The team comes above everything: A common yet superlative motto that has been shaping the reality of a lot of football phenoms, including Penn State football’s high-stakes transfer, Julian Fleming. The former Ohio State receiver made a pivotal choice to land on the transfer portal as the future looks only sweeter for him and the collective. Despite starting on a lackluster note and not contributing much to the Nittany Lions’ impressive victory against the Mountaineers on the season opener last week, Flaming rightfully became the centerpiece of the night, not breaking off-the-record pre-season hype. Coach James Franklin sees it on a quite positive note, considering how he did everything that was needed for the team.

While we are bracing up to see better use of the talented receiver in the rest of the season, let’s take a quick trip to his upbringing and the influence of his mother Betsy Fleming.

Meet the ‘lady’ of Julian Flaming’s life, Betsy Fleming: 

The former Ohio star underwent a distinct childhood with an absent father who abandoned him and his mom when he was just a toddler. The Richmond But that doesn’t mean it made him any less emotionally sound than any other kid in the community because mom Betsy didn’t let him feel the void father. Once, in a candid chitchat, Flaming explained how the negligancy of his dad didn’t bother him at all, rather it worked as a fuel to do better in life, and in his career, making his mom’s struggle worthwhile. So, when the crowd on the ground used to mock him chanting, “Where’s your dad-dy?, the kid had the maturity to not pay heed even at his 16. But his mom did. “My mom doesn’t like it. I had to calm her down after the game.”, he noted revealing Betsy’s sentiment toward that humiliating racial overtone. However, it’s also his mom who later tamed down the bitter taste of racism from his heart with a ”let them think what what they’re gonna think” approach.

Coming to the prodigious lady, Betsy Fleming chose his kid over everything ever since her husband left him in the dark. She had a deep profound impact on his son’s life both as a mother and father figure. But the most salient thing about her was she was an eminent athlete. Despite not pursuing the sport as a career, possibly due to the responsibility of her child, Betsy was widely popular as a hockey and track star in the community during her high school days. 

But she picked up the sporty gene from her father, Flaming’s grandfather, Mick Fleming, the central male figure of the Penn State sensation.

How did Mick Flaming shape the childhood and early life values of his grandson?

Mick Fleming, an esteemed Southern Columbia basketball coach, provided little Julian a father-like care. The beloved pop-pop (the adorable nickname given by Julian Flaming) to the star receiver of the Nittany Lions, taught him the basics about the sport. He also upskilled in bike riding just at the age of three and a lot of other activities, including tractor running and tree planting, to name a couple.

But the most important lesson the kid gathered from his noble grandfather was how to be a man of virtue, a man of higher value in life, guiding the future generation to the right path. Mick helped an innately competitive Julian to be friendly and sporty with other kids on the field when the competition faded out.

It will be interesting to see how the new tenure with Penn State treats the phenom going forward and how he shines through his career even more, doing justice to his instilled family values and care.