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SI99 DB Terrion Arnold Pens Blog on College Commitment

Nation's top available defensive back recruit details college decision in his own words in special SI All-American exclusive

Terrion Arnold

Hello guys, I'm Terrion Arnold. I'm from Tallahassee, Florida, born and raised. 

I'm a student-athlete who attends St. John Paul II Catholic High School, like I said in Tallahassee. 3.5 GPA, so I'll be graduating with honors and I take my academics very seriously. I'm a stand-out athlete, SI99 football recruit, high major basketball recruit. I've been playing both sports my whole life, even running track.

I'm a man of God, a man of faith, I love my Lord and savior. All glory goes to Him. I'm a family man and am very involved in my city, especially with everything going on. I'm very active in my community and last but not least, just a funny character guy who loves helping people and looking out for people when in need. 

Part of the reason I teamed up with Sports Illustrated was because it was a childhood dream of mine. To be a voice and have an impact on high school kids, even the youth, is amazing for me. I want to take advantage of the opportunity. 

My journey, the last two years, has been pretty tough. My 10th grade year I broke my ankle. My 11th grade year was kind of my breakout year, my all or nothing year. I took the whole summer, my whole spring, and just really dedicated it to focusing on my 11th grade year. It's the year I transferred to St. John Paul. Nobody really knew of the school like that, especially in the sports world. It's a college preparatory school, so mainly known for academics.

I teamed up with Coach Ed (Hill), Coach Travis Norton, they took a chance on me. I told them once I came I was gonna win 2A player of the year and put the school on the map and I dedicated the whole year to that. Finally blossomed after the second game and I received an offer from Virginia. After that, my recruiting process sky-rocketed. 

Since then I would receive five, sometimes four offers in one day. Constant coaches calls, constant recruiters and reporters like 'who is this kid?' I really just bounced back and showed all the doubters and the ones that counted me out that I was still counted in. 

That's when I launched my program, One Year. It took one year for me to prove all the doubters wrong. All it takes is just one year, like they say, all it takes is one year to change your life. Look what it did for me. Even with COVID, one year has changed the outlook of high school football, college football and even NFL football. Also the world. One Year is mainly my slogan for all the doubters.

Now for what everybody has been waiting for...as far as what went into the decision process, I took it all the way down to the end. For one, because the of the challenge. Even the opportunity to take it all the way to the end, most people don't really understand that you have to be a superb athlete to be able to do that because schools have to really want you. Spots close very fast and there's a lot of great players out there, so for schools to hold -- as they would say -- that last spot for me is amazing. It just shows how hard I've worked and it's paying off. 

What went into my decision process...I broke down the process very analytically. I didn't really get into what people do as far as looking who is at your position and checking out the depth chart and stuff like that, because I feel like I can compete with anyone and go and take me a position. So that didn't really matter to me. I feel like kids who do that is kind of a put-down of how good you are and the doubt in yourself. 

I took my visits and I built relationships. I love my family and I'm a very family-oriented guy so really this is the school that made me feel like family the most. Even at John Paul, we built relationships that will last forever. I'm pretty close to my principal, my guidance counselor, a lot of my peers and obviously Coach Ed and Coach Travis. It's really just about relationships and the school that could get me through the next journey. 

I chose Alabama. 

I was down to Georgia and Florida but I chose Alabama just because competition. A wise man told me you practice more than you play, so you have to be able to compete with the best of the best way more than you play. The games should be easy, so if I go hard in practice and I'm able to compete with the top-notch guys in the country, and the top-notch guys in the country are there, it will elevate my game to a T. 

Why not go play for the GOAT, as they say, in Nick Saban? I've built a great relationship with him. For me to just have all those sit down conversations with him, to turn down a lot of top players and save that last spot for me, it really shows how bad they wanted me -- even with the basketball opportunity. He's giving me the opportunity to play both and I have to take advantage of the opportunity.

I've built a great relationship with Nate Oates and Bryan Hodgson and their coaching staff. I'm just showing people that I can do both. I played up under Charlie Ward, he was my basketball coach. Being a two-sport athlete, most people think it's hard but it's not really hard. It takes dedication and you have to give up a lot of your free time. But I wouldn't say it's free time because I'm on a journey, on a mission. It's more motivation for all the doubters that doubt me. 

To the 'Bama fans, y'all are getting the hardest-working player in the country. I'm looking forward to wowing you guys and making plays at Bryant-Denny Stadium and Coleman Coliseum. I feel like y'all are getting the best multi-sport athlete 'Bama nation has ever seen.

Huge thank you to SI All-American, SI and the whole crew for having me and the opportunity to be able to share a little bit of my story for the rest of the world. I want to thank my family, my grandparents, my mother, the coaches and just a message for my little brother and little cousin. They motivated me to be the best version of me. Every time I look at them, I look up and go harder because I know they'll be in my shoes one day. I really want to pave the way for those guys, so I want to thank them even though they played on my team this year. 

I felt bad because we fell short of getting them a state championship this year. Even though they're freshmen, I want to let them know I'm going to continue to work hard for them and continue to pave the way for them.  

Roll Tide!

Twitter: @ArnoldTerrion

Instagram: begreat.t

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Terrion Arnold
TERRION ARNOLD

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