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Haason Reddick walked on at Temple, and after one season the coaches told him there was no spot for him on the team. He went home to Camden, New Jersey, believing football was over. He became the 13th pick in the NFL Draft. Here is the man who changed it. Reddick played at Haddon Heights High School. Injuries held him to four games as a senior, and the scholarship offers never came. So he walked on with the Temple Owls and redshirted. His mother, RaeLakia, was paying his room and board every month. She also took out a loan for a meal plan, so he would not feel left out eating with the scholarship players. Here is how she described those years. "As hard as the struggles were, there were no other options." That November, the staff told him there would not be a spot for him the next season. He went home for winter break. For almost a month, he believed it was finished. Then the head coach left for another job, and Temple hired Matt Rhule. Rhule hired a young coach from the old staff, Francis Brown, to coach defensive backs. Francis Brown was from Camden too. He had watched Reddick play youth football. So he went to his new boss. "I told Coach Rhule that this kid is a football player." Here is what Rhule said about that. "If Francis tells me something, I usually go with it." Reddick got his spot back. They tried him at cornerback. Then linebacker. Then defensive end. He was still a walk-on. He did not get a scholarship until after his junior season. "It was great because it would save my family money." As a senior he had 10.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss. At Temple's pro day, he summed it up. "I came so far." And then this. "Literally from the bottom." In April of 2017 the Arizona Cardinals took him 13th overall. Here is what his mother said. "It's mind-blowing for a mother." Five years later he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, the team a few miles from where he grew up. That season he had 16 sacks, made his first Pro Bowl, and was named second team All-Pro. The Eagles made the Super Bowl and lost it to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38 to 35. Before that game, his mother put it this way. "We finish what we start we don't give up, and he has literally taken that to heart and that's what he's done." He has now played nine NFL seasons. And the reason any of it happened is that one coach from his own neighborhood walked into an office and vouched for a walk-on with no spot on the team. The staff said there was no spot. One man from Camden said this kid is a football player. He was right. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap