Joyce Anderson, mother of Jaheim Singletary, emotional after son's decision

"Where are we going, where are we going?"

These were the words from Joyce Anderson just a couple of moments before her son, Jaheim Singletary, reached into his backpack, pulled out a bag with hats and was ready to show the world which school he would be committing to.

Once Singletary said he will be attending The Ohio State University at the next level, Anderson could not hold in her emotions.

She raised both hands in the air, let out an enthusiastic yell toward the roof of the building they were in, and clapped her hands several times with pure excitement.

“Oh goodness, I could just barely breathe,” Anderson told BuckeyeGrove a few minutes later. “I am just so proud of my son. I am so proud of him… to be honest with you, everything with what Jaheim has been going through the last three years, I never would have imagined it would have happened as soon as it did.”

Immediately after Singletary revealed he would be heading off to Columbus for college, he FaceTimed area recruiter Tony Alford. Anderson, sitting to the left of her son, told Alford, "I'm a Buckeye mom now."

Anderson briefly excused herself, went outside to catch her breath, and took a few moments to soak in everything. All the sacrifices she had made over the years had finally led up to a day she and her son will never forget.

“I tell people, right now today, if I had to do it all over again, I would do it,” Anderson said. “I had two boys playing football at two different schools, two different parks – one was graduating from high school, and one was coming out of middle school and going to high school the same day, but I did it.

“All these sacrifices, I would do them all over again. If it’s going to make him as happy as he is about playing football, he loves this game of football. So, any kind of sacrifices I would have to rewind, I would do it all over again if I had to.”

As some people know, Singletary was not able to visit Ohio State as a result of the ongoing dead period, which prevented him from being able to interact with the staff in person.

The Buckeyes, as Singletary told us, did an exceptional job, however, of recruiting him in a virtual manner. Along with consistently speaking with the five-star defensive back, Ohio State's staff made it a point to stay in touch with Anderson on a weekly basis.

Anderson says the program and school checks off all the boxes for her.

“It was good because I expressed to them that Jaheim is my baby,” Anderson said. “So, when he leaves me, I need somebody to take care of him like he was their own. They confirmed that that’s what they would do. And then, the insurance they were giving me about his education, career and the NFL. They were awesome.

“Again, once I talked to the staff, they were very insuring that they would watch my baby,” Anderson added. “I looked up their majors, and I told him what you want to go to school for, they got it. So, you better hop on. He wants to be in something like what you’re doing.”

For Anderson, it's all about opportunities for her son.

It is about the opportunity to educate himself at a good university and earn his degree.

It is about the opportunity to be developed by one of the best coaching staffs in college football to potentially make it to the NFL.

And it is about the opportunity to leave where he currently lives to carve out a better, and safer, path for himself.

“Ohio State is a good school,” Anderson said. “I told my son I’m going to keep praying until you make it to the NFL. So, he was mad one night. He said, ‘You know what momma, I’m still mad, but you keep praying though.’ I said OK, that’s one thing I’ll continue to keep doing… praying, praying, praying.

“And I just want him to go somewhere because Jacksonville’s streets are so violent here, and I’m not saying it won’t happen nowhere else. But I just want him somewhere elsewhere. Again, I’m all happy and excited.”

Singletary is rightfully ranked a five-star prospect because of how hard he's worked and the type of player he is on the field.

But let's also give a five-star ranking to Anderson for the sacrifices she made and support she gave on her son's journey to committing to Ohio State.