High Hopes, Heavy Hearts Prevalent Among Rookies
Caleb Farley looked into the future and saw what was to come. He shared that vision with his mother, who only encouraged him.
It all came to pass April 29 when the Tennessee Titans made Farley, a cornerback out of Virginia Tech, the 22nd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Only his mother was not there to witness it. She died in 2018 due to complications from breast cancer.
“I was telling my mother I was going to be a first-round draft pick when I was like seven years old,” Farley said. “I hope she's smiling down on me from the sky. She always believed me.”
He added that his mother was his “biggest fan” and that he imagined what it would have been like if she had been there with him at the moment his name was called.
The mix of emotions that accompanies his transition to professional football is hardly unique among the Tennessee’s current rookie class, which includes eight draft picks and 10 undrafted free agents. Others including second-round choice Dillon Radunz, a tackle of North Dakota State, and free agent NaQuan Jones, a defensive tackle from Michigan State, bring with them a similar sadness as they move to within reach of their respective NFL dreams.
Jones, for example, wears a necklace that includes a photo of his late mother on one side. Germaine Thomas was just 37 years old when she passed away in June of 2019 after struggles with alcohol and depression.
He still thinks of her often and regularly visits her grave in Skokie, Ill.
Given that he went unselected in the draft – a surprise to many – her memory and the inspiration he draws from it will be critical to his chances to make the roster and carve out a career for himself.
“I use her when there are days where I don’t really want to go (anymore), where I feel like I’d rather just chill,” he told the Chicago Tribune prior to the draft. “When I think about her, it pushes me to go harder.
“At this point in my life, there’s no time for feeling sorry for yourself. You have to put your emotions to the side. … There’s really no time to do anything but focus. If you want to mope every day and be sad and emotional, you’re not going to get the results you really want.”
For Radunz, things could not have worked out much better.
Football was a passion he shared with his father. The sport was so central to the family bond, in fact, that Jeff Radunz moved the family to Becker, Minnesota, a small town outside of Minneapolis, when his children were young because of the successful football programs there. He wanted his sons, Dillon and Nick, to have the best chance to succeed.
In high school, Dillon Radunz played on teams that went 25-1 and won two state championships in his final two seasons. He was a Mr. Football finalist, an all-state performer and the district MVP – and his father was not there to see any of it because he died when Radunz was 12 years old.
Chances are, he will be the Titans’ starter at right tackle at some point this fall, if not in Week 1.
“Coping with the loss of my father, football was a big outlet for me,” Radunz told The Draft Network prior to the draft. “A lot of my father figures after my dad passed away were football coaches. I hung around football and stayed out of trouble.
“Losing my dad at a young age, it would have been easy for me to lash out and get in trouble. Sports kept me grounded. A lot of my mentors were there for me. At the end of the day, football kept me on the right path. It kept me going in the right direction and it helped me become the man I am today.”
