training and agility drills.

Devroe, whose grandparents David and Linda Jenkins, are pastors of the Living Faith Christian Center, looks to his faith to help him through the frustrating recruiting process.

“I put my faith in God that it will all work out in the end,” he said. “You may not get looks, so you have to look beyond that. As long as you put in the hard work -– if you do your best –- God will reveal your path to you.”