LAKE STEVENS — To running backs Jayden and Jayshon Limar, family is everything.
It’s easy to see how important family is to the Lake Stevens brothers. If you can’t tell by the glowing words that Jayden and Jayshon use when talking about each other, you can see it in the “Family First” tattoo that adorns Jayden’s left forearm.
The Limar family has given fans of fifth-ranked Lake Stevens plenty to get excited about over the past several seasons. Jayden is a University of Notre Dame bound four-star senior who rushed for 1,549 yards last season with 20 rushing touchdowns, while hauling in 24 receptions for 369 yards and four scores through the air.
Behind him on the depth chart is Jayshon, a sophomore who rushed for 561 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, and is already drawing interest from Pac-12 schools such as Arizona, Arizona State and Washington State.
With his brother next to him and his parents in the stands, Jayden knows he can do anything on the football field.
“My family are the only people in my life who have never let me down,” Jayden said. “That’s something I always want to keep close to my heart and know that if I’ve got them, I’m straight. I don’t need a bunch of extra people around me if I’ve got my family.”
Off the field, the brothers go everywhere together. When Jayden went to workouts over the offseason with players such as current Miami Dolphins running back Myles Gaskin, he brought Jayshon.
When he met with college coaches during recruiting visits, he made sure they all knew Jayshon’s name.
“I see the potential he has, and I just want everybody to know it,” Jayden said. “And so if I’m able to help him out, talk to people for him and get him looks like that, I’m gonna do whatever I can to get him to the next level.”
On the field, both brothers say their protective instinct kicks in when they play together. Football is already a game of intense emotions, which only get heightened when your brother is out there next to you.
“It feels really great,” Jayshon said. “You know, I like how we’re able to block for each other and protect each other, because I feel like that gives us more of a meaning to block. I just love playing with him. He shows me everything he knows and he makes me a better player. I try to strive to be like him, and I love it.”
When the Limar brothers are in the backfield, Lake Stevens quarterback Kaden LaPlaunt knows that he has nothing to worry about.
Against Bellevue on Sept. 9, Jayden piled up 297 offensive yards and three touchdowns, while Jayshon had 52 yards on eight carries.
“I love the way they work together,” LaPlaunt said. “On and off the field, it’s always bringing energy to each other and bringing each other up. I think that is how they are able to be so successful on the field.”
Jayden and Jayshon’s mother, Linnie Limar, says that part of the reason for her sons’ close relationship is that she and husband Reggie have made an emphasis on making the boys into well-rounded people, not just athletes.
Football isn’t everything in the Limar household.
“You see some parents where it’s like, ‘The sport is everything and you can’t miss anything.’ We didn’t do that. We didn’t want to make it our God, because that could cause burnout or something,” Linnie said. “We do a lot of different things outside of sports with the family and it has helped. The football is just the cherry on top.”
Reggie had a similar experience in high school, playing basketball with his older brother Steven at Everett High School.
To him, the fact that Jayden gets to go play at Notre Dame is a “dream come true,” Reggie said.
He would’ve loved to have lived out that dream himself, but as a dad, it’s more exciting to see Jayden accomplish his dreams.
“It’s even better watching my son do it, to be honest,” he continued. “It’s better watching him thrive and watching him and both of them, seeing what they’re doing, putting in the work and all that, it’s better than what I went through. I’m just trying to cherish it and ride it out.”
Jayden is the unquestioned leader of the Vikings (3-2). When he speaks, the team listens.
But Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri has seen Jayshon start to show some of those same leadership traits during practice, and it’s clear that the team trusts them both.
“Guys know that they know that they’re talking about,” Tri said. “They listen almost automatically. They also have a lot of natural charisma about them and guys want to follow them because they’re energetic, and they’re positive.”
Tri calls the brothers “selfless.” They’re always trying to help each other get better during practice, and Jayden even drove the Vikings all the way to the red zone before letting Jayshon take the ball in for a touchdown a few times last season.
“They speak the same language, so to speak,” Tri said. “They are definitely brothers, but they are also great teammates to each other.”
With his older brother headed to one of college football’s most revered schools and ranked as the No. 4 2023 recruit in the state by 247Sports.com, Jayshon knows he has a lot to live up to next season.
But his goal is clear. Whatever Jayden did on the field for the Vikings, Jayshon wants to beat it.
Their mom says that is an ongoing theme for the brothers. If Jayden gets a 3.2 GPA, Jayshon wants a 4.0. If Jayden sets a record on the football field, Jayshon wants to break it. Good-natured competition is a constant.
“It’s kind of created a natural accountability or striving to do better between the two of them,” Linnie said. “Which has worked in our favor, I guess. They don’t compete against each other or put each other down, but (Jayden) sets the bar and then (Jayshon) is like ‘Oh, hold on.’ It’s been a nice dynamic for parenting.”
They’re family, after all.
“We’re basically like best friends. I’d share anything with him, and I trust him with everything,” Jayshon said. “I trust him with my life, and I love him so much.”