New Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has been there and done that.
He beat the odds in making it from South Carolina State to the NFL, and he continues beating them as he gets ready for his 11th season as a pro. He’s played in two Super Bowls and been selected for two Pro Bowls.
Nonetheless, he remains as motivated as ever.
“I won player of the year in the HBCU, so I had to go to a whole event and get recognized,” Hargrave, thinking back to winning the Mel Blount Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at South Carolina State in 2015, told Packers On SI in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“I just remember being with Doug and all the NFL greats, and Doug Williams was telling me, ‘It’s on you. If you do bad, then they might not get anybody else from an HBCU.’ So, I carried that chip on me. Ten years later, I’m getting honored with one of the biggest awards for us [the HBCU NFL Player of the Year Award, which he was given at the Super Bowl Soulful Celebration before the Super Bowl].
“It was a great feeling. It’s a surreal moment, sitting here looking back and thinking about my path to that moment.”
Motivation takes a different shape now than it did when he was having that conversation with the iconic, ground-breaking quarterback more than a decade ago.
“Man, just that challenge,” he said of what motivates him to keep grinding. “I think right now, being later in my career, it’s the stink of, ‘Does he got it anymore?’ I don’t want to say it’s just trying to prove people wrong, but I just always loved challenges.
“I just want to show I’ve still got it – still got that juice, still got what it takes to play at a high level in this league. For me, that’s just been my focus is locking in this offseason, working out, eating right and trying to have one of my better seasons.”