MANSFIELD — After his sophomore year, Mekhi Bradley took a long, hard look in the mirror.

He saw a kid who didn't live up to his own expectations. His football team went 3-6 a year after it played for a state championship. His wrestling season ended with a 23-8 record and an early elimination from the district tournament.

He also saw a kid with loads of potential and someone who wanted desperately to reach that potential. He saw someone who he never wanted to see again at that point, and wanted to make sure the next time he looked in the mirror he wouldn't recognize himself.

So, he got to work.

And what a difference an offseason makes. Bradley took on a Tyger mentality before the start of his junior season and changed everything about himself — and it paid off in a major way.

"Going into that year, I knew it was going to be a big year for me," Bradley said. "It was my junior year and if there was a time to make a name for myself, it was now or never. All I did was go in and expect big things out of myself, and I had to back that up with my play by competing. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to make 100 tackles by Week 10, and I fell short of that. I was mad and that just fuels me."

By the end of his junior football season, the No. 2-ranked athlete in the Richland 200 had racked up the postseason accolades. When it was all said and done, he was a first-team All-Ohioan, first-team All-Northwest District, Division III Northwest District Defensive Player of the Year, Ohio Cardinal Conference Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference player.

While he may have fallen short of that 100-tackle goal after 10 weeks, he did make it by the end of the playoffs. The Tygers went 9-3 as Bradley piled up 119 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss and a forced fumble as a middle linebacker — the first time he played the position in his life after spending his freshman and sophomore years on the defensive line.

"Sophomore year was a bad year for me," Bradley said. "I carried high expectations for myself all through high school, but my sophomore year I knew I didn't live up to my own expectations. As a junior, I wanted to move to linebacker and fly around."

So again, Bradley went to work. First thing first, he knew he had to change his body if he wanted to play middle linebacker. He had to work on his speed and put on muscle.

That was where Pops came in. Mansfield Senior football coach and Mekhi's father, Chioke Bradley, saw his son take things a little more seriously than he had in the past, and that was all he needed. He devoted the summer to helping Mekhi achieve whatever goal and any dream he set for himself.

"The kid took a major step in the direction of feeling like football is something he can make a career out of," the elder Bradley said. "He played for a state title his freshman year and experienced a 15-game schedule and loved that feeling. He tasted a ton of success as a freshman, and after that he expressed to me how bad he wants to get back to that feeling. He has a tremendous will to be successful."

Mekhi changed his diet and workout routine. Eliminating sugar was the first thing, and by the time his junior season began he was nearly unrecognizable as he packed on the muscle, trimmed off all the baby fat and was lighter on his feet. And the results followed.

"He took a special interest in his diet and changed things completely," Chioke Bradley said. "He eliminated sugar to the extent he was drinking Gatorade Zeros. On top of that, he would run Cleveland Hill on the Southside religiously. He would get up in the mornings before we run that hill and run three miles. He absolutely put in the work. We were over at Cleveland Hill so much that the people across the street would wait for us to finish up and have drinks ready."

The transformation helped on the wrestling mat as well. Mekhi finished second in the Division II district tournament at 215 pounds to qualify for the state tournament for the first time in his high school career. He was a regular at the state tournament in middle school.

At state, Bradley finished seventh and ended with a 39-8 overall record. He was on the podium and an All-Ohioan in the second sport of his junior year. He saw the success in football and knew it springboarded him in wrestling.

"It gave me a lot of momentum especially after earning first team All-Ohio," Bradley said. "I knew I had to keep that going for wrestling and couldn't let that fall off. So, every time I stepped on the mat, I refused to lose. I had a mentality that I could not lose to the guy across from me."

Chioke Bradley, an All-Ohio football player in the '90s, has seen his fair share of sensational athletes at Mansfield Senior, but he doesn't recall anyone achieving All-Ohio status in two sports in the same year.

"I don't know anyone from Mansfield Senior High who was All-Ohio in two different sports in the same year," he said. "I will be surprised if there is one out there, but I know he did it. I am extremely proud of him and proud to be his father and even more proud of the fact that he eats the food I put on the plate with our workouts. I push all my kids hard and they don't complain."

Now, the younger Bradley switches his mentality to his senior year. If his dad doesn't recall anyone earning All-Ohio honors in two sports in the same year, he definitely hasn't heard of anyone doing it two consecutive years. And that is the goal for Mekhi.

"All I want to do is one-up myself from last year," Bradley said. "I just want to keep improving and moving forward and never become satisfied. The work never stops, doing your 1/11th every day is the expectation, and when an opportunity comes my way I have to make sure I take it and succeed at it."

If he takes that mentality into the fall and winter, there will be even more Division I schools knocking on his door.

"He has interests from some Division I schools and an offer to Toledo, so this is a very big year for him," Chioke Bradley said of his son. "He just wants to play football somewhere. He doesn't care if it is Division II or Division I, he is a football player. He wants the right fit and play at a high level. He is going to show it out here during his senior year. He has already shown his dedication academically and as a leader in the school building. Someone will get a steal."

Whereever Bradley ends up, the next time he decides to take a deep look in the mirror, he is going to see a kid who gave it everything he had during his high school career and someone who will take a Tyger mentality to wherever his life takes him.

Because that is what he expects of himself, and when internal expectations and desire to succeed collide it creates a special athlete like Mekhi Bradley.

Throw in the Tyger mentality, and the sky is the limit.