Liberian roots: The chain and its powerful meaning to Georgia linebacker MJ Sherman

MJ Sherman wears it proudly now, the golden chain with an Africa-shaped pendant sitting prominently on the Georgia linebacker’s chest. But when Sherman’s father originally gifted it to him when he was around 16 or 17 years old, he was less enthused.

“It’s a funny story,” Sherman said. “I said ‘I want a crucifix chain. Chain with the cross and Jesus on it’ because that was like the style and everything. And this was the chain that he gave me. And when I first got it, I was like ‘C’mon man that’s not what I asked for.’ But more and more, I started to see the uniqueness in it, not everybody has this chain. This chain is not easily recreate-able.”

Sherman’s family hails from Liberia, a small West African nation that is also one of the poorest on earth, with approximately half of the population living in below the global poverty line according to the World Bank. And while Sherman himself was born in Baltimore — a result of his mother and siblings fleeing Liberia amidst civil war. They remain in the United States to this day.

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But Sherman’s father Varney, a Harvard-educated lawyer and politician, remained in Liberia, where he is a Senator. Sherman doesn’t pretend to fully grasp what his dad is doing insofar as statecraft is concerned — the political is beyond him — but he knows whatever his father is doing to shape a better future for Liberia, it’s worth the sacrifice of being away from each other.

The chain he now loves to wear serves to remind him of what’s important.

“And just also, like I said, it brings me back to me and my roots, letting me know where I really came from. Like I said, I’ll always claim Baltimore, but I forever will claim Africa as well,” Sherman said.

As Sherman has become an adult himself, he’s learned he doesn’t need constant personal time to stay connected with his dad.

“I don’t need a lot of personal time or stuff like that to establish a relationship,” Sherman said. “If you just keep it a buck with me, meaning just keep it real with me, I’ll keep it real with you too. And that’s what me and my daddy always did. We don’t text on an every day basis. But when he texts me, I text back. When he calls me, I call back. And vice versa. And every time we call each other, it’s like a 30 minute phone call to make sure we touch everything on the bases.

“Honestly, most of the time, I’m kinda trying to teach him about football.”

Sherman’s dad got the basics of football fairly well — he did go to Harvard, after all — but even he needed his son to take some time and walk him through the particulars of being recruited as a high schooler and why he was attending St. John’s High School in Washington D.C., a private school.

Fortunately, Sherman also got assists from his sisters, brother-in-law and mother in explaining the weird world of recruiting and high school football in America. Like he keeps up with his dad, Sherman keeps up regularly with his family stateside. They’ve been his support system as long as he can remember, and that doesn’t change just because he’s in Athens.

He’ll call his sister and just chat. About football, about school, about what he’s getting up to that weekend. Sherman estimates he’ll call her up at least three or four times a week.

And of course, input from mom matters, too.

“It’s more of like, ‘Hey ma, this what I’m doing, and this is what I’m thinking, and this is how I’m living — your opinions matter so that’s why I’m telling you this. Let me know if I’m moving wrong or if I’m living wrong,'” Sherman said.

And even in Athens and through his recruitment — Sherman was a five-star recruit in the 2020 class according to the On3 Consensus player rankings — Sherman has found common ground with a few others involved with Georgia football.

He’s gotten to know Rennie Curran, the former Georgia linebacker with Liberian roots. Former Georgia edge rusher Azeez Ojulari also had African roots with both of his parents coming from Nigeria.

Then there’s the current outside linebackers coach for the Bulldogs, Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who Sherman immediately recognized was Nigerian.

“Me and coach Diribe, that kind of solidified our relationship when I first found out about that one. Just hearing his last name I was like, ‘Ok, yeah. He’s one of us,'” Sherman said before failing to hold back a laugh. “But all jokes aside, I was ‘Ok, that’s cool.’ There’s some common ground that’s able to be shared with me and him. And it’s not something, me and coach Diribe, we see eye-to-eye, as with everybody else in the OLB group. He’s very down to earth. He’s young, he understands us in more ways than any other coach would. And me and pop, me and pop been rocking out forever.”

As Sherman carves out a role for himself at Georgia and tries to earn a bigger role on the defense, he’s leaned on what he’s learned and holds from his family.

From his dad, he’s captured resilience.

“There was a civil war which broke out that forced a lot of immigrants to America and, through all of that, he still kept his political atmosphere, his political status and did whatever he had to do to make sure that stayed there,” Sherman said, all while staying engaged with his family.

From his siblings and mother, he’s learned to stay grounded and stay in touch with the people he loves.

And when all that gets challenged, he’ll pray and remember why that little gold pendant matters so much.

“One thing about prayer, and it always works, is that if you call for God, he will do one side of the prayer, you gotta do the other side. He’s gonna work his magic. You gotta do yours, you feel me? So I pray to him, my mother would do most of the praying because she’s a very prayful woman. But I pray to him, I tell him, I ask him what I want in life. And I just gotta go out there and go do it,” Sherman said.

“So basically my simple analogy is that: God will place a door in front of you. It’s your job to twist the knob and open it.”