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Boonville —
Atiyyah Ellison entered a bus each morning at 6 a.m. to ride for almost an hour from inner city St. Louis to the suburbs.
If there was practice or a game after school, he often didn’t return home until after 9 p.m.
As is the cliche for depicting buildings in low-income areas, there were bars on windows at his home. His father meandered in and out of Ellison’s life and died when he was in sixth grade. With no chimney, he said he thought, “Santa is not getting into this house.”
Ellison was a participant in the desegregation program, where students living in low-income areas, travel to better, sometimes safer schools. He was too big to play football until high school but excelled in the sport to earn a scholarship at MU, then play several seasons in the NFL.
He found little playing time with seven different teams, but remained in the league for six years, twice the average professional player’s career-span. Not officially retired, but not under-contract, or, by his own admission, in playing-shape, Ellison is again a college student, pursuing life after football with his wife and three children in Boonville.
He spoke to students Thursday at Laura Speed Elliott Middle School as part of Red Ribbon Week, a substance abuse prevention program. His life, he said in an interview, could have gone in a criminal direction had it not been for his mother’s influence and time spent at a Boys Club of America in St. Louis.
“There were gangs, and drugs and violence,” Ellison said. “All the things you see on TV.”
Ellison was the youngest of five children and says he got some of the worst grades in the family. Colleges such as the University of Missouri were interested in him but his school work and standardized test scores kept him from entering school as freshman. He had enroll in Coffeyville Community College, a small school in Kansas, sit out one season and play another.
“I never took school seriously, and that’s something I regret,” Ellison said.
Ellison earned All-Big 12 Conference as a senior at MU and was a team captain. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in the third round, evidence that teams considered him among the top 100 players in the 2005 draft class. He joined a defensive line, though, already featuring Pro Bowl players Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker (also a former Tiger).
Atiyyah Ellison entered a bus each morning at 6 a.m. to ride for almost an hour from inner city St. Louis to the suburbs.
If there was practice or a game after school, he often didn’t return home until after 9 p.m.
As is the cliche for depicting buildings in low-income areas, there were bars on windows at his home. His father meandered in and out of Ellison’s life and died when he was in sixth grade. With no chimney, he said he thought, “Santa is not getting into this house.”
Ellison was a participant in the desegregation program, where students living in low-income areas, travel to better, sometimes safer schools. He was too big to play football until high school but excelled in the sport to earn a scholarship at MU, then play several seasons in the NFL.
He found little playing time with seven different teams, but remained in the league for six years, twice the average professional player’s career-span. Not officially retired, but not under-contract, or, by his own admission, in playing-shape, Ellison is again a college student, pursuing life after football with his wife and three children in Boonville.
He spoke to students Thursday at Laura Speed Elliott Middle School as part of Red Ribbon Week, a substance abuse prevention program. His life, he said in an interview, could have gone in a criminal direction had it not been for his mother’s influence and time spent at a Boys Club of America in St. Louis.
“There were gangs, and drugs and violence,” Ellison said. “All the things you see on TV.”
Ellison was the youngest of five children and says he got some of the worst grades in the family. Colleges such as the University of Missouri were interested in him but his school work and standardized test scores kept him from entering school as freshman. He had enroll in Coffeyville Community College, a small school in Kansas, sit out one season and play another.
“I never took school seriously, and that’s something I regret,” Ellison said.
Ellison earned All-Big 12 Conference as a senior at MU and was a team captain. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in the third round, evidence that teams considered him among the top 100 players in the 2005 draft class. He joined a defensive line, though, already featuring Pro Bowl players Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker (also a former Tiger).
Despite the caliber of players on the roster, it was unusual that the Panthers cut Ellison, a player with no off-field issues and recipient of a three-year $1.3 million contract, in September 2005, with his rookie season in its infancy.
“Literally you’ve put your heat and soul into it, and there’s some serious soul-searching you’ve got to do,” Ellison said.
He remained with the organization and spent the year bouncing between the practice squad and roster. The sequence persisted throughout his career.
Teams called his agent, wanting Ellison’s services, signed him, only to cut him and offer him a spot on the practice squad a few days or games later.
His 2006 season exemplifies the frequency of the transactions.
— The Panthers cut him Sept. 2;
— The Houston Texans claimed him on waivers Sept. 3, then gave him walking papers four days later.
— The Baltimore Ravens signed him to their practice squad Sept. 12 and elevated him to the active roster for three games. They placed him on injured-reserve when he hurt his shoulder at the end of the year, and then cut him the following September.
“You’re critical about yourself, but you’re even more critical of the guy playing in front of you,” Ellison said.
The pinnacle of Ellison’s professional career happened in 2009. For the Jacksonville Jaguars, he started six games and received a game ball after a win over his hometown St. Louis Rams. He recorded four tackles and a sack.
The season, though, ended sour. It was week 16. He was entangled with a New England Patriots offensive lineman, when another player entered and took out Ellison’s knee. He sprained his MCL.
“I looked at the film, and I couldn’t see any reason for him to do that,” Ellison said.
The Jaguars drafted a defensive lineman in the first round and cut Ellison in the offseason. Today, he does not emanate bitterness.
“If I had never gotten to play, there’s no telling what kind of person I would be right now,” Ellison said.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who signed Ellison briefly last year, called again this offseason. Ellison wanted a guaranteed contract. The team wouldn’t give it to him, he says, proving “that I was just another camp-body.” He turned down the offer.
Ellison said his son influenced him.
“He said, ‘Dad how long are you going to play? You want them to drag you off the field?’” he said.
Ellison wants to coach and is considering teaching.
