On the Plains: Quientrail “Bobby” Jamison-Travis ready to etch his name in Auburn history

Quientrail Jamison-Travis proved to be too many vowels, too many consonants and too many syllables for the defensive room at Iowa Western Community College. Now answering to “Bobby,” Jamison-Travis doesn’t mind what he goes by, just as long as Jordan-Hare Stadium public address announcer Ric Smith is calling his name on Saturdays. 

“Stuck with me through JUCO,” explained Jamison-Travis. “They were trying to figure out a name for me. It was the DB’s, actually. They thought I looked like Bobby Shmurda. So it stuck.”

It wasn’t always about the gridiron for Bobby, though. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman had dreams of resembling an SEC legend from a different sport. 

“Oh, I wanted to be the Shaq(uille O’Neal), actually,” Jamison-Travis said. “After a while, though, I was like, basketball ain't for me. So I'm going to try this football route.”

Football wasn’t entirely foreign for Bobby. The Minneapolis, Minnesota, product watched as his brothers and cousins played the game growing up. 

“One day I went to a football practice when I was in eighth grade,” said Jamison-Travis. “The head coach came up to me and said, ‘Who are you playing for right now?’ I said I wasn’t playing for anybody. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, just come to practice tomorrow.’”

From then on, Bobby traded his Hoop Dreams for aspirations to play on Any Given Sunday. 

“Sophomore year (in high school) really sparked it for me,” Jamison-Travis said. “Freshman year, I didn’t get much playing time. They had seniors over me, so they were trying to get them out there. I respect that, though. It’s a senior’s last year, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. 

“But then sophomore year, I came in and balled. Junior year, balled. Now I’m a senior and young people were looking up to me. So I had to show up.”

Jamison-Travis has never shied away from expectations. In fact, his track record has allowed him to raise the bar along every step of his journey. 

“I want us to go to the national championship,” said Jamison-Travis. “We just have to have the right mentality. Throughout my high school career, I never lost a regular-season game. We all lost in the playoffs.

“Won a championship my freshman year, semifinals my junior year, lost in the championships my senior year.”

The ever-athletic defensive lineman even caught the attention of the high school basketball coach, Larry McKenzie, during a pickup game and led Minnesota North to the Twin City Championship game behind 27 points and 11 rebounds. 

Jamison-Travis’ success carried over to his stop at Iowa Western. All he did was become the No.1 JUCO prospect in the state of Iowa and help the Reivers to a NJCAA national title in 2022. 

Then came the biggest decision of Bobby’s life up to that moment.

“I was going to commit to Florida State first, before I even had an offer from Auburn, but they wouldn’t let me commit,” Jamison-Travis explained. “What really made me come to Auburn was the coaching staff. It was between Auburn and Penn State for my last two.

“The day before signing day, Coach Vontrell (King-Williams) called me. I had a previous relationship with Coach Vontrell, so I thought, ‘Let me see what they are talking about.’ 

“It was something good. So I called up Penn State and said I’m not coming.”

Since arriving on the Plains, there hasn’t been a moment when Bobby thought he made the wrong decision to come to Auburn. 

“Teammates,” Jamison-Travis said emphatically. “I have great teammates. If you mess up, they’re going to get on you. The fans here are incredible too. When I first got here, I wasn’t used to all that noise. When I first touched that field, I was completely nervous. Now I can’t wait for them to go crazy.”

Amid the chaos, there’s one thing that keeps Bobby grounded through his journey.

“Family is very important to me,” Jamison-Travis said. “They’ve been through this process ever since I started playing football. Especially my mom.

“She’s a single mom, so she really had to raise me and my other siblings on her own because my dad passed when I was young. She really helped me just tighten up and let me know that she got me and my brothers and sisters right behind her.”

Now a father of his own to Jasir and Jayla, Bobby and his girlfriend, Janae Winters, have sights on life in the NFL and aspirations well after his playing career ends. 

“Actually, I want to get into coaching,” said Jamison-Travis. “My plan, after football, has always been to get into coaching. I want to go back to the high school level. Some high schools don’t prepare kids for college. I’m not really talking football-wise, but academic-wise. They weren’t preparing us for college. Most people are struggling when they jump up to college. I want to go back to be a coach, not just to coach them up in football, but in life too.”