Why Ree Drummond Adopted Jamar Goff, and Where He Is Today

TLDR: Jamar Goff is the foster son of Ree and Ladd Drummond, who took him in during 2018 after he came to them as a teenager from the Pawhuska football team. He is 23, and in September 2026 he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama on charges that have not been tested in court. Checked October 29, 2026.

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For years, fans of The Pioneer Woman heard about four Drummond kids. Then Ree Drummond introduced a fifth, a very tall teenager from the football field who had simply turned up with a bag in hand.

His name is Jamar Goff, and his story has always been told with more warmth than most reality-TV family tales. It has also, in the last few weeks, taken a hard turn.

Jamar Came to the Drummonds Through Football

Jamar played with Bryce and Todd at Pawhuska High School, and Ladd had crossed paths with him on the field. When things at his own home became too difficult, he asked to stay with the family.

Ree has said fostering was never something she and Ladd went looking for. As she put it, “all six foot five inches of him showed up at our house one afternoon, bag in hand.”

Fox News and Yahoo both date the fostering to 2018. Neither says the Drummonds adopted him, and every outlet that covered the arrest uses the word foster.

Why Ree Kept Quiet About Him for Two Years

She did not mention Jamar publicly until November 2020. State rules limit what foster families can share, and she wanted him to have privacy while he settled in.

The reveal came in an excerpt from her book Frontier Follies, after Jamar turned 18 and told her he did not want to feel hidden. She called him “an inextricable part of our wacky family.”

A Broken Foot, Six Weeks in Bed and a Lot of Food

Not long after he moved in, an ATV accident left Jamar needing foot surgery and six weeks of bed rest. He worried it would end his football career before it started.

Ree did what Ree does and fed him constantly. She wrote that he gained about 30 pounds and added, “Sorry, Jamar, my heart was in the right place!”

From Pawhuska Lineman to College Football

Jamar was a defensive lineman on a Pawhuska team that went 12 and 1 and reached the state semifinals. In February 2021 he signed a letter of intent with the University of Central Oklahoma.

He later wrote a public thank-you to Ladd, calling him “the best father figure” he could ask for, as Yahoo reported. For the rest of the family, see where all the Drummond kids are now.

The September 2026 Arrest in Birmingham

Fox News, citing court documents first obtained by TMZ, reports that Jamar was arrested at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on September 15, 2026. WBRC in Birmingham gives the date as September 14, so the exact day is not settled.

The charges listed are possession of a controlled substance, second-degree assault on a police officer, drug paraphernalia and attempting to elude. Fox puts his bond at $35,000, while WBRC’s itemized figures add up to $37,000.

According to WBRC’s account of the court records, campus police found him on a bench, ran his name and found an active out-of-state felony failure-to-appear warrant. It says he then ran, struck an officer with an open hand and was taken down, and that suspected methamphetamine and a pipe were found.

None of this has been tested in court. Neither outlet reports a plea, a conviction or a court date.

What Ree and the Family Have Said

Fox says it asked Ree’s representatives for comment and did not report a reply. WBRC’s article carries no statement from the family either.

That leaves the picture incomplete, and we would rather say so than fill it in. Anyone who has read Ree on the subject knows how protective she has been of Jamar since the day she first wrote about him.

Is He Still Playing Football?

Earlier versions of this story, ours included, described him as playing for Central Oklahoma and studying economics. The most recent reporting on that comes from his college years, and the arrest coverage does not mention any school or team.

His current enrollment is unconfirmed, so we are not stating it.

How Jamar Fits Into the Drummond Story

He sits in the same family as Alex and Paige, and he grew up alongside Bryce, whose own run-in with the law is covered in our Bryce Drummond guide. The marriage that held the household together is the subject of Ree and Ladd, and Ladd’s own story is in his profile.

Jamar Goff Frequently Asked Questions