Rasul Douglas, a true underdog who’s set to take the NFL by storm
23 May 2017 Eagles News
In Philadelphia, we embrace the underdog. When the Eagles drafted Rasul Douglas in the third round of this years’ draft, the Eagles got another underdog the fans can get behind.
Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Douglas had to defy the odds just to make it to college. He was urged to play football by the high school football coach, Marlon Bell. Douglas aspired to be a basketball player but agreed to join the football team.
Douglas went on and became a very good football player. The move to football was as fluid as it could have been. And, even though he was a little raw, one college coach saw something in him.
Nassau Community College head coach Curtis Guilliam gave him the opportunity. However, Douglas was hesitant to go, he did not have plans to further hs education and attend college. But eventually, Douglas made the move, the move that helped change his life.
However, life at Nassau was not pretty. Firstly, they did not have dorms, he lived off campus in an apartment. Having very little money, Douglas did not know where his next meal would come from.
“When you’ve got to walk to McDonald’s in the snow, order five things, and you eat two of it at 12 o’clock, and you save the other dollar-menu [items] for later in the day, I think [those were some] of my craziest days,” Douglas said in an interview with ESPN.com.
In the same interview, Douglas goes on to say he uses that as motivation, it pushes him to be the best he can be.
“I always think about it. Every time I eat, I always think I’m making up a meal that I missed in junior college or something like that. … It definitely fuels me all the time, just thinking about what I went through, practicing on an empty stomach, going to school on an empty stomach. You can’t even focus. So that definitely makes me want to play all-out all the time.”
Now, with the Eagles, Douglas is in a position to play from day one and thrive. The physically gifted cornerback can become one of the Eagles starting cornerbacks in his first year with the team.
From East Orange, New Jersey, to Nassau Community College, to West Virginia and now to the Eagles, Douglas has come a long way. He has fought for and earned everything he has ever done and ever accomplished.
You cannot teach the attitude and work ethic a player like Douglas has. It comes with life experience. No one has gone through what he has. But, by doing so, Douglas has been able to grow from it and let it fuel his fire.
Sometimes, the greatest people and players are the ones who came from nothing. When the Eagles drafted Douglas in the third round, they got themselves a true underdog. One that is very easy to root for and one that will solve their cornerback issue for years to come.