PITTSBURGH \u2014 What started as a routine flight to the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, turned into an unexpected bonding moment between strangers and a soon-to-be NFL rookie. <\/p>\n
Two Jacksonville Jaguars fans, Dee Dee Ellis and Deb Ausberry, struck up a conversation with the family of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love while traveling to the draft. The encounter quickly shifted from casual small talk to an unforgettable connection at 30,000 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, this guy whose last name is Love, who the people of Notre Dame love, who happens to run really fast,\u201d Ellis joked, recalling the moment she and Ausberry realized who they were talking to.<\/p>\n
Ellis said she and Ausberry are loyal Jaguars fans, which sparked a lighthearted exchange with Love\u2019s family during the flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis dad said, \u2018So you\u2019re going to the draft. What team?\u2019 I\u2019m like, yeah,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI thought he was being funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
What she didn\u2019t immediately realize was that she was speaking with the family of a projected NFL Draft prospect.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was cheesing from ear to ear,\u201d Ellis said of Love\u2019s father as the conversation unfolded.<\/p>\n
The interaction left a lasting impression on both sides. Ellis said the brief flight connection quickly turned into something more memorable.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo hours, we\u2019re besties, yeah,\u201d she said jokingly.<\/p>\n
While Love is unlikely to end up in Jacksonville, his unlikely in-flight supporters say they\u2019ll be cheering him on regardless of where he lands in the NFL.<\/p>\n
What began as a chance meeting in the sky became, for a few hours, a shared moment of excitement ahead of one of football\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 What started as a routine flight to the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, turned into an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[346,7,212,125,2401,213,7805,118,6,15,520,3007],"class_list":{"0":"post-871576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville-jaguars","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","12":"tag-jacksonvillejaguars","13":"tag-jaguars","14":"tag-jeremiyah-love","15":"tag-kansas-city","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-draft","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-running-back"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116446154896189041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}