As a 9-year-old boy, Daniel Farrow looked in his mother's eyes and made the promise she asked him to make.

"She said, 'Promise me you'll go to college and play football,'" Farrow recalled.

Then that little boy fell asleep in his mother's arms, and by the time he woke up, she had died. Her second battle with breast cancer took her life, and with no father around, Farrow and his two older siblings were left with no one but each other.

Nearly a decade later, Farrow, the baby of the family, feels he finally has his life in order to fulfill his promise. He's shown for years that he has college football talent, and after transferring to Mustang in August, Farrow believes he's on the right path toward cleaning up his academics and his image.

And Farrow knows his mother is making his journey with him. He sees her every time he steps onto a football field, knowing he must keep his promise. He feels her every time his gold chain rubs against his neck. Farrow's mother gave him the chain a year before she died.

"I only took it off once, because it broke," he said. "Coach (Ty) Prestidge has a rule against jewelry when we go on road trips. But I told him, 'Coach, I can't take this off. I can't.'

"It's hard for me to take it off for anybody."

Despite a life that often has been saturated with overwhelming negativity, Farrow is one of the Broncos' most positive personalities.

"He brings a lot of motivation," senior Braden Wiseley said. "If a player does something wrong and gets down, he's right there picking you up, not letting you think about what happened. He's always focused on the future."

Leaving his past behind

As a junior, Farrow was one of the top running backs in the state at Putnam City West. Last spring, he briefly transferred to Putnam City North, but soon was headed back to PC West. Then, some off-field incidents left him looking for a fresh start.

At the same time, he had made a promise to his guardian, Chad Joyce, that he'd move out and support himself when he turned 18.

"He's like a dad to me," Farrow said. "When I turned 18, I wanted to go out and take care of myself without him having to take care of me. I wanted to show that I could make good decisions on my own."

In keeping that promise to Joyce, Farrow found an apartment, then a job in Mustang. He enrolled in school and began practicing with the Broncos in August.

Farrow spends his weekdays wading through school work, his Friday nights plowing over linebackers, and all weekend -- sometimes in 12-hour shifts -- running the cash register and mopping floors at a local chicken restaurant.

"It's just my responsibilities," Farrow said. "It puts a lot more on my shoulders that I've got to take care of. Most people my age have parents, but I don't.

"It's a whole lot of work. I don't get time to rest. But it's about how you set your mind. It's choices -- are you gonna do it or are you not gonna do it. I'm making the choice to do it."

Farrow's commitment to hard work in all facets of his life has gone a long way toward distancing himself from a questionable past in inner-city surroundings. Farrow wasn't living a thug life, but he wasn't doing everything he could to keep his reputation clean.

"I don't want to talk about the things I did, but there's a lot of regrets," he said. "When I was living on the other side of town, there were things I had done when I was young and growing up on my own.

"I'm not worried about that stuff now. I'm just worried about how far I can go and the steps I'm taking going forward."

Completing the promise

Though he has only played the last three games for Mustang, Farrow is already the Broncos' leading rusher for the season with 348 yards and six touchdowns. But on-field success won't mean anything if he doesn't get his grades in order.

"He's working hard," teammate David Glidden said. "In September, he was injured and wasn't practicing. He had his homework out on the practice field, trying to fight the wind and get his homework done. I've seen him at lunch doing it. He says he falls asleep with his head in his book sometimes."

With lots of extra work in the classroom, Farrow is getting on track to meet NCAA Clearinghouse requirements, and he'll take the ACT later this month.

Even if he doesn't get his grades up to NCAA standards this year, he could get a chance to refine his football and academic skills at a junior college. Either way, he's counting on his renewed focus on the future -- and his mother's spirit -- to carry him through.

"I still see the visions almost every day of me making that promise to my mom. I've got to do this for her," he said, pointing to the sky.

"If I don't complete this promise, it'll feel like I just gave up on everything. This promise means everything to me. It means my life."

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