azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Cards’ pick arrives with redemption on his ‘Dockett'
By Darren Urban, Tribune
TEMPE, Ariz. — Darnell Dockett had just spent a few hours cleaning up trash by the side of the road — community service punishment after getting in trouble with the law at Florida State — when he climbed into the back of the bus that would take him home.
His life needed to change, he thought. He started with a poem. As the bus rumbled home, Dockett pulled out a pen and started scribbling an ode to his uncle, Kevin, the man who rescued Dockett from what had been a wretched life. It has since been etched on Dockett’s right forearm:
For believing in me
when no one else would.
When the odds were against me,
beside me you stood.
For being my friend,
brother, confidant and father. Because of you I know
blood is thicker than water.
Words can’t express my gratitude,
nor any amount of money.
From the bottom of my heart,
thank you and I love you
Donny
Darnell Dockett celebrates his 23rd birthday today. That the Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle is even here, finishing up two weeks of rookie workouts, a mere two classes from getting his degree from Florida State, already has validated his journey. He had just turned 13 when he walked into his house in Decatur, Ga., one July day and found his mother, Cheryl Hambrick, dead with a bullet in her head, blood everywhere.
He moved to Maryland to be with his estranged father, Darnell Sr., who was dying of pancreatic cancer. A couple months later, Dockett was an orphan.
That’s when Kevin, Darnell Sr.’s brother, took Darnell Jr. in for good. He probably saved Dockett’s life, since Darnell Jr. freely admits that had he stayed in Georgia, he’d either be in prison or dead.
Dockett is hardened but not hard. He has spent the last decade trying to mature, a process made more difficult by the horrors he once saw. He long ago came to a realization that “this is the type of life I’m going to live. It’s going to be full of obstacles.” It is a burden, one he’d rather not share. His hesitation in telling his tale has nothing to do with wanting to hide it but in wanting to make sure he is treated like everyone else.
“That’s something I wake up thinking about every day of my life,” Dockett said. “I don’t want (someone) to think about it when you see me, this sorry story.”
NEW BEGINNINGS
Kevin Dockett will admit Darnell wasn’t a good kid when he first moved in, but he scoffs at the idea he might have thought twice about bringing Darnell into his home in Burtonsville, Md., for good.
“It was family, man,” he said. Kevin Dockett owns a construction business. His wife, Toni, is a manager for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They were wealthy, living in a world Darnell once dared not dream about.
But money alone wasn’t enough to recalibrate Dockett’s attitude. Discipline was a problem.
There were the understandable trust issues, said Mary Beth Waits, a former Paint Branch High School teacher who became a mentor to Dockett. Trouble often found Dockett, Waits said, because some students would look to make their reputations in physical confrontations with the tough guy from down south. Yet Dockett had a softer side, which he showed after he began working with mentally handicapped kids.
“He had some bully tendencies, and a lot of that stemmed from his background,” said Dockett’s Paint Branch football coach, Bob Windsor. “He was the kind of kid who made you laugh and cry at the same time.”
Dockett was fortunate to find football — he had no interest in the sport until he was told by his uncle to play to get some order in his life — and admits now the sport was the main reason he was willing to stay in school. He quickly emerged as a star, recruited by all the national college powers before choosing Florida State. But the qualities that made him so appealing as a recruit — intensity and anger — made him tough to reach.
“Once he saw we were interested in him as both a person and a player,” Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said, “he began to develop.”
Dockett still had his brushes with authority. In 2001, then-Florida coach Steve Spurrier accused Dockett of intentionally trying to injure the knee of Gators running back Earnest Graham. Coaches frequently had to chastise him for dumb penalties and other small problems.
“He had a hard time initially differentiating between discipline and punishment,” Andrews said. “He had to understand there is a line.”
Dockett got in his most serious trouble his junior season, charged as part of a scam at a local mall store after paying $107 for $1,010 worth of merchandise. He was suspended for the 2003 Sugar Bowl, suspended from spring practice a couple of months later and eventually pled no contest, getting a year’s probation and community service. Dockett doesn’t want to shift blame — “I made a mistake,” he said — but he believes most of his problems are overblown because of his background.
“I’ve grown from my mistakes, and a lot of people don’t want to see I’ve grown from my mistakes,” Dockett said. “They are so worried about the negative things I do. That’s what makes stories. What about the positive things I do? I’ve bought bicycles and donate bicycles (to kids), donated money to the Boys Club even when I was in college and didn’t have that much money. But people don’t write about that. They don’t want to know about that.”
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
NFL teams were worried about Dockett’s background.
Before the April draft, many predicted Dockett would go late in the first round. But concerns about his character led Dockett to drop to the Cardinals as the first pick of the third round.
“They say (a) guy is better than me, that he has better character than me,” Dockett said. “That same guy that never had anything happen to him in his life, that had everything handed to him, that got to go home to his mother and father every day. Of course his character is going to be different by nature.
“I have a point to prove before I walk away from the game.”
Added Kevin Dockett: “He’s going to show them.”
The Cardinals said they thoroughly investigated Dockett's past before drafting him. Coach Dennis Green said after a recent practice that as long as a mistake is in the past and cleared up, “you don’t worry about that as an issue.” Dockett’s senior year at Florida State was incident-free.
Dockett’s high school coach believes Arizona is a perfect destination for the defensive tackle, who could start as a rookie. “If he went to New York, he’d probably be a head case,” Windsor said. “In Arizona, it can be about football.”
Dockett makes it clear his problems with the draft-day drop aren’t about money. His family provides plenty of that. Dockett’s motivation is the doubt that creeps into every conversation about his NFL chances. It’s the message boards on the Internet where fans write that he’ll eventually cause trouble for the Cardinals.
It’s the knowledge that not everyone believes in him like his Uncle Kevin does.
“I came to the realization I can’t get hurt any more than I already had been,” Dockett said. “I’ve been to the bottom . . . and that’s how I live my life. I don’t worry about getting hurt, don’t worry about being cut, don’t worry about coaches cussing at me. I experienced the worst thing that can happen to anyone.”
By Darren Urban, Tribune
TEMPE, Ariz. — Darnell Dockett had just spent a few hours cleaning up trash by the side of the road — community service punishment after getting in trouble with the law at Florida State — when he climbed into the back of the bus that would take him home.
His life needed to change, he thought. He started with a poem. As the bus rumbled home, Dockett pulled out a pen and started scribbling an ode to his uncle, Kevin, the man who rescued Dockett from what had been a wretched life. It has since been etched on Dockett’s right forearm:
For believing in me
when no one else would.
When the odds were against me,
beside me you stood.
For being my friend,
brother, confidant and father. Because of you I know
blood is thicker than water.
Words can’t express my gratitude,
nor any amount of money.
From the bottom of my heart,
thank you and I love you
Donny
Darnell Dockett celebrates his 23rd birthday today. That the Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle is even here, finishing up two weeks of rookie workouts, a mere two classes from getting his degree from Florida State, already has validated his journey. He had just turned 13 when he walked into his house in Decatur, Ga., one July day and found his mother, Cheryl Hambrick, dead with a bullet in her head, blood everywhere.
He moved to Maryland to be with his estranged father, Darnell Sr., who was dying of pancreatic cancer. A couple months later, Dockett was an orphan.
That’s when Kevin, Darnell Sr.’s brother, took Darnell Jr. in for good. He probably saved Dockett’s life, since Darnell Jr. freely admits that had he stayed in Georgia, he’d either be in prison or dead.
Dockett is hardened but not hard. He has spent the last decade trying to mature, a process made more difficult by the horrors he once saw. He long ago came to a realization that “this is the type of life I’m going to live. It’s going to be full of obstacles.” It is a burden, one he’d rather not share. His hesitation in telling his tale has nothing to do with wanting to hide it but in wanting to make sure he is treated like everyone else.
“That’s something I wake up thinking about every day of my life,” Dockett said. “I don’t want (someone) to think about it when you see me, this sorry story.”
NEW BEGINNINGS
Kevin Dockett will admit Darnell wasn’t a good kid when he first moved in, but he scoffs at the idea he might have thought twice about bringing Darnell into his home in Burtonsville, Md., for good.
“It was family, man,” he said. Kevin Dockett owns a construction business. His wife, Toni, is a manager for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They were wealthy, living in a world Darnell once dared not dream about.
But money alone wasn’t enough to recalibrate Dockett’s attitude. Discipline was a problem.
There were the understandable trust issues, said Mary Beth Waits, a former Paint Branch High School teacher who became a mentor to Dockett. Trouble often found Dockett, Waits said, because some students would look to make their reputations in physical confrontations with the tough guy from down south. Yet Dockett had a softer side, which he showed after he began working with mentally handicapped kids.
“He had some bully tendencies, and a lot of that stemmed from his background,” said Dockett’s Paint Branch football coach, Bob Windsor. “He was the kind of kid who made you laugh and cry at the same time.”
Dockett was fortunate to find football — he had no interest in the sport until he was told by his uncle to play to get some order in his life — and admits now the sport was the main reason he was willing to stay in school. He quickly emerged as a star, recruited by all the national college powers before choosing Florida State. But the qualities that made him so appealing as a recruit — intensity and anger — made him tough to reach.
“Once he saw we were interested in him as both a person and a player,” Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said, “he began to develop.”
Dockett still had his brushes with authority. In 2001, then-Florida coach Steve Spurrier accused Dockett of intentionally trying to injure the knee of Gators running back Earnest Graham. Coaches frequently had to chastise him for dumb penalties and other small problems.
“He had a hard time initially differentiating between discipline and punishment,” Andrews said. “He had to understand there is a line.”
Dockett got in his most serious trouble his junior season, charged as part of a scam at a local mall store after paying $107 for $1,010 worth of merchandise. He was suspended for the 2003 Sugar Bowl, suspended from spring practice a couple of months later and eventually pled no contest, getting a year’s probation and community service. Dockett doesn’t want to shift blame — “I made a mistake,” he said — but he believes most of his problems are overblown because of his background.
“I’ve grown from my mistakes, and a lot of people don’t want to see I’ve grown from my mistakes,” Dockett said. “They are so worried about the negative things I do. That’s what makes stories. What about the positive things I do? I’ve bought bicycles and donate bicycles (to kids), donated money to the Boys Club even when I was in college and didn’t have that much money. But people don’t write about that. They don’t want to know about that.”
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
NFL teams were worried about Dockett’s background.
Before the April draft, many predicted Dockett would go late in the first round. But concerns about his character led Dockett to drop to the Cardinals as the first pick of the third round.
“They say (a) guy is better than me, that he has better character than me,” Dockett said. “That same guy that never had anything happen to him in his life, that had everything handed to him, that got to go home to his mother and father every day. Of course his character is going to be different by nature.
“I have a point to prove before I walk away from the game.”
Added Kevin Dockett: “He’s going to show them.”
The Cardinals said they thoroughly investigated Dockett's past before drafting him. Coach Dennis Green said after a recent practice that as long as a mistake is in the past and cleared up, “you don’t worry about that as an issue.” Dockett’s senior year at Florida State was incident-free.
Dockett’s high school coach believes Arizona is a perfect destination for the defensive tackle, who could start as a rookie. “If he went to New York, he’d probably be a head case,” Windsor said. “In Arizona, it can be about football.”
Dockett makes it clear his problems with the draft-day drop aren’t about money. His family provides plenty of that. Dockett’s motivation is the doubt that creeps into every conversation about his NFL chances. It’s the message boards on the Internet where fans write that he’ll eventually cause trouble for the Cardinals.
It’s the knowledge that not everyone believes in him like his Uncle Kevin does.
“I came to the realization I can’t get hurt any more than I already had been,” Dockett said. “I’ve been to the bottom . . . and that’s how I live my life. I don’t worry about getting hurt, don’t worry about being cut, don’t worry about coaches cussing at me. I experienced the worst thing that can happen to anyone.”
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