The casual smile makes you first. Then comes the look at the cameras, which knows it all, perfectly timed.
Trey Sermon, the entire Ohio State runner, was able to do it all for television as officials reviewed whether he got a touchdown in a long run against Clemson in last week’s semifinal in the College Football Playoff. I knew, we all knew, clearly not.
Maybe the joke touched the rest of us. Sure, it became an instant meme. And no, that smile and look didn’t sell officers in a touch that never happened. But Sermon’s deliberate gaze with pursed lips, a three-second window into his Ezekiel Elliott-like transformation into an unstoppable postseason force, sent a message:
Hey world, I’ve been here the whole time.
– ESPN (@espn) January 2, 2021
The world only sees it now, after a two-game stretch in which Sermon has run for 524 yards, scored three touchdowns and became the biggest revelation of an Ohio state offense that he had real identity until he destroyed the northwest Big Ten championship game. His appearance has been for many years, first as a high school recruit, then as an Oklahoma back who slowly fell from the top of the depth chart and now as a Terminator-like force. , ready to sweep and hinder defenders. his latest quest to prove himself.
Sermon is on the verge of overcoming what Elliott did the last time Ohio State won a national title in the 2014 season. Elliott put together the most dominant three-game stretch in school history, with 696 yards and eight touchdowns in the Big Ten championship game and in the semifinals and CFP championship games to lead the Buckeyes, and that’s saying something in a show known for its elite, next-level back .
The comparison isn’t lost on anyone now that the No. 3 Buckeyes are gearing up to play Alabama No. 1 in the college’s National Football Playoff Championship presented by AT&T Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (8 p.m. ET, ESPN and the ESPN application). In fact, Sermon outscores Elliott in two postseason games.
“There are a lot of great runners who have come here, and Zeke is one of the best runners, just to be in that conversation, it’s an honor,” Sermon said this week. “I feel pretty good about what I’ve been able to achieve so far with the help of my offensive line.”
Sermon has done so with a resistance that has become one of its hallmarks. And to understand why he continued to press when so many things seemed uncertain (between the current season and his role on the team), one needs 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 at the time was convicted of the murder of the young boy and sentenced to life in prison. Mitchell testified against him at trial. Experiencing that pain and immeasurable loss, Mitchell turned to his grandmother and aunt for support. He began to think about his life. What did you want? Would anxiety define her or would she be able to move forward and use her own experiences to help others?
Mitchell decided he wanted to be someone who looked at himself as an example. He began to change his life after divorcing Trey’s father when his children were in elementary school. She moved to Tampa, Florida, from the bay of the same name with Trey and her older sister, Oneisha, got a new job and started again.
“I decided I was going to be the best mother I could be for my kids and I determined I would have a good relationship with them,” she said in a recent phone interview from Georgia, where she now lives.
Mitchell stopped going out and focused on them, went back to school and was attentive to who was around his children at all times. He enrolled Trey to play football at age 5, while Oneisha began cheering. Trey began to defend himself, and Mitchell fondly remembers that every time he faced someone, the PA announcer would say, “The Terminator is attacking again!”
They eventually moved to Marietta, Georgia, and Trey played running at Sprayberry High School. He was all set to have a junior season, but after taking a touchdown pass at the start of the season, he landed on a helmet and injured his back. Doctors initially thought it was a strain, so he played the following week. His coach at the time, Billy Shackelford, recalled that Sermon was 200 meters running.
“The boy could barely bend down and touch his toes,” Shackelford said in a telephone interview.
The sermon saw the doctor again because he was in a lot of pain. He had a severed bone in his back.
“It was an honest mistake, but he literally ran 200 yards with a broken back,” Shackelford said. “This is the perfect example of his toughness, his tenacity, his love of the game and his overcoming. He usually takes an obstacle and tries to find the gold to get out of the situation. This is a real asset for him. , the way he has been educated and, finally, the warrior within him. “
Mitchell said his insurance did not cover all of Trey’s rehabilitation and necessary treatments, so he sold his car and moved with his children from his apartment to a hotel for 11 months. He used the money he saved to get front-line care from Trey.
“I just wanted to make sure I got the best treatment and I wanted to afford to pay for extra treatment,” she said. “I was determined it was going to get better, and it did.”
In its final year, scholarship offerings began to work. Sermon finally decided in Oklahoma. In 2017, Sermon was the first 12-year-old of the year, the team’s second with 744 running yards and five touchdowns. His first score in the race came at Ohio Stadium, a 10-yard catch by Baker Mayfield, in the Sooners ’31-16 victory, during which Mayfield planted the Oklahoma flag in midfield.
Although he ran 947 yards as a Sooners starter the following season, Sermon appeared to be at a disadvantage in the rotation in 2019. His season ended after the lateral collateral ligament in his knee broke that November. In March, he announced he would transfer. Sermon has stated that he simply wanted a fresh start, but Mayfield suggested in a tweet that former Oklahoma running back Jay Boulware (who left for Texas after last season) had something to answer:
@CoachJ_Boulware How is UT? https://t.co/m8Gs3aC42m
– Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) January 2, 2021
Sermon eventually chose Ohio State because he had developed a good relationship with runners coach Tony Alford during his high school recruiting period. But the pandemic presented a new set of challenges. The sermon had to continue rehabilitating his knee injury while face-to-face training was not allowed in Columbus. He ended up splitting his time working with coaches in Houston and Georgia. When he was finally able to start working with teammates, his long relationship with Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields (both of whom are from Georgia) helped ease the transition. Even then, Sermon missed an entire low-season conditioning program and the opportunity to develop the natural chemistry and rhythm a runner 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 back and watch his old teammates start the season, even though he had no idea if he would get the opportunity he so longed for.
“He was devastated,” Mitchell said. He thought in his mind, ‘I can’t prove who I really am.’ And that was the most important thing to him, thinking, ‘No one can see who I am or what I can do. They saw a little bit of it, but they still haven’t seen the real me. ”I tried to cheer him up. He came back later and said,“ Ma’am, I think we’ll have a season. ”I said,“ You have to keep pushing; you must continue to believe “”.
Once the Buckeyes started in late October, Sermon had a hard time finding a role, as Master Teague III had the initial job. In the first four games, Sermon had 45 runs of 232 yards and 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 have a better sense of offense, recording 10 covers. for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
Still, Day could never have predicted what would come next. Ohio State and Fields were unable to achieve anything in the Big Ten championship game against Northwestern. Then Teague got hurt. Day relied all his faith on Sermon, who responded with a school record of 331 yards and two touchdowns, almost equaling the rushed total of his first five combined games (344).
“You see the best version of Trey,” Day said. “The best thing is, when all this was going on, I never went into my office, I never complained, I never said, ‘I need more carriers,’ none of that stuff. I just kept working every day at work.”
While Fields bounced back with a stellar six-touchdown performance in the CFP semifinal against Clemson, it’s hard to forget how Sermon also dominated, finishing with 193 running yards and a scorer, in addition to his instant meme. (One look, by the way, her mother says she gives to her and her sister all the time.)
Mitchell was in New Orleans for the semifinals and said he would plan to be in Miami Monday night with his 9-year-old granddaughter, Amia, who is still closely with Uncle Trey.
Mitchell has stuck to the promises he made of helping others and wrote a book about his experiences entitled “When My Soul Cried: Healing, Forgiveness, and Liberation.” He is on his way to earning a doctorate in psychology from the University of Arizona in April. And he founded Arise by Faith Inc., a nonprofit organization for domestic violence and family grief that aims to provide resources and assistance to those in need.
The resilience Mitchell has shown has given lifelong examples for both children.
“I just saw all the things he’s lived through, how he was able to persevere, to keep working hard for our family, and I feel like this has helped me throughout my career, because I’ve faced a lots of challenges, lots of adversity, ”Sermon said. “But I know, again, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so I just have to keep working and I know everything will pay off.”
As if I had been here the whole time.