The NFL has been around for over a century now. Each generation of players had at least one person influence them to get into the sport. Maybe it was Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, J.J. Watt, LaDainian Tomlinson, or Shannon Sharpe. Every player who reaches the NFL has somebody they looked up to growing up, somebody they wanted to be. Rome Odunze is no exception. He was influenced at a young age to embrace football. As it turns out, somebody from the Chicago zip code drew his starry-eyed attention.
Odunze met with the Bears for the first time at the scouting combine in February. There he admitted a franchise legend was the one who convinced the young receiver to embrace football. No shortage of possibilities exists. Maybe it was a receiver like Brandon Marshall or Alshon Jeffery. Maybe he’s more old school with guys like Walter Payton or Gale Sayers. Could he have a more defensive mentality for Brian Urlacher, Mike Singletary, or Dan Hampton?
Nope. Odunze was a Devin Hester superfan as a kid.
Hester was one of the great attractions of the 2000s. Even non-Bears fans made sure to tune into games every week because they wanted to see if Hester might house one. He did it 12 times over his first two seasons, including the iconic opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI. Odunze would’ve been five years old at the time. The perfect age for a young child to be impressionable. One can imagine he and his parents losing their minds watching Hester run one of those kicks or punts back, opposing players feebily diving at his ankles, trying to stop him.
Rome Odunze saw his dream come true. He reached the NFL, and now he gets to play for the team that Hester built his Hall of Fame legacy with. There is no doubt similar accolades await him if he plays up to his potential in Chicago. The Bears think he can. They wanted him from the moment they got to meet him that day in Indianapolis. His idolizing Hester was merely a cherry on the sundae. One can only hope the young receiver pulls out one of #23’s signature celebrations for his first touchdown.
