Fate has a funny way of working things out for you. Rome Odunze found that out in April. From age 6, he knew he wanted to play in the NFL. That would’ve been in 2008. For those who probably remember, that was at the peak of Devin Hester mania. Chicago Bears fans had just watched him rip up the league for 13 return touchdowns, including his signature moment on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI. Odunze was a young kid living in Las Vegas at the time. He knew of Hester but wasn’t entirely familiar with him yet.
During an interview on Meet The Rookies, he revealed when all of that changed. It happened when he encountered a YouTube video showcasing Hester’s highlights from 2006 and 2007.
The video is indeed still up. It was created by mrdanny96 on April 29th, 2008. While the video quality isn’t the highest, it showcases Hester in all of his glory. One can understand why an impressionable kid like Odunze would’ve taken an immediate liking to it.
The coolest part of all this is that he joined the Bears as the 9th overall pick in the same year Hester was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Hollywood often throws scripts like that out. Chicago will be in the Hall of Fame game next month. It would be fitting if Odunze somehow played and caught a pass during the action, giving tribute to the singular player who helped him fall in love with football. All of that aside, the young receiver is focused on one goal. That is carving out his own name in the franchise record books.
That shouldn’t be a huge challenge. Chicago’s all-time receiving records aren’t exactly tall mountains to climb. Johnny Morris holds the yardage mark of 5,059. If Rome Odunze stays healthy and plays at the level many expect him to; he can break that by the end of his fourth or fifth season. Ken Kavanaugh has the touchdowns record of 50. Odunze would have to average around seven per year to break that before his 30th birthday. Yet his aspirations are far higher than that. He aims to be one of the greatest to put on a Bears uniform. It will be so much fun watching him go for it.
