Help Jeremiah Inspire!

Jeremiah ‘Jdog’ San Nicholas

First day of practice of the 2023 football season at Eagle Middle School in Eagle, Idaho was the day I met Jeremiah. His mother approached me like so many other parents do every year. In my mind I said, “here we go again with another one of hundreds of parents who loves their child and thinks they should play every down of every game regardless of their talent or work ethic.”

I never expected what was about to follow. Joanne was all smiles as she approached; and it was then that I saw her son walking behind her almost as if hiding. She told me they had just moved from another part of town, and that his experiences in football had been extremely poor.

At first, I thought Jeremiah was a 7th grader due to his diminutive size. I knew there was more coming, so I told Jeremiah to go join the other boys.

Joanne then told me something unbelievable. Jeremiah was an 8th grader and suffers from a myriad of medical issues. He probably only had another three years before he would be unable to walk -- and all he wants to do is play football. I told her we would take care of him. I didn’t know what else to say at that time. What would happen next would change my life forever. Little Jeremiah took his shirt off and I could see his protruding chest bone and bent shoulders. I was immediately very concerned about how we would keep him safe, but needed to get practice going.

We had set up various stations to watch the boys in speed, agility, and basic technical football skills. We split the boys into groups and had them begin their drills. I watched in amazement as Jeremiah ran as fast as his body would let him from drill to drill, arriving first or walking to the front of the drill line to be first. He pushed through every single drill relentlessly.

I marveled at his determination. You could tell how difficult many of the drills were for anyone, but especially for him. But, he never once said a word or stopped, He just worked.

During the breaks my assistants and I would talk about the talent we saw on the field, but we all came back to one player in particular: Jeremiah. He stunned all of us with his tireless efforts. Much like the widow who provided her mite to the ancient church, Jeremiah put everything he had onto the field over the course of the first week as we worked the kids to see what we had. Once or twice, he would walk over and ask if he could do sit-ups instead of sprints because he just couldn’t get his legs to move anymore. It was truly all I could do to not just tell him to sit down and rest, but I knew that was not going to be acceptable to him. He had to be doing something even if he couldn’t do what everyone else was doing.

Over the next several weeks of practice as we prepared for our first game, we sat and watched as Jeremiah (now dubbed “Jdog”) pushed through every drill, every sprint, every practice. With a Pat Hill attitude, Jdog would take on anyone, anytime, anywhere without fear or sense of self-preservation. Many times, another coach or I would have to stop a drill because when we turned our back just for a moment, there was Jdog (all 4’10” and 75lbs) trying to take on the biggest kids in practice in some tackling drill. We’d call on a smaller player to take on Jdog much to his protests. Jdog rarely missed a tackle even though no one took it easy on him.

As the first game closed in, we devised a plan to get Jdog on the field and into the endzone. We conjured up a jumbo unbalanced set with the Power I in the backfield. Jdog was the Tailback. First time in the endzone I called for the Jumbo and Jdog ran out onto the field. I didn’t talk to the other coach and tell him to let Jdog in for the 2-point conversion. That would have been insulting to Jdog.

Instead, I grabbed my two fullbacks and told them in no uncertain terms that no one, NO ONE, was to touch Jdog. Like Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, our offensive line and fullbacks cleared the field, and Jdog walked into the endzone untouched. One of my fullbacks came back and said to me “No one touches Jeremiah!”

As the season progressed, we found it harder and harder to get Jdog on the field. Injuries to our lineman and tougher competition made it difficult to put him in and keep him safe. At one-point Jdog (ever in my shadow on the sidelines) asked me if he was going to get in the game today, to which I had to tell him no. We weren’t playing well enough to get him in and protect him. Tears filled his eyes, and it was all I could do to not cry myself. This young man wanted to play. He wanted to help his team. As our JV team hit the field my OC Ron grabbed Jdog and got him on the field.

The next several weeks were hard for Jdog. Doctors’ visits and procedures would take Jdog out of school and sometimes out of practice. Too sick and too weak, he would come out anyway and work. Many times, we would have to force him to take a rest but he usually did sit-ups instead.

As we headed into our rivalry week, Joanne came out to the field after practice and let us know that Jdog had been placed on the heart transplant list. My assistants and I were crushed. How could a young man with that much heart, need a new heart? We knew that we had to do something, anything, to get him on the field. During the Varsity game we just couldn’t get it done. Our rival was just too aggressive, and we just couldn’t take the chance, But once again, Ron got him on the field in the JV game and got him a carry --a 5-yard run for a first down. Unfortunately, he was tackled hard so he couldn’t return to the game.

Two days later Joanne came to me after practice and let me know that Jeremiah’s doctor had finally called an end to his playing days. His spine had deteriorated to such a degree that he couldn’t afford to take even one single blow. No more football. No golf. No basketball. Nothing.

Jdog was hiding behind his car, too hurt to come and face his coach and teammates. I walked over and told him to come out from behind the car. We spoke for about 10 minutes, and I let him know that no matter what he could not give up on football. I told him that maybe he couldn’t play, but his life, passion, determination was an inspiration to everyone around him. I told him he had so much to give and that he couldn’t give up on that.

People today need people like Jeremiah. The last thing I told him was something like this, “Jeremiah, I am impossible to impress. I’ve done a lot of things and met a lot of important and famous people. They don’t impress me. Ask my wife and kids, I am impossible to impress. But you Jeremiah, you impress me.”

In all my years of coaching and playing (football, baseball, wresting, skiing, rugby, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA) I have never been really impressed by anyone. Not only am I impressed by Jeremiah, but he has also left an impression on me that will be there forever. I tell my own children and my players all the time that the odds are that they will never be the biggest, or the strongest or the fastest. Someone will always have one or more of those qualities. That’s life. They cannot control that. But what they can control is their heart. You can’t teach heart and it doesn’t come from your genetics. Having the heart and the courage to step onto a football field is something you decide every single day. I am 5’11” tall and weigh 275 lbs and am 46 years old. I’ve gone through serious injury after serious injury. Surgeries and physical therapy. I’ve fought men who were 6’9” tall and weighed over 350 lbs.

But standing next to Jeremiah, I feel small. His heart and his courage dwarfs over anything and anyone I have ever met. No one deserves to play ball more than our Jdog. No one deserves chances in life more than our Jdog. If I had 10 kids on my team with his heart, we’d never taste defeat, because defeat does not exist where Jdog is. All that I have been through now seems so insignificant next to Jdog. His life has given me a strength that look forward to the fight with more grace and more humility.

Coach Eastland

Below is synopsis of what ailments Jeremiah fights every single day:

Jeremiah has multiple medical issues. He has been diagnosed with FN1 corner fracture type spondulo metaphysical dysplasia, Scoliosis, Pecus carinatum and excavatum, congenital coax vera and a heart condition called valve stenosis. With all this there are many specialists working on diagnosing other issues as well. Our portion of his medical bills are over $50,000.

He had his first hip surgery when he was only 3 years old. Despite all of this, Jeremiah does not see what he has as a disability but as an opportunity. He loves to play football and is such an inspiration on the field, not only to his teammates and coaches but to his family. He is so humble and supportive to everyone around him. He never worries about himself. He just wants to be the support for everyone else. The future is unknown. Doctors say he will probably be permanently in a wheelchair by the time he graduates high school. This is not a sad story; it is a story of inspiration for a 13-year-old boy that has so much to offer life! In the photo below you can see his spine, you can also see that his right shoulder is no longer held in place and needs to have surgery. You can also see on his hips the dark black patches where his bones are dead and need to be replaced.