TFB with the Family: Ms. Mia McClellan By: Ryan Lewis Posted on: August 21, 2017

Image of McClellan family via Mia McClellan Twitter

As the Sooners approach the football season, they come off an… eventful summer. The biggest event, of course, came in early June with the departure of Bob Stoops. Stoops had led the Sooners for the better part of two decades and it was nothing short of shocking to see him go. Lincoln Riley was immediately named head coach, and suddenly OU football had a
new face.

Another big piece of the summer, and one intertwined with the first piece, has been the recruiting. Riley has made his mark felt for the Sooners. The first few weeks of his tenure saw a floodgate open, with future Sooners committing in droves. One big day for that was the ChampUBBQ at the end of July. This event saw 3 commits: Jeffery Carter, Jalen Redmond, and Jase McClellan. McClellan is a 2020 RB out of Aledo, Texsa, and his commitment was another fun piece of the Sooners’ summer.

Here at TFB, we’ve been watching in amazement as Lincoln Riley and staff interact with recruits and make them feel completely comfortable with OU, despite seeing college football’s longest tenured coach departing earlier this summer. With that in mind, we wanted to reach out to the families of recruits and see what their perspective is. What’s their opinion of the
university? What about the campus? The coaches, the football program, their sons playing for OU… we wanted to know more about what this process looks like and feels like from their eyes.

This will be our first “TFB with the Family” post. These posts will be conversations with the parents of recruits to ask those exact questions listed above. We want to get to know the recruits better and, just as importantly, get to know their families better.

Our first “TFB with the Family” post will be a conversation with Ms. Mia McClellan, the mother of Jase McClellan.

Mia McClellan

Ms. Mia is the mother of 3 boys. The oldest is 21, and currently in college at SF Austin. Her middle son is 20 years old and working. Jase is her youngest son, at just over 15 years of age. She lives in Aledo, Texas with Jase, just west of Fort Worth. They have lived there since Jase’s sixth grade year, having lived in Cedar Hill before that. Currently, Ms. Mia works in the mortgage field. They have a great support system there: family members from uncles to cousins live close by and can be found taking up a large section of the stadium at Jase’s football games- “from the top to the bottom at the 40 yard line.” Her family grew up cheering for many teams, including TCU, Alabama, Texas, and OU. As for Ms. Mia, she grew up cheering for the Sooners (as well she should).

One of the first times she remembers knowing that Jase was something extraordinary at football was in a football camp several years ago. She was watching her son and a coach she didn’t know walked up. He told her, “you have a D1 player on your hands, if you didn’t know it.” After looking up what in the world D1 meant, she knew that Jase was onto something.

The first time she went to Norman with Jase, they were driving around town and stopped in at a Sonic. She knew someone there and it reminded her of Aledo – that hometown feeling of knowing people wherever you go. Jase walked into the facilities just a few minutes before her, but as she walked in she was greeted by name from current players, staff, and recruits, none of
whom had met her before. That just added to the hometown experience for her.

Ms. Mia has a strong focus on academics, and her son’s education is of the utmost importance to her. She has spoken with some of the academic advisors for the team and come away very impressed. One thing that stuck out to her was that, at OU, the advisors make sure that the athlete gets to choose their major and have their sport work around it, as opposed to choosing a major that fits well with the schedule of a sport. She feels comfortable that Jase will be well prepared for life after college.

When the McClellan family first visited the university, the renovations were still underway. Walking through them, she had a feel for what they would look like and got to hear about the future plans. Seeing the completed product, however, was shocking – it was way more than she could have imagined and so much better to see than hear about.

Bob Stoops (remember that guy?) was the head coach when Jase was offered. Although Ms. Mia doesn’t often speak with coaches, she has had some interaction with Coach Lincoln Riley and Coach Jay Boulware (JB). She spoke with Coach Riley 2-3 weeks prior to the ChampUBBQ and was thrilled to hear about his excitement for potentially having Jase on
campus. They also spoke about her, Coach Riley’s plan for the program, and much more. Both Coach Riley and Coach Boulware have been interested in their family on a personal level, which makes her feel that much more comfortable with the program. With Coach Riley being the new lead man for OU football, she thinks he’ll do a great job. The floodgate of commitments since he took over has been impressive to her.

The story of Jase committing is a fun one for her. One thing to know for this story – Jase almost never changes facial expressions. He is very composed and steady. Driving up to Norman from Aledo that morning, Ms. Mia didn’t know that Jase planned to commit. She had heard him say that he may not take as long as others, and that it may come after the season, but his exact
timing was unknown to her.

On the way there, Jase looked at her in the car and said, “You know I’m committing today, right?” She, thinking he was kidding, laughed, turned up the music, and kept driving. His face never changed. At the ChampUBBQ, after speaking with Coach JB, he asked her “are you ok with me committing today?” His face never changed, and she laughed again. After some
pictures, he came back and said, “Mom, I’m ready to make a decision.” “On what?” she asked. He replied, “to commit.”

She, while surprised, said “go with your gut, as long as you’ve prayed about it I’m all for it.” The McClellan family has a saying – “If you’re rocking, I’m rolling.” It is similar to “if you like it, I love it.” It was a perfect time for that, and she gave him the support he needed.

https://twitter.com/ShaMiaMcClellan/status/892199062606401537

Shortly after this, Jase having been apart from her for a short time, Coach Riley walked up to her with a big grin on his face. “I feel like it’s Christmas. I have this present, but I can’t open it for years.” She asked, “Did he do it?” Just then, Jase came around the corner with a big ole smile on his face. It was a great moment for their family. She knows that he has thought it
through and is ready for that level of a decision.

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Jase still has three years of high school left. That’s obviously a lot of time to keep developing his already impressive skillset on the field. Beyond that, however, he wants to stay focused on academics. Jase is an A and B student, and his mom is a big supporter of him in that. He also wants to rush for 2,500 yards in a season (he hit 1,500 his freshman year), give his team his all, and go for another state title. Another goal for him is to be as good as Aledo alumni and former Texas running back Jonathan Gray. Jase grew up seeing Gray and the two have developed into almost family.

The plan is to attend most of Jase’s games when he is at OU. The home games will be a 3 hour drive. Since Jase started playing football at 4, she has only missed 2 games (the slacker). That truly is amazing! She won’t have to wait as long as she could for him to be on campus either – Jase will be an early enrollee. He is also, contrary to some measurements out there, already at 5’ 11.5” – I don’t remember how tall I was in ninth grade, but I know I’d have barely been that tall when standing on a kitchen table.

Ms. Mia is providing Jase with a great support system, and she is excited for his future. It will be fun to see their family move toward Jase becoming a Sooner and what is in store for them.