This former Curtis football star is still amazing audiences. His acrobatic catches are an internet sensation

Rahmel Dockery still turns heads when he steps on a football field.

These days, the former Curtis High School wide receiver is shocking online audiences with acrobatic catches he films during workout sessions in Tacoma.

Rahmel, 25, was one of the most explosive players in Washington during his high school career, known for his speed, spring and big-play ability.

When he played college football at Oregon State University, he started posting a series of videos to his YouTube channel, which now has more than 200,000 subscribers, detailing his experiences.

“I just blogged about our games and what that experience was like because I wanted to motivate kids,” Dockery said.

“I developed a deep passion for making entertaining videos. I was making a workout video one day to inspire some kids, and I did a cool catch.”

He started posting videos of his spectacular catches — which often include corralling multiple passes simultaneously, through the legs or behind the back — across social media platforms several months ago.

Dockery went viral again Sunday evening, when he posted a video of a no-look, one-handed catch to his Twitter.

Sound too simple? Dockery did a running backflip off of the yellow wall at Stadium Bowl, snagging the ball behind his back as he stuck the landing.

That video, which was picked up by SportsCenter, already has several million views.

This isn’t the first time Dockery has gone viral, either. His catches have been featured by the ESPN flagship series before, and on NFL Network.

“I was really excited,” Dockery said, remembering the first time his catches caught significant attention. “A lot of my subscribers on YouTube know my story.

“My goal is to get to the NFL. I’ve been training really hard. When something like that happens, I think maybe my hard work is paying off.”

Dockery lit up defenses while at Curtis, finishing with 73 catches for 1,443 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior, and compiling more than 2,600 all-purpose yards.

“He does things you can't coach," former Curtis coach Clay Angle told The News Tribune in 2010. "He just has an innate sense on the field.”

Dockery was the TNT All-Area player of the year in 2010, and an all-state pick by TNT, The Seattle Times and The Associated Press.

He was also a TNT Western 100 selection, and an honorable mention Northwest Nugget as a senior.

But, his college playing career didn’t pan out as he expected. He signed with Washington State out of high school, eventually transferring to Oregon State after a coaching change.

At both Pac-12 schools, the coaches who recruited him left not long after he arrived.

“I’ve always been able to do this kind of stuff,” Dockery said of his catches. “College was something I was really looking forward to. … Things didn’t really go my way, so I didn’t get to showcase that as much as I wanted to.”

Dockery, now 5 feet ,10 inches tall and 180 pounds, had a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks last year, but it didn’t pan out.

“That motivated me a lot, that whole experience, to keep working,” Dockery said. “I got a little taste of it, and it made me want it that much more.”

Dockery continues to work out around Tacoma, following the same training routines that made him a high school football sensation, and a 7-0 high jumper by the time he was a sophomore.

He runs the stairs at Stadium Bowl, does resistant sprinting drills, hits the weight room hard and maintains a steady diet.

Dockery hopes all of the attention from his viral catches, which have earned him hundreds of thousands of social media followers, will spark a call from an NFL team.

“I just want one workout,” he wrote on Twitter after his backflip video took off.

In the meantime, he’s happy to continue mentoring younger players through his videos.

“I have a bunch of kids I’m mentoring and helping in their lives,” Dockery said. “If any NFL team calls, I know I’ll be ready.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 6:34 PM with the headline "This former Curtis football star is still amazing audiences. His acrobatic catches are an internet sensation."