My fiancé, Derek, and I met in May of 2012, and we hit it off almost instantly. Derek works for ESPN as the SEC recruiting writer for ESPN.com and appears on ESPNU’s “Recruiting Nation.” I am a seventh grade language arts teacher at Oak View Middle School. After a couple months of dating, it became clear that neither of us was seeing anyone else or even had eyes for anyone else, so we made it “official.” After dating for a little over a year, the big question of “Will you marry me?” still caught me completely by surprise! Me? Engaged?
On Sept. 26, our parents were planning to meet for the first time at what I thought was my birthday dinner. My parents brought gifts and a birthday cake from Publix (my absolute favorite). Derek’s family drove down from Jacksonville with his sister, Angela; brother, Ryan; and their families. His family also brought “birthday gifts” (little did I know, some were engagement presents!). We planned to go to dinner at Bonefish Grill and then come back to our apartment to eat cake and open “birthday” gifts.
Before we all left for dinner, however, Derek wanted us to watch some of the “Recruiting Nation” show that he had recorded the day before. He never gets a chance to see the show with his family – it’s usually just us who watch it together. We all gathered together to watch the show in the living room, but little did I know what was in store for me!
Derek had thought every detail of how this proposal would play out. Going back to the day before, he had called me super excited about a segment he had just finished. He told me how great he did and how excited he was to see it air. Earlier that day before our parents came over, Derek called me bummed out because his segment was cut due to time constraints, but he said ESPNU had still sent him a DVD copy so that he could show his friends and family. I told him that we could all still watch it that night with everyone. He seemed to be skeptical about showing us the segment after it didn’t make the air (little did I know what it really was at the time!), but I convinced him to show it – he made it seem like this was all my idea!
After the show aired on TV, Derek turned on the DVD copy of his segment. It started off talking about the top football prospects who could potentially commit to the top SEC schools over the weekend. The host asked Derek to name his top three prospects. After naming two, Derek then said “And finally, the number one recruit in the country who I think could commit is….Amanda Jeffers.”
I was absolutely befuddled and beside myself. I immediately turned around to look at Derek and he just said, “Watch the screen!”
I turned back around and saw pictures of us and our precious dog, Mia, all over the screen while his voice played in the background – he was talking about me!
After his description of me played, the top four recruiting analysts in the country – Tom Luginbill, Craig Haubert, Matt Schick and Gerry Hamilton – met to “analyze” me and my decision! At this point, I was speechless. I remember the one thought going through my head was “OMG is this on TV?” Then I started thinking, “He is going to propose!”
Sure enough, after each analyst had taken a sarcastic jab at Derek for getting hitched the host told Derek to “take it away,” he looked into the camera and said, “Amanda, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you – will you marry me?”
I remember Derek then escorted me off the couch. He grabbed my hand, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Completely overwhelmed and in tears, I said, “YES!”
After the engagement, we all went to Bonefish Grill and celebrated. I am one of the luckiest girls alive, and I am so blessed to have the support of my amazing future husband, my family, my new family and my closest friends! I could not ask for more.
Derek and I will be married on Aug. 2, 2014, at the Baughman Center, and we are so excited for the rest of our lives together!
You can find the ESPN video and my recorded reaction on YouTube by searching for “Derek and Amanda surprise proposal” or use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hISgFm2f5vc&safe=active.