Jarell Addo emerges from the fire and the flames
By Zander Manning
When Jarell Addo was in seventh grade, his brother Shaun was in high school and in the middle of basketball season.
On one cold day in December, Shaun had a game against a team in Worcester and texted
his mother, Ann Ashley, that he needed her to bring him his jersey so that he would have it in time for
the contest. Ashley told him she would bring it, not to worry.
At 1 p.m., while working at Walmart on Jungle Road in Leominster, Ashley got a phone call. She thought nothing of it, thinking it was just the basketball coach calling to remind her to bring Shaun’s jersey.
“Ms. Ashley, there‘s been an emergency at your house,” the voice on the other side said.
“What happened?” Ashley asked.
“I’m afraid your home has caught fire, we suggest you leave work immediately,” the voice said.
Ashley wasted no time leaving work. She ran out the door, got in her car, and raced to her home on
Hamilton St in Leominster, only to find that the building had burned to the ground. The neighbor's
blanket got caught in the space heater and caught fire. Soon thereafter, the fire spread to the
rest of the building.
The Addo family, along with everyone else in the building, lost everything except their lives. All
they had left was the clothes on their backs.
Ashley immediately called Shaun to let him know what happened and he attempted to come
home, but Ashley insisted he play in the game.
It was crushing, especially for Jarell. He only knew this place as his home and now it was gone. However, he soon turned his attention to his mother, making sure that she was okay.
“He was sad at first, but he was really more concerned about how I was doing,” Ashley said of Jarell’s reaction to the fire. “He didn’t want me stressing. Once he saw that things were going good, he adjusted.”
First, Jarell and his family stayed at a hotel for a few nights, then at a friend’s house for
others, but soon they got a phone call from Jarell’s Pop Warner coach and close family friend, Jim Xarras. Xarras mentioned he had a two-bedroom condominium he could put them up in for the time being until they found another place.
Initially, Ashley was resistant, not wanting to take any handouts from anyone, but relented when Xarras offered to take both Jarell and his younger brother in so that they could actually manage with such a small space.
Soon support from all over the football community came through, however. Parents of Jarell’s
teammates since fourth grade, some even earlier, gave them whatever they could so that the Addo
family could get back on their feet.
The donations consisted of gift cards, rides to Ginny’s — a local non-profit in Leominster — to get
furniture and clothes and just about whatever else they needed. Before they knew it, it was as if the fire never happened.
“(Ashley) worked double shifts at Walmart to make ends meet,” Xarras said. “She’s a proud,
hardworking lady and all of those kids are good and they are everything (to her).”
Once the Addo family was back on its feet, Ashley came to the realization that the fire was a wake-up
call for her relationship with her kids' father and wound up filing for divorce.
In fact, Jarell and Shaun were the ones who encouraged it. Ashley’s now-ex-husband was prone to
drinking and in her words he was “not a good influence on her boys.”
She wanted them to have a strong male influence in their lives and someone they could grow up and say that they wanted to be like. To her, Xarras fit the bill.
Ashley said the divorce is really what helped Jarell settle in with what happened with the fire.
From middle school to college, Jarell stayed with Xarras and his wife. While living with them, the two raised him like their own. While he didn’t live with her, Jarell remained very close with his mother, checking in on her daily to make sure she was okay.
One aspect of Jarell’s personality that both Xarras and Ashley mentioned non-stop was his ability to be kind to everyone. Ashley said it was something that she both raised him to be, but at the same time it was someone Jarell just aspired to be on his own.
“Off the field he’s just a really nice kid,” Xarras said. “He could be seen spending as much time with
someone who isn’t popular as someone who is.”
Throughout high school the two constants for Jarell was football in the fall and basketball.
During his junior year, Jarell started to receive offers from college coaches including Jim Fleming, head coach of the University of Rhode Island football team, who insisted Jarell visit URI first.
Jarell’s dream school, however, was Boston College. He applied and got in on an educational
scholarship, but was only offered a partial scholarship to play football. Financially, it wasn’t a good fit for him and his family and he began to look elsewhere.
Jarell was offered full rides from Holy Cross, URI and many others, but the one that was most enticing to him was from the UMass. It was the best option both financially and competition-wise.
The one catch was he was offered by then-head coach Charley Molnar. Following a disappointing season that saw the Minutemen hold a record of 1-11 overall and 1-7 in Mid-American Conference play, Molnar was fired and quickly replaced by now-former head coach Mark Whipple. It was Whipple's second stint at UMass after coaching the Minutemen from 1998 to 2003 while still in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
One of Whipple’s first orders of business was to decide who would keep their scholarships and who
would not. Whipple rescinded a few offers, but wound up keeping more than he rescinded. Addo was
not sure if the offer still stood considering the new coaching staff and had an offer to play at the
University of New Hampshire. and at the moment, that seemed like the best one.
“I had a lot of guys to call,” Whipple says of the day he called Jarell. “I remember when I first met him, I liked him as a kid, I liked the way he worked. . . . He really pushed on defense and he’s become a really good player and the scheme fit him well. The last few years he’s blossomed.”
On the day he signed on to play at UMass, Jarell said he was on the verge of taking the offer to play for UNH when the call from Whipple came. Whipple said Jarell was one of the few that he wanted to keep, saying that he saw a lot of potential in him and said he would do whatever took to get Addo to play for UMass.
Whipple attended Addo’s basketball games and made it personal. Whipple made sure Addo knew that
he cared about him both as a person and as a player. Addo was relieved that the offer still stood and on July 31, 2013 he verbally committed to playing for the Minutemen.
Jarell later signed his letter of intent, but it was from the moment that he and Ashley met
Whipple for the first time they knew it was a perfect match. Whipple not only made Jarell feel
comfortable about making the choice, but also made Ashley feel the same way. She was adamant that
Jarell go to a school where not only was football important, but also the academics.
Whipple put her mind at ease, telling her about the mandatory study hall he was prepared to institute,
as well as specific GPA requirements and a strict routine.
In late July of the following year, after graduating with one of the best GPAs in his class, Jarell was ready to move into UMass. When he moved into Moore Hall, it was a bittersweet moment for Ashley.
“I was happy, but sad too,” Ashley said. “It was the first time he was going to be away from home, by
himself. Him and his younger brother were like two peas in a pod. If you see one, you were going to see the other. It was sad, but I was happy to see him starting next phase of his life. Bittersweet to go to summer training. Excited (that he was) ready to do that. I was happy for him.”
After redshirting his first and third seasons in 2014 and 2016 respectively, Jarell had his career-best season in 2017 finishing with 12 games played and 67 total tackles. He had eight tackles for loss for 24 yards, and 8-yard sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
His best game, however, came against Liberty this Nov. 3 where he had a leaping interception in
overtime and a career-high 12 tackles.
According to Ashley, he wants to play in the NFL. Ashley and Xarras say Jarell is a very determined individual, and when he sets goals, he works as hard as he can to get there. The NFL is just his
next one.
“I can’t believe it’s been five years,” Ashley said. “It is emotional that it’s his last game. Just talking to family at dinner, it doesn’t seem like it’s been five years, it went by so fast. It seems like yesterday we just dropped him off for summer training and now it’s over. . . . We look forward to going to games. We’re hoping it’s not the end, we’re hoping we’ll have somewhere else to travel to.”
Twitter: @zander_manning_
When Jarell Addo was in seventh grade, his brother Shaun was in high school and in the middle of basketball season.
On one cold day in December, Shaun had a game against a team in Worcester and texted
his mother, Ann Ashley, that he needed her to bring him his jersey so that he would have it in time for
the contest. Ashley told him she would bring it, not to worry.
At 1 p.m., while working at Walmart on Jungle Road in Leominster, Ashley got a phone call. She thought nothing of it, thinking it was just the basketball coach calling to remind her to bring Shaun’s jersey.
“Ms. Ashley, there‘s been an emergency at your house,” the voice on the other side said.
“What happened?” Ashley asked.
“I’m afraid your home has caught fire, we suggest you leave work immediately,” the voice said.
Ashley wasted no time leaving work. She ran out the door, got in her car, and raced to her home on
Hamilton St in Leominster, only to find that the building had burned to the ground. The neighbor's
blanket got caught in the space heater and caught fire. Soon thereafter, the fire spread to the
rest of the building.
The Addo family, along with everyone else in the building, lost everything except their lives. All
they had left was the clothes on their backs.
Ashley immediately called Shaun to let him know what happened and he attempted to come
home, but Ashley insisted he play in the game.
It was crushing, especially for Jarell. He only knew this place as his home and now it was gone. However, he soon turned his attention to his mother, making sure that she was okay.
“He was sad at first, but he was really more concerned about how I was doing,” Ashley said of Jarell’s reaction to the fire. “He didn’t want me stressing. Once he saw that things were going good, he adjusted.”
Recovery time
First, Jarell and his family stayed at a hotel for a few nights, then at a friend’s house for
others, but soon they got a phone call from Jarell’s Pop Warner coach and close family friend, Jim Xarras. Xarras mentioned he had a two-bedroom condominium he could put them up in for the time being until they found another place.
Initially, Ashley was resistant, not wanting to take any handouts from anyone, but relented when Xarras offered to take both Jarell and his younger brother in so that they could actually manage with such a small space.
Soon support from all over the football community came through, however. Parents of Jarell’s
teammates since fourth grade, some even earlier, gave them whatever they could so that the Addo
family could get back on their feet.
The donations consisted of gift cards, rides to Ginny’s — a local non-profit in Leominster — to get
furniture and clothes and just about whatever else they needed. Before they knew it, it was as if the fire never happened.
“(Ashley) worked double shifts at Walmart to make ends meet,” Xarras said. “She’s a proud,
hardworking lady and all of those kids are good and they are everything (to her).”
Making a change
Once the Addo family was back on its feet, Ashley came to the realization that the fire was a wake-up
call for her relationship with her kids' father and wound up filing for divorce.
In fact, Jarell and Shaun were the ones who encouraged it. Ashley’s now-ex-husband was prone to
drinking and in her words he was “not a good influence on her boys.”
She wanted them to have a strong male influence in their lives and someone they could grow up and say that they wanted to be like. To her, Xarras fit the bill.
Ashley said the divorce is really what helped Jarell settle in with what happened with the fire.
From middle school to college, Jarell stayed with Xarras and his wife. While living with them, the two raised him like their own. While he didn’t live with her, Jarell remained very close with his mother, checking in on her daily to make sure she was okay.
One aspect of Jarell’s personality that both Xarras and Ashley mentioned non-stop was his ability to be kind to everyone. Ashley said it was something that she both raised him to be, but at the same time it was someone Jarell just aspired to be on his own.
“Off the field he’s just a really nice kid,” Xarras said. “He could be seen spending as much time with
someone who isn’t popular as someone who is.”
The right offer
Throughout high school the two constants for Jarell was football in the fall and basketball.
During his junior year, Jarell started to receive offers from college coaches including Jim Fleming, head coach of the University of Rhode Island football team, who insisted Jarell visit URI first.
Jarell’s dream school, however, was Boston College. He applied and got in on an educational
scholarship, but was only offered a partial scholarship to play football. Financially, it wasn’t a good fit for him and his family and he began to look elsewhere.
Jarell was offered full rides from Holy Cross, URI and many others, but the one that was most enticing to him was from the UMass. It was the best option both financially and competition-wise.
The one catch was he was offered by then-head coach Charley Molnar. Following a disappointing season that saw the Minutemen hold a record of 1-11 overall and 1-7 in Mid-American Conference play, Molnar was fired and quickly replaced by now-former head coach Mark Whipple. It was Whipple's second stint at UMass after coaching the Minutemen from 1998 to 2003 while still in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
One of Whipple’s first orders of business was to decide who would keep their scholarships and who
would not. Whipple rescinded a few offers, but wound up keeping more than he rescinded. Addo was
not sure if the offer still stood considering the new coaching staff and had an offer to play at the
University of New Hampshire. and at the moment, that seemed like the best one.
“I had a lot of guys to call,” Whipple says of the day he called Jarell. “I remember when I first met him, I liked him as a kid, I liked the way he worked. . . . He really pushed on defense and he’s become a really good player and the scheme fit him well. The last few years he’s blossomed.”
On the day he signed on to play at UMass, Jarell said he was on the verge of taking the offer to play for UNH when the call from Whipple came. Whipple said Jarell was one of the few that he wanted to keep, saying that he saw a lot of potential in him and said he would do whatever took to get Addo to play for UMass.
Whipple attended Addo’s basketball games and made it personal. Whipple made sure Addo knew that
he cared about him both as a person and as a player. Addo was relieved that the offer still stood and on July 31, 2013 he verbally committed to playing for the Minutemen.
Jarell later signed his letter of intent, but it was from the moment that he and Ashley met
Whipple for the first time they knew it was a perfect match. Whipple not only made Jarell feel
comfortable about making the choice, but also made Ashley feel the same way. She was adamant that
Jarell go to a school where not only was football important, but also the academics.
Whipple put her mind at ease, telling her about the mandatory study hall he was prepared to institute,
as well as specific GPA requirements and a strict routine.
In late July of the following year, after graduating with one of the best GPAs in his class, Jarell was ready to move into UMass. When he moved into Moore Hall, it was a bittersweet moment for Ashley.
“I was happy, but sad too,” Ashley said. “It was the first time he was going to be away from home, by
himself. Him and his younger brother were like two peas in a pod. If you see one, you were going to see the other. It was sad, but I was happy to see him starting next phase of his life. Bittersweet to go to summer training. Excited (that he was) ready to do that. I was happy for him.”
What's next?
After redshirting his first and third seasons in 2014 and 2016 respectively, Jarell had his career-best season in 2017 finishing with 12 games played and 67 total tackles. He had eight tackles for loss for 24 yards, and 8-yard sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
His best game, however, came against Liberty this Nov. 3 where he had a leaping interception in
overtime and a career-high 12 tackles.
According to Ashley, he wants to play in the NFL. Ashley and Xarras say Jarell is a very determined individual, and when he sets goals, he works as hard as he can to get there. The NFL is just his
next one.
“I can’t believe it’s been five years,” Ashley said. “It is emotional that it’s his last game. Just talking to family at dinner, it doesn’t seem like it’s been five years, it went by so fast. It seems like yesterday we just dropped him off for summer training and now it’s over. . . . We look forward to going to games. We’re hoping it’s not the end, we’re hoping we’ll have somewhere else to travel to.”
Twitter: @zander_manning_
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