Shaquem Griffin will be one of the biggest stars walking the red carpet and attending this week s NFL draft at Arlington s AT T Stadium.
He ll share the spotlight with top prospects expected to be first round picks, yet it s unknown when his name will be called as the seven rounds unfold between Thursday night and Saturday.
Wherever Griffin s selected, the former Central Florida linebacker has positioned himself to make history he would become the first one handed player drafted in the modern era, according to the NFL. Griffin was born with a defect to his left hand, which was amputated when he was 4.
He stole the show at the NFL combine in early March after being a late addition to the event.
During the bench press, using a prosthetic on his left arm that he clipped to the bar, he pumped out 20 reps of 225 pounds. That crushed his previous personal best of 11, in front of an inspired crowd and intrigued NFL scouts in Indianapolis.Then Griffin, who trained for the combine at Michael Johnson Performance in McKinney, blazed a 4.38 in the 40, the fastest time by a linebacker since records started being kept in 2003.
I would love to play with this guy
https://www.cowboysdaclub.com/lucas-wacha-jersey-c-36.html, tweeted Denver Broncos All Pro defender Von Miller, one of many NFL players wowed by Griffin s performance.During his scheduled media session at the combine, Griffin was surprised by the mass of interest.
I thought I was going to walk over here and there were going to be like three people
Kellen Moore Jersey, he said.His story has been oft told since, and Gil Brandt, the former Cowboys vice president of personnel, extended the draft invite to Griffin.
But it s not like Griffin came out of nowhere. He was the 2016 American Athletic Conference defensive player of the year. He pressured Auburn s quarterback into a game sealing interception in undefeated UCF s Peach Bowl win on New Year s Day. He impressed at the Senior Bowl. He won the inaugural Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.
His twin brother, Shaquill, who won the competition to get out of the womb by 60 seconds, as the family puts it, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round a year ago.
But Griffin has always had to work harder to prove that he s not just a heartwarming story, that he s a football player.
He s written an open letter to general managers via The Players Tribune detailing what they d be getting in him. His theme on social media is AgainstAllOdds.
And when the call comes?
I might start crying, Griffin said. I might drop the phone or have to give it to my mom, and she ll have to answer all the questions for me. I m not going to be able to even speak I don t know how I m going to talk.
I might have to give it to my brother, we sound alike. I ll be on the floor, crying and stuff. There s been a little of that going around. Shaquem s mom, Tangie Griffin, watched his combine performances back in their hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., with an ESPN camera crew there to capture it.
When he started bench pressing
https://www.cowboysdaclub.com/rod-smith-jersey-c-37.html, that was just, Oh my God, tears of joy, she said. And then when he ran the 40, we almost knocked the camera guys down jumping and yelling.
Her husband, Terry
https://www.cowboysdaclub.com/joseph-jones-jersey-c-35.html, watched separately because he didn t want to get emotional in front of the cameras, but he quickly called her on Facetime to celebrate.While they ve long since stopped being surprised by Shaquem, it s been a journey to get here since discovering he had amniotic band syndrome, a rare condition caused by strands of the amniotic sac that wrapped around his hand in the womb and prevented his fingers from fully developing.
They went through with the amputation after Shaquem tried to do it himself because he was in pain.
Soon after, when Tangie picked him up from daycare, he walked out carrying a football in his right hand, his other arm s bandage bloodied from playing, even though he d been told not to.
When I saw that, I thought, This kid is going to be special, Tangie recalled.
Growing up with a twin meant Shaquem always had someone to compare himself with and to compete with.
It helped a lot, Shaquem said. I never thought about how or why I couldn t do it. It was just me getting it done. ... My brother never had pity on me. Wrestling, running around, playing football, basketball.
There were also things Shaquem could do that Shaquill couldn t, like climbing the grapefruit tree in the family s backyard.
I ran up in the tree and started climbing ... I told him, Come on up here, Shaquem remembered. He was climbing and falling off. ... I felt like the king. I was the one still in the tree. I felt good looking down on my brother. You all right? You want to call mom? Shaquill has always taken his big brother role seriously. Shaquem followed him to train at MJP in McKinney.
Leading up to the combine, Shaquem s main goal was to beat Shaquill s stats from the year before.
Don t put that pressure on yourself, Shaquill teasingly warned him. That s something that never goes away.
Get this Shaquem, 6 2, 227, matched his twin s 40 time exactly even though Shaquill is at least 20 pounds lighter.
He also topped what his brother had done in the bench press.
