DENVER — Denver7's Beyond the End Zone highlights local student athletes who have shown incredible resiliency, character and heart, because sometimes the best stories extend beyond the field and after the whistle.
This week, Beyond the End Zone visited Thomas Jefferson High School where Denver7's South Metro Reporter Danielle Kreutter met two brothers who play on the football team.
Brothers Marcus and Draecyn (Dre) Spearman have been dreaming of being professional football players since they were little.
"I started playing when I was 3 years old," said Marcus who plays wide receiver and defensive backup.
"I just followed after him, y'know? Followed by example," said his younger brother Dre, who plays interior offensive lineman and linebacker.
The two told Denver7 football goes far beyond a high school extracurricular activity for them.
"It's not a hobby for me, it's kind of a lifestyle," said Marcus. "Even when the season's over, it's a day in and day out kind of thing."
They're hopeful their passion for the sport leads to success and security in the future.
"I do want to play college football on a scholarship and then provide for my family," Dre said. "That would take a lot of weight off my mom's shoulders."
All of those dreams had to be put on hold last year, when their mother, Amy Spearman, ended up in the hospital.
"Out of the blue, I had never had a seizure in my life, I had a seizure," Amy said. "Then I hit my head on a metal shelf and it broke my head open."
She was in and out of the hospital for several seizures after that. She told Denver7, as a single mother of two, it was a very difficult time for the family.
"[Doctors] wanted to send me to a long-term care hospital. I was walking with a walker. They told me I wouldn't be able to walk again ever on my own and that I needed full-time care around the clock," Amy said.
"I told her, I was like, 'That's not true Mom. My Lord works miracles. You'll walk one day," Marcus remembered telling her at the time.
Marcus decided right then to put football and high school life on pause to be his mom's full time caregiver.
"I always live by the theory: God, family, football. So I was like, 'Things aren't going well right now. My mom needs me, so I gotta take some time off,'" said Marcus.
"Did it ever cross your mind to say, 'Oh, Marcus can take care of that, I'll keep going"? Denver7's Danielle Kreutter asked his brother Dre.
"Nah, it never crossed my mind to be like that," Dre said, "I truly believe Marcus, he can go to the next level and he can do further things. I felt like it was a part of my responsibility so he doesn't get held back in that."
The brothers did what they could to balance school work and their mom's health from home, but it was not easy.
"I missed most of the second semester of my Sophomore year. I wasn't participating in sports. I wasn't around friends hardly. There was nights were I just thought, I kind of had to give away my future. I really had no hope," Marcus remembered. "I didn't know if I was going to lose my mom or not. She's like, my everything."
Step by step, as a family, they began to make it through.
"They would help me try to do a few steps on my own. Marcus would have to pick me up and put me on his back," Amy remembered. "You never imagine at this stage in life when your baby is looking down at you and he's only 16. They took care of me in every way possible and they took care of each other."
Eventually doctors were able to better manage Amy's seizures. She walks on her own now, which she credits entirely to her sons.
The two brothers said they would not hesitate to make the same sacrifices again for their mom.
"My mom is my why," said Dre.
"That's just kind of what makes the making of a man, stepping up and taking care of your family," said Marcus. "There's nothing else that I can do that would make me feel more proud of myself. I don't think there's any other achievement."
After more than a year of caring for their mom at home, Marcus and Dre are now fully back in school and out on the field.
Marcus hopes to impress college football recruiters this season, even after taking time off.
"I'd love to play in the Power 5 Conferences. A school I like a lot is [University of] Washington. I went on a visit there earlier this year with Mile High Prep football, so I liked that a lot. It was a really cool school," said Marcus.
Dre, a sophomore, is hopeful to play with his brother professionally in the future.
"Thinking about going to college, scholarship, I want to do that. And then, if the Lord sees fit, I want to go to the NFL. I want to play with my brother in the NFL," said Dre.
Thomas Jefferson Football head coach Mike Griebel said the two brothers have the type of character that can have a profound impact on a team, on and off the field.
"Things like that just show their maturity and what a great job they do in situations like that. By putting family above sports and socializing in high school," said Griebel. "There's not a teacher in that building that wouldn't have nice things to say about Marcus and Dre."
Their mom told Denver7, she couldn't be more proud of her two sons.
"They get out on the football field and tackle hard, throw hard, play hard, catch hard. Y'know, whatever they do, they love hard," she said.
