As the final team to earn an at-large bid in this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff field, No. 10 Miami (13-2) was considered a longshot to win a single game, let alone make next Monday’s national championship game against No. 1 Indiana (15-0). Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm ET, Jan. 19 from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

A big reason for the Hurricanes’ surprising title game run has been the play of workhorse junior running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who’s 395 postseason rushing yards has paced Miami’s grind-it-out offense to consecutive upsets over No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Ole Miss in the first three rounds of this year’s Playoffs. But for all the ground Fletcher has chewed up on the field, there’s someone that’s gone even farther just to see him play this season — his mother, Linda.

“She gets her a little rental for that weekend, and she just (hits) the road,” Fletcher told ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway on Monday’s episode of their Nonstop podcast, adding the longest trip his mother has made was a 6,200-mile roundtrip trek from their home in Fort Lauderdale to Cal in 2024. “I was telling her like, ‘Mom, look, I know you want to come to my games, and I want you to come to my games and support me. But if you don’t want to fly, it’s OK. You can just watch it (on TV).’ And she was like, ‘Boy, I ain’t hearing that. I’ll see you there.’”

Galloway then asked how much of a motivation it is to see his mother in the stands for all of his games, no matter the distance she had to drive. Whatever the motivation, Fletcher has carried Miami’s ground game with a team-leading 1,080 rushing yards and 10 touchdwons on 199 carries this season.

Mark Fletcher on his mother’s travels to see him play: ‘She’s giving it her all, I’ve got to give it my all too’

“(It’s) extremely motivating, extremely motivating. This lady showed up (after she) drove all these hours. Yeah, she claims she loves it, but I know that’s not an easy thing to do,” Fletcher added. “She wants to be there for me and support me, man, I’m about to run this ball so hard. I’m about to block so hard. I’m about to do everything I can. And not only, of course, because I want to win for my teammates, but my momma just came here and did all that, I’ve got to give it my all. She’s giving it her all, I’ve got to give it my all too.”

Fletcher’s mother has certainly put in significant time on the road during the postseason, driving more than 5,000 miles and a total of 140 hours round trip for Miami’s three Playoff games to College Station, Arlington, Tex., and Glendale, Ariz. In all, Linda has driven approximately 17,650 miles round trip and spent more than 250 total hours traveling to her son’s road games during the 2025 college football season.

Given all that time driving, it’s only fitting that Linda’s next trip to see her son play in Monday’s CFP National Championship game against Indiana in Miami Gardens is a short one.

“It’s a good 15 miles, baby,” Fletcher joked, “she can handle that.”