OU's prize catch: a back with backing
Neill family has treated Calhoun like one of their own
OU's prize catch: a back with backing
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By Jake Trotter
Published: January 20, 2008
VAN, Texas — Hank and Tracy Neill don't know exactly when Jermie Calhoun stopped being just their son's best friend and instead became their own son.
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First encounter
For as long as anyone can remember, Jermie Calhoun has always been the best athlete around.
That was the case when in the fourth grade Calhoun moved with his family to the area of Van, Texas, a school district comprised of about 2,500 people, located 70 miles east of Dallas.
"We didn't like each other at all at first,” said Peyton Neill, who would eventually become Calhoun's best friend. "I was the star athlete and all of a sudden it wasn't like that anymore.
"If you were on Jermie Calhoun's team in football, you were going to win and no one could do anything about it.”
After playing against each other in little league, the two finally played together on the seventh-grade football team.
On the first play of the season, Calhoun got the ball and ran over Peyton, who was trying to block for him, on the way into the end zone.
"I was at tight end and went to block downfield,” Peyton said. "Then I hear a voice that said ‘Move!' I turn around, and there's Jermie, like a giant looking at me. He slapped me down and went on to score like a 60-yard touchdown. I had a big, old, blue bruise on my chin for a week.”
From then, though, Peyton and Calhoun began to forge a friendship through sports.
By eighth grade, the two were inseparable.
"Everything we do now, we pretty much do together,” Peyton said.
Trouble at home
Though athletics have always come easy to Calhoun, life at home has not.
During his freshman year in high school, Calhoun began staying with the Neills at least a couple of nights a week.
Soon, he began bringing his one-year younger brother Emanuel with him.
"We started giving them monetary support, parental support, mentoring support,” said Hank, who owns a cabinet business. "That's when the relationships transformed into a parental relationship with them.”
Not long after his sophomore season when he ran for 1,803 yards and 23 touchdowns, big-time universities started showing interest in Calhoun.
So Calhoun turned to the Neills for direction and help.
"He really needed parental guidance,” said Hank, who has three kids of his own with Tracy, the youngest being Peyton. "And he really didn't have anyone in his life that really could have helped him with that.”
Hank took Calhoun to visit Texas A&M and OU.
Eventually, the Neills had to change the text message plan on Calhoun's cell phone because of the quantity of text messages he began receiving from college coaches.
"It was literally driving him crazy,” Hank said. "We wanted to give him the ability to put an end to it.”
In March, Hank called a meeting with Calhoun and Van football coach Brady Pennington.
That's when Calhoun decided he wanted to be a Sooner.
"I liked the small-town feel (of Norman),” Calhoun said. "I felt like I could fit in.”
Moving away
During the summer before his senior year, Calhoun's mother and stepfather divorced.
She moved to Tyler, about 30 miles away from Van.
But neither Calhoun nor Emanuel wanted to change schools or move from the community they had grown to love.
The two boys tried staying with the step-father.
Eventually, that no longer became a viable option.
So before the second game of the football season, Calhoun and Emanuel moved in with the Neills.
Permanently.
"I'm so thankful, them putting a roof over my head, taking me places,” Calhoun said. "They've always been there by my side.”
Because they were already part of the family, the transition was seamless.
"You ask him to take the trash out, he does it without saying a word,” said Tracy, an assistant principal at a Tyler elementary school. "He's sweet, loving — just like a son.”
With stability at home, Calhoun capped one of the most impressive careers by a running back in Texas high school football history.
As a senior, the 6-foot, 210-pound Calhoun ran for 1,910 yards, averaging almost 8 yards per carry.
He also threw for another 803 yards, splitting time at quarterback after the starter injured his elbow in the third game.
"We sometimes get kind of used to it, but when you go back and look at film, you're like wow, wow, look at that cut, look at that stiff arm,” Pennington said. "He's just blessed. But what I'll miss most about Jermie Calhoun is the example he set for the rest of our team. He always held them to a high accountability.”
Because of his blend of size and speed, Calhoun will have an opportunity this fall to prove he belongs in the running back rotation as a freshman, especially with Allen Patrick departing and DeMarco Murray recovering from knee surgery.
Back home, the entire town of Van, once a Texas Longhorn stronghold, will now be cheering for Calhoun and the Sooners.
"He's an icon here to every kid in every grade level,” Van assistant principal Rick Jones said. "He goes to the elementary kids every week, mentoring them, and they just love him, hang all over him.”
But Calhoun's biggest fans are still the Neills.
"The blessing has been ours, not his,” Tracy said. "He has blessed our family in so many ways.
"He fits as part of our family and we love him.”
Related Topics:
Sports, Education, Elementary and High School Education, Elementary Education, Football, College Athletics, College Football
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Calhoun has a 3.4 grade point average but did not meet the NCAA qualifying score on his first attempt at the ACT. He retook the test in June and is awaiting the result. He said he can handle college classes and vows to play four years in college even if the NFL becomes an option after his junior season......I like the 4 year portion of that article, but we will see if that holds true IF he does turn out to be as good as advertised
According to the recruiting podcast from Thursday or Friday, Texas did recruit him, and one of the reasons why he chose OU is because he liked the small town feel of Norman (which was mentioned in the article) more than Austin.
I read your article on Jermie Calhoun in Sunday's paper which was really good. In the box at the beginning of the article it said to go to Newsok.com to see video of Jermie, but I can't find it anywhere.
Where can i find it?
thanks, Eric