Offensive lineman Javion Cohen doesn't have to look far for his role model and rock in life -- it's his mother Philecia Fuller.
Cohen, 6-5, 265 pounds, of Phenix City (Ala.) Central has scholarship offers from the University of Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Virginia, Georgia Tech, West Virginia and others. He and his offensive lineman teammate Joshua Jones plan to visit the Hogs on March 9.
Fuller works two jobs a day to provide for Cohen, his two sisters, niece and two nephews who live in the household. She gets to work at 8 a.m. at her first job in a home health care facility near the house. She leaves work at 4 p.m. and arrives home a few minutes later.
"When she comes home, she's helping with homework, being a baby sitter, a counselor, a chef and my No. 1 fan," Cohen said. "My mom does it all really."
His mother goes to sleep at 6 p.m. each night and wakes up at 10:30 p.m. that evening to get to her second job at 11 p.m. as a line worker at a local factory. She leaves at 6 a.m. and gets home about 30 minutes later, sleeps until 7:45 a.m. and goes back to her first job.
"She always calls me no matter what and let's me know she loves me," Cohen said. "She makes sure we sit and talk every day when I get home. She sleeps after I talk with her."
She also works her second job on weekends.
"She takes extra hours," said Cohen, who calls his mom "super hero."
"She never quits," Cohen said. "She's owned a house since before she was 20. No matter what she goes through, she never quits. She has the heart of a lion."
Cohen does his best to lighten the load on his mother when she's home.
"I do what I'm asked. I clean, I cook when asked," Cohen said. "I stay off the streets and in my books."
Seeing his mother work so hard makes him determined to make her life easier some day.
"That's why when I make it to the NFL, I promise to give it all back," Cohen said. "She deserves it. I grind on the field in hopes of one day making sure all my mom's hard work pays off in a big way. Every rep, every snap, every pancake is for my mom. She's the most hardworking, caring, kind, loving woman you will meet."
Cohen does what he can to ease the stress on his mother.
"I'm her personal chiropractor," said Cohen, laughing. "Whenever she needs a massage, I'm right there to help her."
Cohen and Arkansas running back signee A'Montae Spivey led the Red Devils to a 14-0 record and the Class 7A state championship this season. Because of his mother's workload, she was only able to attend one regular-season game and the semifinal playoff game.
"She usually parks her car right outside the stadium and watches the jumbotron," Cohen said. "She usually leaves to go to work after the game."
For the playoff game, he had a special request of his mother.
"I asked her to bring me pizza if we won, and sure enough in the mist of the rain and through all the excitement, there was my mom on the 30-yard line holding my pizza and smiling as bright as can be," Cohen said. "Not gonna lie, I gave her the biggest hug ever and cried. I just held her. I had just played the biggest game of my life, and there was my mom and somehow seeing her with that pizza felt better than winning that game."
Email Richard Davenport at [email protected]
Sports on 02/17/2019