MJ Sherman carries family with him wherever he goes in football
Mekhail Sherman, better known as MJ these days in Athens, was a five-star prospect coming out of St. John’s College High School in the Class of 2020. Ranked the No. 31 overall player and No. 7 among linebackers, Sherman was the only linebacker that the Bulldogs signed that cycle. He seemed like a “can’t miss” prospect at the time. And while the public perception of Sherman might’ve changed some over time since his high school days, it’s easy to see in speaking with him that the Georgia junior understands that some things are bigger than football.
“You come back and reminisce a little bit about how far you’ve come,” Sherman said about his family and their history. “I have an amazing support system, so they’ve kept me out of a lot of trouble … I call my sister probably a good four out of seven days of the week. If I don’t call that week, they’re worried. That’s my usual thing. I can chat about how practice was, how my school day was or just what’s going on with my week. My relationship with my siblings and brother in law is more like a friendship relationship. It’s not somebody who comes with authority of anything like that. When I come to my sisters, my brother in law, even my mother sometimes, it’s more like, ‘Hey mom. This is what I’m doing, and this is what I’m thinking. This is how I’m living. Your opinions matter, so this is why I’m telling you this. Let me know if I’m moving wrong or living wrong.'”
Sherman wears that attitude of gratefulness for his family on his chest – literally. His father gave him a gold chain for his sixteenth birthday during his sophomore year of high school. At the time, he wanted a gold chain with a crucifix on it. Sherman explained that was in style at the time, but his father gifted him one with the shape of Africa on it. At first, he was a little upset, but as time has gone on, Sherman has come to realize the uniqueness of his necklace and the story behind it.
“The necklace, it really represents my roots. Yeah, I’ll claim Baltimore until the day I die, but anybody who truly knows me, my family’s from west Africa, Liberia. People ask me how I got so big. Well, I’ve been eating rice and chicken since I was young. Carbs and proteins forever,” Sherman said. “I can’t forget about my roots. This is one of the first true gifts my daddy gave to me. Not a lot of people get to establish their relationship with their dad. My dad and I, we hold it strong to this day, so I wear this to remind me of him.”
MJ explained that his father, Varney Sherman, is a Liberian senator. He added that Varney attended Harvard and spent time as a lawyer. Now he’s working back in his homeland to “change the political atmosphere in Liberia and Africa to make them a better country.”
The two talk on the regular too. It’s not every day, but his father always answers his texts or calls and MJ makes sure to do the same. They “keep it real.” With his father across the world, MJ and Varney don’t get to see each other as much as they might like, but MJ says he chalks that up to “being a man.” When they do get on the phone though, the conversations tend to go for a long time.
“The main lesson that I’ve taken from him goes back to one our core traits that we have right now, resiliency,” Sherman said. “Imagine, there was a civil war that broke out in Liberia. It forced a lot of immigrants to America, and through all that he still kept his political status and did whatever he had to do to make sure that it stayed there as well as take care of his four children.”
Meanwhile, MJ’s not into politics. That’s why he plays football instead. Sherman said that he’s loved the sport from a young age and saw the ways that it could open doors for him. There were certainly times that he had to explain to his father what exactly was going on, like during the recruiting process, but it’s a labor of love.
“Most of the time I’m trying to teach him about football,” Sherman joked about some of his long calls with his father. “When it comes to teaching him about football, I did the best that I could do. I’m pretty sure that I knocked out all the core stuff in high school. I feel like high school is a little bit more complicated than college because high school you’re dealing with recruiting and stuff like that.”
“Just telling him what am I sacrificing for,” he continued. “What am I doing all day not being an average high school kid, what am I doing this for? I broke it down to him like that, and as he watched the games, as he paid more attention, as he saw my success on the field, it started to come a little more easier for him to see what happens.”
In three years at Georgia, Sherman has seen action in 28 of 29 career games. During that time he’s carved out an important role on Georgia’s special teams units, even winning one of the team’s “Special Teams Players of the Week” awards for his showing against Kent State on Saturday.
“Tremendous job. Tremendous toughness. He comes to work every day … He’s become a key cog in our special teams,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “He had some really big plays on kickoff on Saturday, and he’s a leader on the punt block and return team. I’m really proud of the maturity he’s shown, and he’s gotten a lot better as an outside linebacker, too.”
“I take it very seriously. Every day we try to fight for opportunities to show that we’re capable of doing what we’ve got to do on the field, so just as seriously as you take your 9-5 job is how seriously I take my special teams job,” Sherman said. “We take a lot of pride in fulfilling our jobs to help the team win, and I feel like I try to do that every week.”
Don’t count Sherman out from contributing as an outside linebacker in the future either. Smart said that he continues to develop there and believes that as Sherman gets more opportunities, he’ll make the most of them. That that time could be coming soon. With Nolan Smith and Robert Beal gone after this season, it could be time for Sherman to shine. Either way, he’s a light for this Georgia team off the field with the way that he understands there’s more to life than football.
