Oct. 14—Following his two-interception game against Northern Colorado last week, Eastern Washington cornerback JoJo Maxey-Johnson did something many college football players do after a football game: He sought out his brother.
But unlike so many others, the redshirt junior cornerback wasn't making his way toward the stands. Instead, he had only to wander a little bit farther along the sidelines, where he found his brother, EWU redshirt junior safety Jaylon Jenkins.
His message: You've got three, brother, but now I have two.
"We're in competition with each other all the time," Maxey-Johnson said after the Eagles' 31-22 victory. "I told him that I just closed the gap on him."
If interceptions is the metric, then Maxey-Johnson still has some catching up to do, in the long term and in the short term. Jenkins, a second-year starter in the Eagles' secondary, now has eight interceptions in his 31-game career. Maxey-Johnson, who is starting this year for the first time and has played in 12 college games, has just three picks — all of them, coincidentally, against Northern Colorado over the past two seasons.
But the brothers, brought together by marriage 10 years ago but friends for even longer than that, share a bond that isn't driven simply by competition. It's also driven by admiration for what each of them brings to the Eagles' secondary.
"It's always been a brotherly competition, ever since we were young," Jenkins said this week amid Eastern's preparations for No. 5 Montana State (5-1, 2-1 Big Sky), which will play the Eagles (2-5, 1-3) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Roos Field in Cheney.
"There's never been any animosity," Jenkins said. "I feel like that's the best type of competition. It drives you. It keeps you going."
Jenkins may have the longer resume thus far, but this year he and Maxey-Johnson have started all seven games for the Eagles, side by side in the secondary.
Last week, the Eagles actually started two pairs of brothers, with the Bells — Nate, at quarterback, and Jaxon, at running back — lining up in the same backfield.
Montana State, their opponent on Saturday, has on its roster brothers Taco and Caden Dowler, all-conference players at wide receiver and safety, respectively. They were key members of the Bobcats' national championship team last season; this year, both have dealt with injuries, and Taco Dowler is unlikely to play Saturday, when Caden Dowler is expected to return to the starting lineup.
"He wears No. 41 for a reason," EWU offensive coordinator Marc Anderson said of Caden Dowler, referring to the Bobcats' legacy number on defense. "He's played a lot of football and is very sharp that way."
Jenkins and Maxey-Johnson haven't received all the accolades of the Dowlers, but they are working their way in that direction: Jenkins was named to the Big Sky preseason all-conference team and is tied with three other players at second in the Big Sky with three interceptions. Maxey-Johnson is one of eight Big Sky players with two interceptions, including EWU teammate Ambrose Marsh.
Caden Dowler, limited to two games this season, has yet to record an interception. But he had six of them last season, when he also forced two fumbles and made 91 tackles across 16 games.
Unlike the Dowlers, who played together at Billings West High School, Jenkins and Maxey-Johnson attended different high schools in Western Washington. So, their tenure at Eastern marks the first time since eighth grade that they were on the same team.
Jenkins' mother and Maxey-Johnson's father first met when the boys played on the same little league football team. They got married in 2016 and then coordinated as best they could so that the boys, born one month apart, could spend most weekends together.
Maxey-Johnson attended Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma, where he played wide receiver and cornerback. He also competed in track and basketball.
Jenkins attended Federal Way High School and played more offense than defense, but he drew more attention in recruiting as a safety than a wide receiver, largely because that was Jenkins' preferred position.
"I mean, it's not fun getting hit," he said. "So, being able to control that aspect and being able to go hit somebody is a lot better."
Jenkins got more Division I recruiting attention out of high school and landed a scholarship offer from Eastern. Maxey-Johnson came to the Eagles as a preferred walk-on.
Both were in for an indoctrination to the demands of college football.
"For me it was the level of commitment you had to have," Maxey-Johnson said. "You couldn't wake up one day and feel like you didn't want to do it. You had to be on all the time."
Jenkins had a similar experience.
"It was a different level of discipline," Jenkins said, noting the importance of being on time, managing his own time and making sure he was watching enough film. "That wasn't really stuff that I was exposed to (in high school)."
Both redshirted during the 2023 season. The next year, Jenkins played in 11 games and made 16 tackles; Maxey-Johnson played in just one, at home against Idaho State.
But Maxey-Johnson played four games in 2025, including the Eagles' last home game of the year in which he made the game-sealing interception against the Bears. Earlier that game, Jenkins nabbed his fifth interception of the season.
With some uncertainty as to who would play opposite Marsh at cornerback heading into this season, Maxey-Johnson earned not just a starting spot but a full scholarship as well.
He has embraced the starting role as well as the leadership that comes with it.
"I feel like it comes with the territory of being an older guy now and being a starter as well," Maxey-Johnson said. "Sometimes you've got to do things. This year I am in position to be more of a leader."
The word "brotherhood" gets used a lot to describe a football team, and it's one Jenkins doesn't shy away from. It's a close-knit group, after all, he said, considering what the group goes through over the course of the year.
Still, there is something special to him about jogging out to the field before the first snap of a football game, knowing that there is one person on the field for whom that title carries a more literal meaning.
"I use the word 'brother' in speech a lot," Jenkins said. "But it feels different out of your mouth when they're really your brother."
