Editor’s Note: This story was written by students of Purpose2Play’s On Deck program, a six-week introductory class to sports journalism for teens held at the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver. These students sat down with Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby to discuss life on and off the football field.  

By Trey Rogers, Jasmine Sotam, and Zyeria Turner Johnson

Denver Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby got his start in football in a unique way.

Although he was raised solely by his mother, he had other women in his life he could look up to, and who inspired him to work hard in his sport.

“I had a lot of friends that I played football with, so we kind of grew up together and were always around each other, and they had single moms, so it was like we all had four or five moms,” Roby said.

The game kept him on the right track and motivated him throughout his youth.

SANTA CLARA, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Bradley Roby

”Football saved me, raised me and guided me,” he said.

The four-year NFL veteran grew up in Suwanee, Georgia, then moved to Atlanta before settling in Mississippi.

He was a multi-sport athlete in high school who accepted a full-ride scholarship to Ohio State University, where following his junior season, he was named to the all-Big Ten team with 69 tackles, 16 passes defended, 3 interceptions and 2 blocked punts.

Roby left college early to declare himself eligible for the 2014 NFL Draft, where the Broncos selected him in the first round.

Although it sounds like a storybook path to professional football, he had some bumps along the way. He was arrested in 2013 and charged with disorderly conduct after a fight outside a bar in Bloomington, Ind. In the end, the case was dismissed, but he labels the situation as his biggest failure.

DENVER, CO – JANUARY 11: Bradley Roby

“It was one of my biggest failures because I was just doing things that I wasn’t thinking ahead on, and I wasn’t making good decisions,” Roby said. “It was just a big wake-up call. You’re representing yourself and your family and when things like that happen, it makes people you care about look bad.”

Roby moved on to the NFL and even after four years in the league, he says there are always areas to improve upon on the field.

“I need to have better eyes because the position I play, you have to have good eyes,” he said. “The offense tries to keep you looking in different places, so I’m trying to read that better.”

Off the field, Roby says that once his football career winds down, he wouldn’t mind getting into the real estate business.

“That’s something I know I would be good in,” he said. “I just bought a house out here [in Denver] and that business interests me.”

So, what has led to this Super Bowl winner being so successful? It turns out, it’s his mindset.

“It’s about getting your mind right. Your mind is what decides for you,” he said. “You should always challenge yourself. You have to face things in life. You’ve got to go through something to get to something.”

And that’s true whether you’re an NFL pro or not.