Nice Long Read on Devaroe Lawrence

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The young man, who went by his middle name, Jamal, as a child and teenager, grew up in a broken home in Greenville, South Carolina, where his mother passed him off to another family, where he bounced between houses for nearly his entire childhood and adolescence, where he tried and sold drugs as early as eighth grade, where he often stayed out all night, where he preferred the loneliness of the streets over the houses that never felt like home. And where he finally became part of a family when one of his high school coaches took him in and gave him the stability he'd lacked.

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Rodney Garner, Auburn's associate head coach and defensive line coach, didn't witness last year's workout and declined to vouch for the listed time, but said Lawrence is "explosive, he is powerful and he can flat-out run. He's the closest thing to Geno that I've coached."

Geno is five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins of the Cincinnati Bengals. He is one of the NFL stars Garner coached during his 15 seasons at Georgia. Garner has coached five first-round picks (Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud, Charles Grant, Johnathan Sullivan and David Pollack) and several more linemen who blossomed in the NFL (Atkins, Charles Johnson, Robert Geathers, Demetric Evans and more).

"Given the right situation, the right place, he can play at [Atkins'] level. There are no limitations other than what he puts on himself," Garner said by phone last week. "He was in my office yesterday and I told him I have several teams inquiring about him because he is a very gifted player."

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The Kelly family also welcomed Lawrence into their house to stay for nights, weeks and eventually months at a time. He was a member of the family, to the point that he would be quick to vigorously defend the honor of Kelly's wife and two daughters. ("He's a protector," Kelly said.)

In exchange for shelter and the best sleep he'd ever had, Lawrence worked on his new goal to do something with his life. He graduated from high school, though Kelly was disappointed when he heard Lawrence's name called at the commencement but didn't see him pop up on stage. Lawrence didn't have the money for a cap and gown, so he didn't attend. (The first commencement Lawrence ever attended came last year when he earned his bachelor's degree in public administration from Auburn.)

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"They loved me through ups and downs," said Lawrence, who has maintained a relationship in recent years with his mother despite his living with the Kellys. "And the thing is, they don't care if I ever play another snap of football. Just let me do my thing."

One day, Kelly got a call from a friend who told him to look up Lawrence's bio on the Auburn athletics website. It read: "Son of Angie and Sam Kelly." Lawrence was never officially adopted by the Kellys or any family.

"He did that on his own," Kelly said.

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