It takes courage for a quarterback to call his own number on fourth down at the goal line or try threading the needle against double coverage with the game on the line. But what University of Tennessee signal-caller Brian Maurer is doing now goes way beyond that.

Maurer bared his life on social media Saturday in a bid to help people dealing with mental illness.

Brian Maurer planned to commit suicide

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In honor of may being mental health month I’m encouraging everyone to seek help but also to speak up and to share their stories, here’s my story since the 7th grade i have struggled with anxiety and depression this battle has been long and hard it has been an everyday battle , In the 7th grade my father was sentenced to 25 years in prison, around the same time my mom and stepdad split up causing me to have to grow up early In the 9th grade me and my mom decided it would be best if i moved in with my grandmother while she moved for a little bit causing even more depression as i was no longer with my mom and my younger sister Junior year of highschool one of my best friends committed suicide and i had never felt so low in my entire life one as of the strongest people i have ever know lost his battle . Dewayne ALWAYS had a smile on his face and was always telling me i was gonna be something great. At this point i knew i was in trouble but i still refused hell from anyone Senior year of highschool I lost 2 friends to gun violence i slipped even deeper into a black hole and I turned to everything else but seeking help I was embarrassed to be like this , I always thought that as a guy i had to have tough skin and not to let anything bother me I thought i needed to stay strong for my family and that they couldn’t see me down and that I was their shoulder to cry on. I always thought i needed to be the shoulder for people to cry on when deep down i was screaming for help On Wednesday January 22 , 2020 i planned to take my own life , i though i lost my battle with depression and that my pain had come to an end as i was going to do it i looked up and i said “god if this isn’t your plan for me please send me a sign” 2 minutes later my mom called me with my baby nephew Jeremiah and she said she was just calling to say she loved me , i then knew that by ending my pain i would be causing so much more to the people who loved me. Please reach out to receive help, mental health is a very serious matter and there is hope for you ! I along with everyone around you stand with you, you have the strength to deal with this. Please keep fighting you got this . #longlivewayne?

A post shared by Brian Maurer (@brianmaurer18) on May 1, 2020 at 7:23am PDT

Tennessee Vols quarterback Brian Maurer revealed in a chilling Instagram post on Saturday – the start of Mental Health Awareness Month — that he intended to commit suicide this past January. Only a phone call to his mother two minutes after asking God to send him a sign stopped him from carrying out the act.

“[I] looked up and i said ‘god if this isn’t your plan for me please send me a sign,’” he wrote. “2 minutes later my mom called me with my baby nephew Jeremiah and she said she was just calling to say she loved me. I then knew that by ending my pain i would be causing so much more to the people who loved me.”

Maurer, 19, said he is returning to Tennessee and plans to seek treatment. Saying, “There is hope for you,” he implored others who are struggling with mental health issues to reach out for assistance.

The QB traces his issues back to junior high school

Tennessee quarterback Brian Maurer said his father was sentenced to 25 years in prison when he was in seventh grade and that his mother and stepfather broke up around that time. He was sent to live with his grandmother in ninth grade, which further contributed to an existing problem with depression.

His troubles worsened in 11^th grade when Maurer, by then on the radar of Division I football coaches, lost a friend to suicide. Two more friends died in shootings during his senior year.

Maurer understood that his own problems were escalating but said he was reluctant to seek help because it could be perceived as a sign of weakness.

“I thought i needed to stay strong for my family and that they couldn’t see me down and that I was their shoulder to cry on. I always thought i needed to be the shoulder for people to cry on when deep down i was screaming for help.”

Brian Maurer, writing on Instagram

A coveted quarterback with big potential

Brian Maurer was thrown into the mix at quarterback immediately after arriving on the University of Tennessee campus. He played in eight games last fall and started four of them, finishing a modest 35 of 75 for 541 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound pro-style quarterback in the mode of Peyton Manning was a coveted recruit out of Ocala, Florida. Maurer attended camps at Tennessee and Ohio State in consecutive weeks shortly after his junior year in high school.

Holding offers from both coaching staffs, he was reportedly on the verge of committing to the Buckeyes when D’Wan Mathis (now at Georgia) suddenly flipped from Michigan State to Ohio State.

Feeling that he had been misled by Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s staff, Maurer turned around and committed to Tennessee.