Finally Free Read Free

watch your back and be cautious of where you were. So many people—good people—fell victim because they weren’t aware of their surroundings.
    One of those victims was a close friend of mine, Abdullah McClane, who was known to the rest of us simply as “Peahead.” As just a young teen, he was shot walking near the Food Tiger store on Hampton Avenue.
    I was crushed when I heard about it. Before, I had been immune to the gunfire, but now it had real consequences. My world changed that day. I lost my friend.
    We had been teammates in Pop Warner football, and the plan was for us to play together all the way up through high school. Peahead was going to be the quarterback, and I was going to bethe running back. He was good—better than me, actually. And, coincidentally, he was a left-hander too, just like me.
    But those were my surroundings. Anything could happen to anyone at any time. It’s what we all dealt with on a daily basis and why I wanted to escape from Ridley Circle.
    My escape came through football.

    Ironically, my roots in football come from the Washington Redskins—the same Washington Redskins that I would play my career game against in 2010, cementing my return to professional football. Sometimes it’s the moments that take us back to the beginning that are most important.
    The beginning of my love for football goes back to when I was seven years old. I was spending time with my grandmother, Caletha Vick. I never knew anything about the game until one Sunday afternoon when she turned on the television because the Redskins were playing. They were my Uncle Casey’s favorite team—and my grandmother’s favorite too.
    After watching the game with them, I was hooked; my fascination grew deep inside me. At that moment, I knew playing in the NFL was what I wanted to do when I grew up.
    â€œI’m going to play professional football someday,” I told her.
    â€œWell, you have to learn how to play then,” I remember her saying. “Ask your uncle because he played in high school.”
    From that day on, I carried a football with me everywhere Iwent in the neighborhood. As time went by, I played more and more, getting better every day.
    I was highly competitive, a trait that was developed not only in Pop Warner but also in impromptu games and scrimmages that broke out on the street before school began.
    We used to play tackle against other neighborhoods—against guys who were bigger and stronger than us. We were little guys, but hey, we wanted the older guys in our neighborhood to view us as good football players, and we wanted to be the best. So by playing against the bigger kids, we had to work harder and be faster. It was great practice.
    We played tag football in the street in the mornings before our school bus arrived and were usually sweating when we climbed on the bus. It was how everyone honed their skills. It was why we were so much better than the other youth league football teams we played. We were practicing all the time.
    My first position for the Boys & Girls Club Spartans was tight end, which I didn’t like. I was a good receiver, but the problem was that I also had to block, and I didn’t like contact. I didn’t even know what I was doing. The whole time I played in games that year, I was looking at my mom on the sideline and was really ready to go home. The next season, however, I was moved to quarterback, and on my very first pass I threw a touchdown.
    I didn’t even see what happened because I was so short. I dropped back and threw the ball as far as I could to my receiver, Corey Barnes. The next thing I knew, the coaches started jumpingup and down, and people started grabbing me. I was so happy and excited. I loved that feeling. I chased that feeling.

    One thing I can certainly say about my youth is that it wasn’t difficult to find trouble in the streets.
    I wasn’t a troublemaker per se, but I hung around with