Mayo

Tommy Austin recently retired from coaching after more than 20 years, mostly at the high-school level, and he has seen a lot of players come and go.

So when he says that the New England Patriots’ first-round draft pick, Jerod Mayo, is at the top of the list in terms of total package — which for Austin means not just an excellent football player but also a top-notch human being — he’s considering a large pool.

Austin goes back to the weight room at Kecoughtan High in Hampton, Va., where Mayo didn’t just put in the work to make himself better, he also focused just as much on the development of his teammates, challenging them or helping them as needed.

Austin recalls Mayo’s senior year with the Warriors, when the team lost two of its first three games and was struggling at the tailback position.

“We had tried not to play him on offense because he was playing every down on defense, averaging 16, 17 tackles a game,” Austin said. “He said to me, ‘Coach, if it will help us win, don’t worry about me getting beat up.’ So we started playing him at tailback, and he rushed for 1,300 yards over the last seven games and we went 6-1 over those last seven games. It wasn’t a selfish thing, it wasn’t, ‘Hey give me the ball.’ It was, ‘What can I do to help us win games?’ ”

Austin can point to his frequent conversations with Mayo, at least once a month since the young man graduated from high school as a National Honor Society student. Mayo’s first words to his former mentor are always to ask how his two daughters are doing, and if the girls are at home, Mayo wants to speak with them.

And when Austin sent Mayo text messages before his games with the Tennessee Volunteers to wish him good luck, as he does with all of his former players, Mayo was the rare one to respond to the text, thanking Austin for thinking of him.

Saturday evening, Austin tuned in to the opening round of the draft, waiting to hear Mayo’s name called. When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the Patriots had selected Mayo with the 10th pick, Austin did a “joyous dance” in front of the television.

“I like to think he was well-coached [in high school], and I know he was well-coached at Tennessee, but Jerod took what he was given, what God gave him and what his coaches gave him, and took it to the next level.”

Though he’s biased, Austin believes the Patriots will not be disappointed with choosing Mayo to add youth and speed to their linebacking corps.

“If I had to describe him in one sentence, I’d say he’s fast, smart and physical,” Austin said. “He has football sense, and what I mean by that is he anticipates things. I’d be willing to bet 10 years from now they won’t be saying Jerod Mayo was a first-round bust.”

Jerod Mayo is the second of Denise Mayo-Hinds’ four sons. All four were standout players at Kecoughtan.

Mayo-Hinds was a single mother before remarrying when Jerod was 14. She worked full-time to provide for her sons, and drove them to sports practices, giving them an example they wanted to live up to.

“She had high expectations for them,” said Austin. “It wasn’t so much, ‘If you don’t do this, then I’ll …’ She didn’t need the whip and the chair. They saw the effort she put in.

“They weren’t afraid of a whuppin’, they were afraid of disappointing their mama.”

It’s safe to say that Mayo has done little to disappoint his mother. He has earned his degree from Tennessee in sports management, earned honors for his play, and earned the respect of nearly everyone who crosses his path.

“You can talk to the teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers that were at Kecoughtan when he was there, and they will all tell you that you would have never known that he was a star football player,” Austin said. “He’s always been a humble kid.”

Now that kid is a man, whose dream of being in a position to provide for his mother and have her retire will come true once he reaches a contract agreement with New England.

Of all the stories Austin can tell about Mayo, all the anecdotes he can give about his goodness as a person and not just a football player, there is one that is the most complimentary of all.

“He’ll thank you for the little things. My daughter, Lindsey, was a team manager her senior year [at Kecoughtan] and one day she did a favor for Jerod and he said, ‘Lindsey, will you marry me?’ ” Austin recalls, chuckling. “I don’t think the proposal is still open, but I hope she finds somebody just like Jerod.”

smanza@projo.com