PHILADELPHIA - The big hit took place in South Philadelphia.
In a game against UConn on Sept. 18, Temple's Jaiquawn Jarrett, a 6-foot, 200-pounder, ran toward the sideline and crashed into Husky running back Jordan Todman, lowering his shoulder and blasting Todman several feet backward. It was the type of collision that leaves both players spinning, but Jarrett, a safety from the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, rose to his feet quickly and nodded his head in approval, fully enjoying the results of his work. Sitting in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field that day was Jarrett's mother, Audrey Young.
"That's my son!" she likes to belt out to anyone within earshot, in case the No. 5 jersey bearing the words "Jarrett's Mother" on her back doesn't convey the message.
She has always been there for her son, raising him, along with his three siblings, as a single mother, playing the role of caretaker, breadwinner, cheerleader, and when she had to be, law enforcer, keeping her kids in line. That last attribute - the disciplinarian - may have been the easiest role for her to adapt.
