University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
FROM HATTIESBURG TO HAMBURG
3/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 21, 2007
During the 2007 NFL Europa season, SouthernMiss.com will bring you exclusive insight into former Golden Eagle football player Jeremy Parquet's travels overseas as a member of the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europa as he checks in weekly with former Southern Miss alumni, Joe Trahan, who will also be in Germany covering the team and Parquet.
What's up Golden Eagle fans? This is Jeremy Parquet, former Southern Miss offensive tackle from 2001-2004, and now current member of the St. Louis Rams of the NFL, and the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europa.
So what have I been doing since I left Southern Miss? Well, I graduated from Southern Miss on December 13, 2003 - which is a long time ago - with a sports administration degree. I played the 2004 season with Southern Miss, and late in the season I sprained my shoulder, my left AC joint, so that kind of set me back with my strength. I then left Southern Miss in 2004 and went to New Jersey to workout for the NFL Combine where I worked out with all type of crazy cats like Matt Jones, who was a first round draft pick that year by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fabian Washington, who was a first round pick to the Oakland Raiders, and a whole bunch of other guys that I worked out with and I enjoyed myself there. I left there and went to the Senior Bowl and in my view, I think I went to the Senior Bowl and did good, but for some reason my stock fell in the draft from late third round to a seventh round pick.
The whole draft process really hurt me a lot. It was a setback, but not that much because I just took that as more fuel to the fire. I know that I could compete with a lot of guys that were taken in front of me, but I ended up being a late seventh round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. Most seventh round picks don't even make the team, but I kept my faith in God and worked hard and did everything necessary that I could do to succeed, and having great leadership from my coaches really helped.
My offensive line coach, Mike Solari, took me under his wing. But first of all, I remember what the head coach, Dick Vermeil said to me on draft day. He called me after I was picked and said, 'Look Jeremy, don't worry about anything. You're going to make the team. You're a Chief now and you're going to be fine.' That was really a positive influence to me how he called me and said that to me. He told me that he knew that I was upset that I got drafted so late, but at the same token that I was a great young tackle and he was looking forward to getting me up here with Willie Roaf and Will Shields, and Brian Waters and Casey Wiegmann and that I would learn from them as much as I could. So I took those words and rolled with it.
So I went to Kansas City I saw all those guys. You see, growing up in Louisiana when I was in junior high school, Roaf was my idol. I have a book from Destrehan High School, and I think I was playing track or basketball or something like that, and the book had asked you who your favorite idol, and it said it was Willie Roaf, so being there learning from him was a blessing. I appreciate everything he showed me with just the way he approached the game and the way he's a student of the game. Along with him, Will Shields is the best offensive lineman, in my opinion, ever. Willie Roaf and Will Shields were in the same draft, and Roaf went in the first round and Shields went in the third round. So Shields was kind of upset because he had won the Lineman of The Year award in the nation and he still went in the third round. Because of that I kind of viewed us as being on the same page coming out of school with a lot of doubters. So I was a sponge watching everything that Will Shields and Willie Roaf did.
Then things went kind of sour in Kansas City, and I got released September 1, 2006. I can honestly tell you that was the worst day of my life. I tried to play it off like it was all good and I was going to get back in the league quick, but it didn't happen that way. Growing up playing football every year for 15 years or so, and then somebody tells you it's over - that really hurts. By the same token it was a blessing in disguise because I left Kansas City and I went back home to my wife and to her father, who's a pastor. Being around a pastor was good because he's really grounded and kept me focused on what was really going on.
Around this time my wife was eight or nine months pregnant, and I didn't have a job and the money that I had saved was starting to run out, so I was stressing. I went to her father and told him that I needed to get a job but he told me that I didn't need one. He said that football was my calling and for me to take my time and that I would be okay, and that I just needed to stay humble. At first I didn't understand it because my demeanor is not that of a person who's really arrogant anyway, and it took me awhile to understand it, but eventually I did. Being around a pastor everyday, again being a sponge and learning from someone like that, really helped me out.
So I was in Mississippi everyday from then on working out waiting until my time came and sure enough it happened. I had workouts upon workouts. My first workout was in Michigan for the Detroit Lions, but they didn't sign me. I worked out for the Houston Texans, the New York Giants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Seattle Seahawks and everywhere I went the workout was, 'Jeremy - your workout was good, your film is good, but we're not going to sign you.' The process of trying out for these teams would be that they would call you like on a Friday or Saturday and tell you that they were going to fly you out on a Monday. So for four straight weeks I was packing up every Friday getting ready to go to another workout. It was an emotional rollercoaster, but I didn't give up. And sure enough on November 28, 2006 I went to St. Louis with the Rams for a workout and I didn't know what was going to happen. I went up there and stayed positive and humble, gave it to God, and I went from Mississippi to St. Louis and I was signed to the Rams active roster for the last five games of the season. That was a good experience and I got to play with another great tackle in Orlando Pace.
The next thing was when they allocated me to go to NFL Europe. I was excited to go because this gives me another opportunity. Last year I was supposed to go but I hurt my knee and also last year, I didn't have a little boy and a wife. This year is different motivation for me because I'm not just trying to feed Jeremy anymore - who eats a lot - but I've got to feed my little boy and my wife. The whole experience has been fun.
It's also a good feeling knowing that I'm not the only Southern Miss player here with Tom Johnson (With the Cologne Centurions and who was allocated by the Indianapolis Colts) and Etric Pruitt (With the Berlin Thunder and who was allocated by the Detroit Lions) here as well. It's especially a good feeling because Tom plays d-line and E.P. plays safety, so whatever scrimmage we have against them here in Tampa I'm going to go hard at them and take their head off! But at the same time, in all seriousness, it is a good feeling knowing that you played with these guys in college, and knowing the caliber of player that they are and that they're overseas with you trying to get better and trying to reach a common goal.
Overall, it feels good in general that Southern Miss is being represented not only in the NFL, but also now overseas in NFL Europe. In the NFL all these guys brag about their schools with Nebraska and California and Texas A&M and schools like that, and I'm like look - Southern Miss is a big-time program too.
So as a preview of what to expect from me this season in this blog, I'll be checking in weekly at SouthernMiss.com just giving you updates of what's going on with Jeremy Parquet. This might mean the food in Hamburg, the people in Hamburg or just my playing status. If you want to check me out you can watch my games on the NFL Network with the Hamburg Sea Devils.
Until next time...
Jeremy
