Twenty-two-year-old Javon Kinlaw was the 14th overall selection in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. That puts the former University of South Carolina football star, who struggled with homelessness throughout his childhood, on the verge of signing a multimillion-dollar NFL rookie contract. 'I've been down, like down bad, down bad. Bad like where no one should be. [I] lived in basements. No matter what the money is, I'm going to be grateful,' Kinlaw told ESPN.
The family would live with friends in the city, or sometimes find temporary housing even if it meant staying somewhere without electricity or running water. Kinlaw says he sometimes had to haul water home from a friend's house for his own family.
"I'd stop at CVS, steal me a couple snacks, put them in my duffle bag, and just keep riding," he said. "The train was warm, and if there was no electricity in the house and my toes were frozen, I'd just stay on the train. Seven or eight in the morning until 3:15 [p.m.
Meanwhile, Kinlaw's massive size and athletic ability attracted college recruiters, who began talking to him about college football scholarships to schools like Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina. "[They] really didn't have to talk me into it. I was homeless at the time," Kinlaw said in 2018. "When Coach said 'Mississippi,' I really didn't know what I was doing or where I was going. But free food? Free bed? Why not?"
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