The comfortable smile gets you first. Then the omniscient, perfectly fixed gaze reaches the cameras.
That was all that the returning state of Ohio, which Trey Sermon could do, was cheering on television when officials checked to see if he had made an attempt at a long run against Clemson in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff last week. He knew – we all knew – he clearly did not know.
Maybe the joke was on the rest of us. Of course, it became an instant meme. And no, that smile and look did not sell officials if it never happened. But Sermon’s deliberate appearance with raised lips, a window of three seconds after his Ezekiel Elliott-like conversion into an unstoppable national season, delivered a message:
Hey world, I was here the whole time.
– ESPN (@espn) 2 January 2021
The world is only now realizing it, after a two-game battle in which Sermon ran for 524 meters, scored three touchdowns and became the biggest revelation for an offense in the state of Ohio that had no real identity until he hit Northwest in the Big Ten crushed. championship match. His appearance was years in the making, first as a valued high school high schooler, then as an Oklahoma back that slowly fell off the top of the depth map, and now as a Terminator-like force ready to be defended by defenders bulldozer. his last endeavor to prove himself.
Sermon is on the verge of the pinnacle of what Elliott did the last time the state of Ohio won a national title in the 2014 season. Elliott put together the most important three-pointer in school history, with 696 yards and eight touchdowns in the Big Ten championship game and the CFP semifinals and championship games to carry the Buckeyes – and that says something during a program known for his elite, next level backs.
The comparison is not lost on anyone now that the no. 3 Buckeyes get ready to play No. 1 in Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship hosted by AT&T on Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (20:00 ET, ESPN) and the ESPN app). Preach is actually better than Elliott by chasing two post-season games.
“A lot of good runners who have walked through here – and Zeke is one of the best runners – just to be in the conversation, it’s an honor,” Sermon said this week. “I just feel pretty good about what I’ve been able to do so far using my offensive line.”
Sermon did so with a resilience that became one of his hallmarks. And to understand why he kept pressing when he seemed so insecure – between the current season and his role in the team – you have to understand his mother.
Natoshia Mitchell survived abuse and domestic violence, as well as the death of her 2-year-old son in 1993, six years before Trey was born. Her boyfriend was convicted at the time of the murder of the toddler and sentenced to life in prison. Mitchell testified against him during the trial. By living the pain and the immeasurable loss, Mitchell asked her grandmother and aunt for support. She begins to think about her life. What did she want out of it? Would the anxiety define her or would she be able to move forward and use her own experiences to help others?
Mitchell decided she wanted to be someone that others looked to as an example. She began to turn her life around after divorcing Trey’s father when her children were in elementary school. She moved to Tampa, Florida, from across the namesake bay with Trey and his older sister, Oneisha, got a new job and started again.
“I determined that I would be the best mother to my children, and I determined that I would have a good relationship with them,” she said recently in a telephone interview in Georgia, where she now lives.
Mitchell stopped going out and drew her attention to it, went back to school and always kept an eye on who was around her children. She enrolls Trey at age 5 to play football while Oneisha starts cheering. Trey started with the defense and Mitchell likes to remember that every PA announcer every time he tackles someone would say, “The Terminator strikes again!”
Eventually, they move to Marietta, Georgia, and Trey plays back at Sprayberry High School. He was planning to have an outbreak junior season, but after getting an attack in the season, he landed on top of a helmet and hurt his back. Doctors initially thought it was a tension, and he played next week. His then-coach, Billy Shackelford, recalled that Sermon rushed 200 yards.
“The man could barely bend and touch his toes,” Shackelford said in a telephone interview.
Preach saw the doctor again because he was in so much pain. He has a broken leg in his back.
“It was an honest mistake, but he literally ran 200 yards with a broken back,” Shackelford said. “It’s the perfect example of his toughness, his determination, his love of the game and victory. He usually takes an obstacle and tries to find gold out of the situation. It’s a real asset to him, as he was raised and eventually the warrior that is within him. ‘
Mitchell said her insurance did not cover all of Trey’s required rehabilitation and treatments, so she sold her car and moved out of their apartment with her children for 11 months and moved to a hotel. She used the money she saved to get Trey the best care.
“I just wanted to make sure he got the best treatment, and I wanted to afford to pay extra treatment,” she said. “I was determined he would get better, and he did.”
By his final year, the scholarship offer began to roll in. Sermon finally decided on Oklahoma. In 2017, Sermon was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, second in the team with 744 yards rushing and five touchdowns. His first career score comes at Ohio Stadium – a 10-yard catch from Baker Mayfield – in the Sooners’ 31-16 victory, during which Mayfield planted the Oklahoma flag in midfield.
Although he rushed 947 yards the following season as the starter of Sooners, it looked like Sermon would fall out of favor in the 2019 rotation. His season ended after he tore the lateral collateral ligament in his knee in November. In March, he announced he was transferring. Sermon insisted he simply wanted a fresh start, but Mayfield tweeted that former Oklahoma coach Jay Boulware (who left for Texas after last season) had something to answer:
@CoachJ_Boulware How about UT? https://t.co/m8Gs3aC42m
– Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) 2 January 2021
Sermon eventually chose Ohio State because he developed a good relationship with fullback coach Tony Alford during his recruiting period in high school. But the pandemic presents a new set of challenges. Preach had to continue recovering from his knee injury while personal training sessions in Columbus were not allowed. Eventually, he split his time practicing with trainers in Houston and Georgia. When he was finally able to start working with teammates, his long-standing relationship with Justin Fields (Buckeyes) fullback (both from Georgia) facilitated the transition. Even then, Sermon missed an entire off-season conditioning program and the chance to develop the natural chemistry and rhythm a running back needs to succeed.
His plans for a fresh start almost evaporated when the Big Ten decided in early August to postpone the start of the fall season. To make matters worse, the Big 12 chose to play. Sermon had to sit and watch his old teammates start their season, while he had no idea if he would get the opportunity he so desperately wanted.
“He was devastated,” Mitchell said. “He thinks in his mind, ‘I can not prove who I am.’ And that was the biggest thing for him by thinking, ‘No one can see who I am or what I can do. They have seen some of it, but they have not yet seen the true self. ‘ I kept trying to encourage him. He later came back and said, “Mom, I think we’re going to have a season.” I said, ‘You have to keep pushing; you must keep believing. ‘ “
After the Buckeyes kicked off in late October, Sermon had a hard time getting a role as Master Teague III had the starting work. In the first four games, Sermon had 45 runs for 232 yards and had no touchdowns. But Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he noticed a change in the Michigan State game on Dec. 5 as Sermon began to get a better feel for the offense, and that he was carrying 10 carries for 112 meters and two touchpoints.
Yet Day would never have been able to predict what would come next. Ohio State and Fields could not get anything going in the Big Ten championship game against Northwestern. Then Teague gets hurt. Day put all his confidence in Sermon, who responded with a school record of 331 yards and two touchdowns, almost matching his fast total from his first five games combined (344).
“You see the best version of Trey,” Day said. ‘The best thing is, he never came into my office, never complained, never said,’ I need more, ‘none of that. He just kept going to work every day. “
Although Fields bounced back in the CFP semifinal against Clemson with an excellent six-touchdown performance, it’s hard to forget how Sermon also dominated, apart from his immediate meme, with 193 yards rushing and a score. (By the way, his mother says he gives to her and his sister all the time.)
Mitchell was in the semifinals in New Orleans, and she said she plans to be in Miami on Monday night with her 9-year-old granddaughter, A’mia, who lives near Uncle Trey.
Mitchell sticks to the promises she has made to help others, writing a book about her experiences entitled “When My Soul Cried: Healing, Forgiveness and Releasing.” She is on her way to obtain a PhD in psychology from the University of Arizona in April. And she has Arise at Faith Inc. set up a non-profit organization for domestic violence and family trust that aims to provide resources and assistance to those in need.
The resilience Mitchell displayed gave both her children a lifelong example.
“I just saw all the things she went through, how she could just persevere, still work hard for our family, and I feel like it just helped me through my career because I have a lot of challenges,” he said. a lot of adversity, ‘Sermon said. “But I know there’s light again at the end of the tunnel, so I just have to keep working hard and I know everything will bear fruit.”
Like he was here the whole time.