Oakland Raiders selected former Alabama football running back, Josh Jacobs as the No. 24 pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
One of the most recent NFL Draft themes is don’t waste a first-round selection on a running back. That idea mirrors a growing reality that passing drives all offensive decisions in today’s NFL.
Josh Jacobs’ story is about so much more than becoming a first-round selection in the NFL Draft. it is certainly more than a college career that included playing on an Alabama football national championship team.
It is as much as anything a story about survival. A story about beating odds that too often result in far less sustaining outcomes.
Much of what follows in this post, describing Josh Jacobs’ life path comes from The Players Tribune. The story is certainly worth a full read.
In his own words, Jacobs describes running from gunshots at the age of 13. Jacobs admits the episode was scary but,
"being scared isn’t even the worst part. The worst is when you get used to it.When you hear gunshots, and you don’t even run. When you see people fighting in the street, and you don’t even look twice. When the spotlight from a helicopter shines through your bedroom window, and you just pull the shades down."
Josh Jacobs grew up in a tough area of Tulsa, OK. Life was as tough as the area. after his parents split, Josh lived with his father that included a period of an SUV being home. That interval and others spent living in motels, sometimes without enough money for regular meals, was survived because of his father’s determination.
The hero of the Josh Jacobs story is his father. A dad who fought through challenge and got five kids through times so hard many men would crumble. Josh talks about his love for football and people saying he “runs angry.” Running over an Oklahoma Sooner in last season’s semi-final game fed that theme. But just says it is not about “how” but “why.”
"I run for my pops, the man who sacrificed so much and worked so hard to provide for me and educate me. I run for my three-year-old son, Braxton, so he can have a father he’s proud of, like I’m proud of mine. I run for my sister and my three brothers. I run for my teammates and my coaches. I run for everybody who has ever supported me, anyone who’s ever doubted me, and for anyone out there living on white rice and ramen noodles. I run for anyone who’s in a tough situation and feels like it’s never going to end — that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel."
The motivation and drive Jacobs describes were hard-earned. In an analytics-driven age of sports, especially professional sports, motivation and drive are difficult to assess. Josh Jacobs has proven he has those intangibles in abundance. Jacobs was just too good to pass up in the first round.
Now with three first-round selections, the Draft is far from over for former Alabama football players. Bama Hammer will closely follow every move throughout the Draft.