When he was 5 years old, Damarea Crockett never let go of his football.

The ball was a gift to Crockett from his mother, Vanessa Keener. It had his name written on it, and he kept it by his side day and night.

“Kind of like a little girl who has a doll that she likes to sleep with, Damarea slept with his football,” Keener said.

One day, Keener drove Crockett to Walmart. When the car was parked, he darted out the door and threw his football in the air.

Keener remembers her son scampering around, throwing his precious football in the air, running around parked cars.

“Put the football back in the truck,” Keener called out to her son. “You can’t take it in Walmart. They’re going to think you stole it.”

As the young boy hurried back to put the ball away, Keener remembers a “little old lady” stopping her.

“Let him carry that football,” the woman said to Keener, “because that football may make him some money someday.”

Crockett has let football carry him from Walmart parking lots to the Southeastern Conference. Now a freshman at Missouri, he has emerged as a potent running back for the Tigers’ high-flying offense.

The coaches see Crockett’s potential, and he sees it too. He’s strong, fast for his size and has good feet. He’s had success in his first four games, rushing for 210 yards and three touchdowns, but he is not done developing.

“There’s still a lot more in store,” Crockett said.

Damarea Crockett poses for a picture for his youth football league. COURTESY OF VANESSA KEENER

####Finding the right school

Keener received a text from her son earlier in the school year.

“This is crazy,” it read.

Keener was confused and slightly worried.

“What’s wrong?” she typed back.

No reply.

“DAMAREA, IF YOU DON’T SAY SOMETHING, I’M GOING TO GO CRAZY,” she replied in capital letters.

Finally, Keener received an answer.

“It’s nothing, Momma. It’s just crazy how my life is changing.”

Sometimes Keener thinks about how good of a kid her son is. She thinks of where he is and how well he’s doing.

Sometimes these thoughts make her cry.

“I’m so happy for him,” she said.

Crockett is happy too. He’s playing the game he loves, and he’s thankful for the opportunity Missouri has given him.

Crockett took an unorthodox road to Missouri. The summer before his senior year of high school, the Arkansas native committed to Boise State. He had received offers from a number of Division I programs but had relatively little interest from schools in the Power Five conferences.

New Missouri coach Barry Odom began recruiting more aggressively in Arkansas as soon as he took the job in December 2015. Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel was key in recruiting Crockett.

“He’s got the ability, when he matures physically, to be a physical back as well,” Heupel said. “He’s got great feet in the hole, had good vision … I thought he had the chance to be a real complete back.”

Midway through his senior year of high school, Crockett flipped his commitment from Boise State to Missouri. By February, he had signed a letter of intent with the Tigers.

Proximity was a factor in Crockett’s decision. In Columbia, his family can watch him play.

“Had he gone to Boise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make a game just yet,” Keener said. “Because a flight ticket is not inexpensive.”

Crockett also considered high-level academic schools, including Yale, West Point and the Naval Academy.

Those closest to Crockett have taken notice of his intelligence. When he was in ninth grade, he helped his mother do college algebra homework for a course she was taking.

Jeff Weaver, Crockett’s high school coach at Little Rock Christian Academy, feels the running back could have done well at the academically rigorous schools he was considering.

“Damarea is very smart,” Weaver said. “Our school is a very high academic school … he could certainly go to any of those schools, but I think he wanted to go where the brand of the football is a little bit better as well.”

As Crockett was growing up, Keener stressed academics.

“Sometimes he doesn’t apply himself as he should, which is where I come in,” she said.

Keener tells her son that football is not a guarantee. Grades are important.

The message seems to have gotten through to the freshman.

“I’m a football player at heart, but I’m a student-athlete at all times … academics is going to take you a far way,” Crockett said after a win against Delaware State. “It’s going to be there when the football isn’t there.”

####Football abilities

Jeff Weaver has seen Crockett take over a game.

It was a cool Arkansas night in the fall of 2015. Crockett and the undefeated Little Rock Christian football team was trailing Greenbrier, a rival school, by 21 points entering the fourth quarter.

In the final quarter, Weaver and the team relied heavily on their running back. Crockett would take direct snaps and run plays from the wildcat formation, and the Little Rock Christian offense got in a groove.

There was nothing Greenbrier could do to stop Crockett. He finished with 295 rushing yards on 51 carries, and a late touchdown cut Greenbrier’s lead to 42-41.

Instead of kicking a game-tying extra point, Weaver elected to go for a two-point conversion.

“There was no doubt on our sideline that we were going for two and that [Crockett] was going to be the guy making the play …” Weaver said. “He wanted the ball, and we were not shocked at all to see him score.”

Little Rock Christian ran a direct snap to Crockett, who scampered over the goal line to give the team a 43-42 lead.

Weaver said the crowd was “insane.” Fans screamed as the team held on for what would wind up being the victory that sealed the conference championship.

Keener remembers her son after the game.

“My son was so beat down,” she said. “He was really tired.”

Now, Crockett is going against bigger, faster and stronger defenses, and the transition from high school to college football has been far from seamless. The freshman had a costly fumble against West Virginia in week one, killing a Missouri drive.

Crockett said playing in the SEC has been an adjustment. The hits are harder and the opposition is more athletic.

“The game’s just much faster,” he said. “The guys are bigger and faster. You’re not the fastest guy on the field anymore at all times. So that’s just a big adjustment, and that’s what it’s like pretty much out there.”

Odom said Crockett is still learning. His potential is clear, and he needs to work hard to achieve it.

“There’s things in practice you see him do and you know he’s going to have a chance to be a really good player,” Odom said. “But he’s got to work, he’s got to understand that he’s not the fastest guy on the field anymore … he’s continuing to get better.”

Against Delaware State, Crockett rushed for a season-high 115 yards and two touchdowns. The Tigers cruised to a 79-0 win.

Though he knows it was not against a football powerhouse, Crockett said it was nice to have a big game. He had fun competing and being with his teammates.

Though Keener said she was unsure about how much Crockett would see the field as a freshman, the running back said he expected to play immediately.

“I try to work hard, do everything to the best of my abilities as hard as I can, do stuff right,” Crockett said. “I just try and follow the right path, so I kind of expected to play.”

The freshman’s abilities have not gone unnoticed by his teammates. Sophomore offensive lineman Kevin Pendleton has been impressed by his new teammate.

Since he and Crockett are both underclassmen, Pendleton is looking forward to playing with the running back in coming years.

“Tough dude, tough guy and tons of energy,” he said. “It’s exciting to see what this kid can do.”

####Loving the game

When Crockett was growing up, he and his mom would fight over the television on Saturdays. Crockett would want to watch SEC football, while Keener preferred her shows on Lifetime.

Now, there’s no more fighting.

Crockett is out of the house, playing in the games he used to watch. And even though she has the freedom to watch Lifetime on Saturdays, Keener watches football every week.

For Keener, it’s special watching her son succeed.

“As a mother, you always want your child to be able to have the desires of their heart,” Keener said. “Damarea has always wanted to do this, so for him to have a chance at doing this, it’s just so emotional.”

As a 5-year-old in Arkansas, all Crockett wanted was to play with the football his mother got him. His dreams have grown, but his feelings for the game have remained constant.

Damarea loved football then, and he loves it now.

_Edited by Theo DeRosa | tderosa@themaneater.com_