JonRyheem Peoples' head shot was scattered throughout media outlets. He always had a knack for grabbing headlines.
He was a multisport star at Rigby High School, impossible to miss at well over 6-feet tall and close to 300 pounds. His accolades in football, basketball and track and field got him plenty of positive publicity as a teenager. The blonde streak in his afro and his dark skin instantly drew eyes in the 4,000-person, mostly white, Mormon town nestled between the Montana and Wyoming borders.
The afro turned into dreadlocks, the athletic success disappeared, and the positive pub he'd built his name on took on a new tune.
“ISU football player charged with 2 felony counts for marijuana dealing,” one January 2016 headline read. “JonRyheem Peoples charged with marijuana distribution,” said another.
It was the most prevalent Peoples had been in years, since he accepted a football scholarship to play at BYU after a standout prep career. Peoples had always craved the limelight, but not like this. His star power had dimmed, and darkness flooded his life.
Before his arrest and subsequent charges, Peoples had been stripped of his scholarship at BYU because of poor fitness and paltry grades. He transferred to Idaho State with a flawed air of supremacy. Ongoing family issues and a damaged childhood still lingered.
His legal proceedings led to ISU pulling Peoples' second scholarship. The bulletproof, me-against-the-world star athlete couldn't defeat the universe. A football future appeared impossible. Jail seemed inevitable. Life for Peoples would be easier if it didn't exist.
“I was going to commit suicide,” Peoples said. “Everything just built up to a ticking time bomb, and I had just had it.”
***
Peoples never had a steady home life growing up. He moved from small town to small town, switching between living with his mom and dad, who separated less than a year after Peoples was born.
Dad is black, from the Southern California desert, a former football player at Idaho State. Mom is white, from the tiny community of Freedom, Wyoming. Dad gave Peoples tough love. Mom remarried and had four children with her new husband, pitting Peoples as the standalone stepchild.
Whichever small town Peoples went with his mom, he faced racism. He and his mom frequented the principal's office to deal with the fallout from fights. Often the only black kid in his class, Peoples was targeted and defended himself the only way he knew how.
“He was always on the fight,” said Peoples' mom, Amy Cano. “He was always having to fight for who he was or fight just to stand up for himself. I always told him to stand up for himself. I was a big believer in that.”
Cano said Peoples was hit with racial epithets. They eventually worked together to turn the hatred into positive energy – motivation of sorts. Peoples' athletic ability blossomed at Rigby High, and the community had no choice but to gravitate toward him, despite his minority status.
“All the little kids would always run up to him and that would just melt his heart,” Cano said. “They'd always want to talk to him, and some of them would want an autograph.”
By the end of his senior year, Peoples had it all: a girlfriend, popularity, a handful of state championships and his pick of regional Division I football programs. Peoples' misfit had turned into intrigue and respect.
But there was natural pressure that came with the stardom. Peoples' dad instilled a hatred of failure Peoples still carries. Peoples ruminated on the slightest mistakes, becoming his own worst critic.
“He really hates to disappoint anybody,” Cano said.
***
Peoples arrived at BYU still riding his high school stardom. Local media covered Peoples and the Cougars intently, highlighting the freshman from Rigby as a potential star in the making.
But Peoples was no longer a standout, rather one of many supreme athletes battling for playing time at a successful college program. Peoples was redshirted as a freshman, a perceived punishment he didn't know how to handle.
“I started not working out,” Peoples said. “I just started getting down on myself. I think I lost a lot of confidence is what it was.”
Peoples' grades plummeted, and his weight ballooned. He was recruited as a 298-pound defensive tackle and gained nearly 100 pounds of bad weight.
Then-BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall gave Peoples an ultimatum: lose weight and get his grades up, or his scholarship would be stripped.
“I lost half of (the weight) we agreed on,” Peoples said. “I lost my scholarship, and that's when I was like, 'You know, I just want to be done. I want to get out of here.'
“I didn't know if I wanted to play football anymore.”
Peoples ultimately transferred to Idaho State, where John Peoples, his dad, played in the early 1990s. JonRyheem eventually became academically eligible after raising his GPA from a 0.8, he said, but still had to earn playing time.
“When he first got here, he was kind of an entitled, spoiled kid,” Idaho State defensive line coach Steve Fifita said. “I think in high school, he was just so much more talented than everybody that he never really had to work hard. He never really had to exert himself to compete.”
Peoples' fitness was still subpar, and Fifita said his performance was wildly inconsistent. Peoples tallied 24 tackles and 1 sack in 11 games during the 2015 season, a disappointing debut FCS season for a once heralded future FBS star.
Shortly after the season ended, Peoples was back in the spotlight. His two felony counts of marijuana distribution led to his indefinite dismissal from the football team and another lost scholarship. Peoples' once bright future was crashing down, and his failures were stacking up.
“Leaving (BYU), I didn't know what I wanted,” Peoples said. “I didn't know where I wanted to be, who I wanted to be. I just felt lost. That's when I started getting into trouble, hanging out with the wrong crowd, and everything went downhill from there.”
At one point in the summer of 2016, Peoples said he was a trigger pull away from ending it all. His mom and others talked him down, promising things would get better, ensuring he still had love in his corner. Giving up would be the ultimate letdown.
Peoples eventually pleaded his felonies down to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to four years of probation and a suspended jail sentence. He was reinstated to the football team but needed to earn his scholarship back.
He was swimming out of the darkness that consumed him, rebuilding his self-confidence and finally finding himself.
“It was a humbling experience,” Peoples said. “In a weird way, I needed it, which is hard to say. It was the wake-up call I needed.”
***
Today, Peoples is at peace with himself. He starts and leads ISU's defensive line. His high school girlfriend is now his fiancé. NFL scouts inquire about his potential. If the NFL doesn't work out, he wants to open a fly fishing shop. He finds his Zen fly fishing on his 16-foot drift boat he calls “my girl.” He earned his scholarship back. He entertains his teammates with self-created magic tricks. He earned Big Sky Conference academic honors last fall by maintaining a GPA at or above 3.2. Once he graduates, he'll join his dad as the only two members of the family with a college degree.
He wants to start a family and provide financial stability for those he cares about. He shows his love of animals with forearm tattoos – a tiger to remind himself to stay fierce, an owl to remind him to stay wise. He talks softly, pridefully and shamelessly.
It took him nearly losing everything, but JonRyheem Peoples finally discovered his direction.
“Everything happens for a reason, I believe,” Peoples said. “I know my purpose in life.”