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At Titan Camp, Molden Denies Completions, Provides Family Humor

The former University of Washington defensive back is off to a good start in the NFL.
Dan Raley|
At Titan Camp, Molden Denies Completions, Provides Family Humor
At Titan Camp, Molden Denies Completions, Provides Family Humor

Elijah Molden is fast becoming a Tennessee Titans' fan favorite. As it gets to know him, the Nashville faithful has heard multiple quaint stories about the former University of Washington defensive back who came to the franchise as a third-round draft pick.

Namely, how his father Alex has been still paying for his cell phone and car insurance until the NFL contract kicked in.

And how he had to tell his doting mom Christine back in Oregon that he couldn't talk to her on the phone every night for hours at end because, well, he's in training camp.

"She took it hard," Molden told reporters, half-kidding. 

Mom responded with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, lovingly using the hashtag "ungrateful."

Always thoughtful and well-spoken, Molden has let the fans see a little more of a pro football player's inside world than usual, especially for a rookie.

Oh yeah, the guy has demonstrated he can play a little, too.

Over the first couple of days of Titans' camp, more than one video was circulated of Molden blanketing Tennessee receivers with his aggressive and intelligent pass coverage.

It is hoped that Molden can make an immediate contribution to the Tennessee secondary, whether as a starter or an extra coverage guy, and be a steadying influence. 

While his 5-foot-10, 190-pound frame might be a little on the smallish side for an NFL defensive back, Molden makes up for it with great instincts and always seems to know where he should be on the field.

The Titans like what they've seen so far, with Molden drawing praise from Titans coach Mike Vrabel following the first practice.

“Elijah is off to a good start, he had some pass break-ups today, and it looked like he did a nice job in the open-field tackling drill as well,” Vrabel said. “He is conscientious, he is smart and he is learning.”

As for mom, she eventually will hear all about this at some point, though maybe not same day. She's been given a two- or three-call limit with Elijah per week.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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