Sherman remembered the conversation and said he would gladly honor the promise.

“It goes back to knowledge is power and if you have knowledge you’re going to be as powerful as you ever want to be,” said Sherman, who graduated from Stanford University in 2010. “Nobody stops anybody from reading and educating themselves. Mike is only trying to empower these kids to be everything that they can be and if we can help with that with our presence, with our (autographed) jerseys (for an auction), with our words, we’ll do everything we can.”

Many athletes find charities near their hearts, but how many fund a scholarship to a student on the fly?

“It’s an awesome feeling to see Richard Sherman do something like this behind the scenes to support Michael and his work with our TEAM EXCEL students,” Mayo said. “His offer to provide a scholarship shows that he has witnessed the growth and impact of the program over the past four years that he has been coming to Richmond to support Michael and Excel to Excellence. These are the types of acts that the public doesn’t see where pro athletes like Michael and Richard are working to impact the next generation of leaders. It also demonstrates the desire of our kids to excel and further their education.”