The Oklahoman's Super 30: Douglass WR Jaden Nickens has shown 'dog mentality' with Trojans

Douglass High School football coach Damon Turner recently struggled to answer a question from a coaching buddy.

Is Jaden Nickens , the Trojans’ new star receiver, better than Talyn Shettron , another dynamic receiver Turner coached at Edmond Santa Fe?

“I think the thing that separates Jaden is just his mentality to be the best,” Turner said. “He has a dog mentality. He always feels like he’s going to win the battle.”

Turner paused.

He grunted as he considered his full answer.

“I would probably give him the slight edge over Talyn just because of his mentality and how he approaches it as far as that aspect of it,” Turner continued. “Talent-wise, I think they're pretty even.”

While Shettron is preparing for his third season at Oklahoma State , Nickens is preparing for his senior season on a new team as questions surround his future.

More: A look at The Oklahoman's 2025 Super 30 high school football recruiting series

Most ask if he’ll stay at Douglass, winner of just six games the past five years. But the key questions are if he will play only football or also basketball in college. Also, where is he going to play after decommitting from OU in March?

“He loves basketball. He loves football,” Turner said. “I think he’s still juggling with that at the moment.

“He’s still kind of up in the air of where he wants to go.”

Nickens was unavailable for an interview despite multiple attempts from The Oklahoman .

He is ranked No. 5 on The Oklahoman ’s Super 30 rankings of the state’s top college football recruits in the 2025 class. Turner said the 6-foot-3, 190-pound dual-sport star has received interest from Michigan State, South Carolina, Texas A&M and others this spring.

A star at Millwood last season, Nickens caught 55 passes for 1,090 yards and 12 touchdowns. He put Millwood in the Class 2A championship game with a remarkable 77-yard kick return touchdown as time expired in the state semifinals.

He then left for Douglass and helped the Trojans win a basketball state championship.

That sparked something inside of Nickens. So, he reopened his recruitment after initially pledging to OU.

“I wanted to see if other colleges would have interest in allowing me to play football and basketball, and some have so far,” Nickens said in March. “Right now I’m just letting God direct my journey because he always knows what's best at the end of the day.”

Turner said Nickens was impressive in spring practices. At a team camp in Harrah, he caught what Turner estimated to be about 10 passes for 200 yards and around four touchdowns.

More: The Oklahoman's Super 30: How Pocola's Dakotah Terrell became one of top recruits in state

Then Nickens left for AAU basketball.

“The thing that I admire about him the most is his work habits,” Turner said. “For the level of his talent, he’s the hardest-working kid and you just don’t get that very often.”

Initially, Turner questioned whether Nickens would benefit from playing at Douglass.

So, he sat down with Nickens. The conversation was brutally honest.

“We’re rebuilding,” Turner said. “The program’s been kind of down, we’ve got some young kids.”

Nickens was unmoved.

“Coach, I want to be a part of the process. I want to help you start to implement your culture and help turn it around,” Turner recalled Nickens saying in the moment.

Turner has been amazed since. Turner said Nickens has been a “model kid.”

And any questions the coach had have gone away.

“There’s a lot of things that was said,” Turner said about the past eight months. “But I just think the kid goes about it the right way, he’s tough mentally and he’s been a great teammate since he’s been at Douglass.”

More: The Oklahoman's Super 30: How OU commit Alexander Shieldnight found way back to football

The Oklahoman’s 2025 Super 30

• Name: Jaden Nickens
• School: Douglass
• Super 30 ranking: No. 5
• Height: 6-foot-3
• Weight: 190
• Position: Wide receiver
• Recruited by: Michigan State, South Carolina, Texas A&M and others

The Oklahoman’s 2025 Super 30 feature series

The Oklahoman ’s Super 30 feature series will spotlight each high school football player on the Super 30 recruit rankings for the 2025 class through July 21. The series continued Tuesday with No. 5, Douglass wide receiver Jaden Nickens. See No. 4 on the list in Wednesday’s edition of The Oklahoman .

Here are the last five players we’ve featured:

• No. 5: Jaden Nickens, WR, Douglass
• No. 6: Dakotah Terrell, TE, Pocola
• No. 7: Alexander Shieldnight, DE, Wagoner
• No. 8: Broderick Shull, OL, Bixby
• No. 9: Trynae Washington, S, Carl Albert

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Oklahoman's Super 30: Douglass WR Jaden Nickens has shown 'dog mentality' with Trojans