The Wholesome Story of Shaquem Griffin.
Even if you don’t pay attention to the NFL, you probably know about the kid with one arm killing it in college or even the combine. His name is Shaquem Griffin and this is his story.
As a little kid growing up in St. Petersburg, Fl; he was born with an amniotic band syndrome, a disease that messes the growth of fingers on his left hand. As he grew the pain of his arm was increasing significantly to the point of amputation at age four. That didn’t deter him from showing his true athletism playing three sports in high school (football, baseball, and track). He earned a scholarship to the University of Central Florida.
At UCF, where his brother Shaquill refused to play anywhere that his brother Shaquem couldn’t play; they chose to go to UCF to play for now Nebraska Cornhuskers Head Coach Scott Frost. After being redshirted his freshman year, he sprung onto the scene in his Junior year where he won the 2016 AAC Defensive Player of the Year where he had 92 total tackles and 11.5 sacks; did I mention he also led his team to an undefeated record that same year.
After another good senior year, he was preparing for the draft and no one expected what they would see that day. Running a 4.38 forty-yard dash, being the fastest linebacker in the whole combine. Not only was fast he was also having a hulk-strength kind-of-day bench pressing 225 lbs. 20 times while using a prosthetic arm on one hand. This kind of performance would raise someone's draft stock rounds at a time; still, teams were wearily drafting him until Pete Caroll of the Seattle Seahawks called where conveniently his older brother Shaquill was drafted a couple of years later. Keeping their promise to one another.
Now that he is in the NFL fulfilling his dream, he is a special teams player with huge upside with the amount of heart he plays with. It was fun to watch him in real-time defying the odds with a story that I hope my kids get to learn. Just with his background should put himself in the H.O.F. Everyone is on his side and only hope for the best for him in the future.