After hanging his boots for good on his decade-long legendary career with the Rams, Aaron Donald sat down with his wife Erica in his house to hit the reverse gear on his entire journey. Although he is known for being a beast on the field, AD displayed his soft side to the fans after he choked up thinking about how he has made his parents so proud.
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During the conversation, which the Rams legend documented via his YouTube channel, AD revealed that he started playing football when he was just five years old. But what choked him up was when his wife asked him about how he has had the best role models in his parents.
“I think that’s one of the best parts of my career,” AD said. “You know having the success I had from even from a kid to high school to college to the pros, it was always God there making my mom and my dad proud, you know so I was like…”
Just before he could even complete his sentence, AD’s eyes teared up. It was almost as if he reminisced about his humble beginnings, which started with having a great support system in his dad.
“It was like when I played football, it wasn’t what everybody else thought,” he continued. “I wanted to know what my dad thought. What I did right. If my dad praised me and told me…”
This time the 10-time Pro Bowler burst into tears so much so that his wife even joked if he wanted to sit on her lap and that she knew it was going to happen so she had tissues ready for him.
Aaron Donald Never Took Criticism From Anyone But His Dad
Aaron Donald shared how he never accepted criticism from anyone except his own father, even during his days in the NFL. One can only imagine how much the three-time DPOY looks up to his dad.
He added: “If my dad was to say, ‘You did a great job, and you did what you could,’ I didn’t care what nobody else said. My dad always said if he loved it, if he liked it, everybody else was going to love it. And from low league to high school to college to the pros that’s always what it was to me. You know if my dad called me and told me how I did in the game I didn’t care what nobody else thought, I was good.”
AD, who in his college days turned out to be a defensive prodigy, was considered undersized for a defensive tackle, but it was his father who continued to root for him. It’s fair to say that when he played in the NFL, his father was by his side in every snap.
