For 23-year-old redshirt senior tailback Quincy Jountti from Bakersfield, Calif., football is more than just an extracurricular activity — it’s an avenue that provides financial stability and highlights a rich family tradition galvanized by his mom. When they were young, the Jountti boys would gather around the TV set every Saturday with their mom to see who the USC Trojans would be facing.
“I wasn’t the sports type of guy,” said Quincy’s father, Darryl Jountti. “I was afraid my sons would get hurt, but their mom convinced me to let them pursue it.”
The Jountti brothers were routinely inspired by the tricks and skills of the Trojan athletes they grew up watching.
“I wanted a team of lawyers, but I got a team of athletes,” Darryl said. “I was stern about academics and furthering their education, so I was shocked when my sons told me they wanted to play football.”
Such tradition led Quincy to uncover a burning passion for the game of football. This hunger inspired and motivated him down a path he carved on his own. In 2019, Quincy earned an offer as a walk-on at USC, becoming the first in his family to receive an athletic scholarship.
“It means so much to be a part of the Trojan family,” Quincy said. “I kept my head down and went to work daily.”
But Jountti’s road to the Coliseum wasn’t a smooth one. On Labor Day in 2004, at the age of five, the soil that would nurture Quincy’s love for sports was abruptly washed away.
That morning, Quincy said, he woke up to find his extended family gathered in his living room, completely silent. He looked around the room, puzzled at the number of family members in his house at such an early hour.
“I didn’t remember anyone telling me that we were having a family reunion, barbecue or anything like that, I had thought to myself,” Quincy said. “The atmosphere felt awkward. I didn’t know what was going on, but I felt like something was off.”
Quincy and the many family members left for his aunt’s house a few miles away. As they turned into the driveway, he saw several vehicles parked along the street. He got out of the car and walked into the house, where he found more disconsolate relatives.
He realized his mother was nowhere in the room.
Darryl gathered his five young boys on the couch. Unable to hold back tears, he told them their mother had died during the night from a heart attack.
She was only 32.
“That was the first time I saw my dad and two older brothers cry,” Quincy said.
With his mother’s unexpected loss, other family members began to question if his father was fit to raise the boys on his own. His grandmother sued for custody of all five children. Quincy’s father had to use his sons’ college trust funds to pay for the ensuing litigation.
He won the case and kept custody of all five sons.
“My family is all I got, and I will fight for them,” Darryl said.
Seeking a fresh start, the Jountti family moved to the country hills of North Hill, Calif. They stayed with their dad’s oldest sister of 17 siblings, Lafaye Francisco. After his mom’s death, Quincy’s passion for football began to extinguish. He and his four brothers moved in with their aunt.
“My dad worked in the Redondo Beach area, south of LAX airport, so my aunt raised us,” Quincy said. “Besides my mom, that’s my rock.”
A couple of years later, his dad found love again, remarried and had the daughter he’d wanted so badly. The family ended up moving back to Bakersfield, this time with two additional members.
“I was just happy to see my dad happy again,” Quincy said.
New beginnings were within arms’ reach for the Jountti family. They began a business of buying, breeding and trading horses, selling them when money was tight. Darryl wanted to teach them entrepreneurship and how to be independent, strong men.
“I’m a country boy; I love horses,” Quincy said. “At one point, we had 32 horses, and my dad taught us how to hustle, so if there was a school dance or anything we needed money for, we would sell a horse to get what we needed.”
The experience served the Jountti boys well, helping them develop a mindset to chase what they desired.
By the time Quincy began his freshman year at Liberty High School, he had rekindled his love for football. As a freshman, Quincy had the chance to play on the varsity team with his older brother, Corbin, a senior at the time.
“I had made a really good hit one game,” Quincy recalled, smiling, “and the announcer shouted, ‘Corbin Jountti’s little brother on the play!’ I felt like I contributed big time to the game.”
After that game, Quincy’s football career took off. He finished his high school career with a total of 2,340 rushing yards, 380 carries and 44 touchdowns.
In Bakersfield, though, many athletes can go unseen and never get exposed to recruiters.
“You have Southern California and then Northern California; those are the big recruitment spots for colleges,” Quincy said. “Central Cal gets overlooked.”
Corbin had caught the eyes of the staff at Northern Arizona, where he eventually graduated with his four-year degree. Then, he did something out of the ordinary and applied for a USC master’s program with hopes of walking on to the football team.
“Being the older brother, I knew when my mother died [that] I had to make sure I set the right example for my little brothers,” Corbin said. “USC was a dream of mine, but I had a better chance of pursuing it after I graduated from Northern Arizona.”
In 2017, Corbin was accepted into USC to pursue his master’s. He walked on to the team and made it onto the Trojans’ special teams unit.
“When he walked on to the USC football team and made it, the whole family was surprised — even me,” Quincy said.
Once Quincy realized playing Division I football was within his reach, he began training and attending camps in a bid to gain recognition.
But navigating the process was difficult.
“I didn’t have the mother-like figure helping me get through my application process,” Quincy said. “I did most of it on my own.”
USC had offered Quincy a spot on the team but not a scholarship, so initially he accepted an offer from Sacramento State to play running back.
“I knew I was going to a smaller school and had dreams of going to the NFL one day,” Quincy said. “So I knew going in I had to go crazy all four years.”
His plan going into his freshman year was to redshirt — that way, he could have five years of eligibility, giving him an extra year to obtain a master’s degree while generating exposure for a shot at the NFL.
But things didn’t go as planned.
Going into the 2017 season, Quincy was projected to be the starting running back for the Hornets. Then, a week before the season opener, the coaches changed his position from running back to defensive back.
“That literally turned my world upside down,” Quincy said. “Playing defense was never in the picture, and I hardly played defense in high school … It just wasn’t something I was comfortable doing.”
He essentially had two options: Stick it out or transfer.
“I found myself in a space where I no longer want to be at Sacramento State,” Quincy said. “But if it weren’t for my older brother Corbin telling me to stick in and don’t quit, I wouldn’t have played that last season.”
Once the season was completed, Quincy requested and received his release from the team and began his final spring semester at Sacramento State as a regular university student.
“It’s crazy ‘cause I could take naps and not be disturbed by an alarm to make it to 5 p.m. meetings or get up for practice,” Quincy said. “I needed that semester break off.”
He began reaching out to USC coaches, notifying them that he wanted an opportunity to walk on to the team. He had sent out emails and text messages, but it was mainly one-sided.
“I had the idea of walking on to the USC team because my brother had done it,” Quincy said. “Now, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it would be feasible.”
After frequently reaching out to the coaches, Quincy’s uncertainty about the future made him desperate.
“A friend of mine told me the coaches were in their offices one time for open hours,” Quincy said. “So I drive six hours from Sacramento, without a formal meeting, to meet with the coaches — to find out no one was even there.”
This would happen to Quincy two more times within 24 hours because of the unreliable information he’d been given. He drove from Sacramento to Los Angeles three times in an attempt to reach anyone within the facility, but the coaches were no longer in office by the time he arrived.
Still no luck.
After the semester was over at Sacramento State, Quincy returned to Bakersfield.
“I was still training and working hard when I got home because you never know when your time will come,” Quincy said. “I was anticipating a call at any time.”
Fate soon changed for him on Labor Day in 2018, when he received a text from a USC coach reading, “Be safe out there [training camp] this weekend.” Quincy was confused. He screenshotted the message and sent it to his brother for clarity.
“When I looked back at my phone, it was my brother,” Quincy said. “He had told me that I had got in and made the team, and the coaches found a position as a walk-on.”
Due to NCAA transfer rules, he sat out the 2018 season and lost a year of eligibility. But Quincy used that as an opportunity to showcase his talent during USC practices and workouts.
During this time, he and Corbin lived 30 miles from the USC campus, and with traffic, it could take longer. He would have early morning practices and late-night study sessions to make it all work. He did not miss one practice. He did not miss one class. He played hard, fought tough and ran fast.
In 2019, his determination and motivation inspired everyone around him, and his coaches took notice. His willingness to fight and make a way out of no way earned him a scholarship.
“If you want something in life, go get it,” senior tailback Stephen Carr said. “Quincy is an inspiration. He walked on to USC, busted his behind and earned a scholarship.”
Jountti was overcome with emotion when the coaches announced his scholarship.
“When I received the news from my coaches during our team meeting, I cried,” he said. “I mean, cried.”
Quincy’s career at USC has just kicked off, and he is already doing big things. He won USC’S Joe Collins Walk-on Award and Lifters Award given to those who progress in weightlifting.
USC finished the unprecedented 2020 football season with a record of 5-1 and ranked No. 21 overall. This season wasn’t what Quincy expected. He completed only two attempts for four rushing yards, but he won’t let this season discourage him. He plans on using the offseason to work harder than he ever has. Quincy is preparing for the unexpected so he can be ready for whatever is to come in the future.
“I am blessed with incredible sons,” Darryl said. “I do not doubt in my mind that Quincy [will] touch the sky. He inspires me every day.”