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Neville Hewitt: unlikeliest Dolphin makes his NFL debut

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Good story. Hope he turns out to be a good one and has a long career.


Is it truly a homecoming if the woman who raised you isn’t a part of it?

Safe to say, Neville Hewitt’s emotions will be conflicted Sunday, when the unlikeliest Dolphin makes his NFL debut.

Hewitt, an undrafted linebacker whose earliest years were spent in Metro D.C., returns to the Beltway on Sunday, when the Dolphins face the Washington Redskins in the 2015 season opener.

But his mother, Deon Angella Jones, will not be there to cheer on her eldest son.

She will be hundreds of miles away, in Arrendale State Prison, 70 miles northeast of Atlanta. And she might be there for nearly another two decades.

Jones is almost seven years through a 25-year stint for cocaine trafficking, a term that is running concurrently with a 10-year conviction for possession to distribute marijuana.

She was arrested in May of 2007 and charged with trying to sell between 201 and 400 grams of coke. The sentence began three days before Christmas in 2008.

Hewitt was still more than three months shy of his 16th birthday.

“I didn’t grow up in a structured environment.” Hewitt said Monday, speaking to the Miami Herald.

To say the least.
TOUGH ENVIRONMENT

When his mom went away, he and his younger brother Horace moved in with her boyfriend. It wasn’t the best environment. Hewitt couldn’t count on three round meals a day. His academics suffered.

And when Hewitt told his makeshift guardian he would be attending Georgia Military College — a liberal arts junior college — instead of a big-time program, mom’s boyfriend faded from the picture.

“He kind of stopped doing things for me,” said Hewitt, who moved to Georgia from Silver Spring, Maryland, at age 13 and attended Rockdale County High School in Conyers, Ga. “He thought I was going to a [big] school and was going to get some kind of money.”

At Georgia Military, he didn’t have to worry about his next meal. But that’s not to say his life was easy.

His day would begin at 5:30 each morning for PT, followed by weight lifting, formation, class, practice, more formation, football meetings and then lights out at 10:30 p.m.

“It felt like jail,” said Hewitt, who acknowledged: “I definitely needed it.”

Bert Williams was Hewitt’s coach at Georgia Military. Hewitt arrived as a quiet, undersized and unpolished prospect.

But despite Hewitt’s challenging background, he was model cadet whom Williams called “one of my favorites.”

“I don't ever recall him being a kid that gave us the least bit of problem,” Williams added. “He got right into the disciplined life.”

The results were stark. Hewitt made the Dean’s List and qualified academically to play big-time football. He chose Marshall University and became a star.

His senior year, he was the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year — despite undergoing neck surgery for a herniated disc, a pinched nerve and bone spurs just a few months earlier.

Perhaps more importantly, he became the first member of his family to graduate college, earning a degree in business management in May.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article34420881.html
 
I definitely didn't see him making the 53.. In fact, I thought he'd be the first UDFA LB cut. Hope he brings something to our lb core, because we need it...

Oh and 30 ****ing years for a non-violent crime?? What a sad joke...
 
Very moving story. I didn't know much about him but now I'm rooting for him to succeed as a Miami Dolphin. Looks like Dennis Hickey found us an acorn.
 
I think we might use him as Strong Safety / LB hybrid......

This guy might be very special.
 
Hope this kid is a special find. Awesome story. It's good to hear guys overcome adversities and get to a higher level.
 
That's one hell of a story. Happy for the kid. There's a lot of talent there. I figured we'd stash him on the PS for a year. Then work him through ST as he develops next year, but looks like he's more ready than I thought.
 
unlikely indeed...shocks the hell out of me unless this is all about specials...appears hes the backup wolb
 
Good story, I guess. Good for him overcoming adversity and not being a victim, but lots of bad people in his life it seems. Surprised this kid made the 53. He looked out of position a few times in preseason pretty bad. Hell, I'll trust the FO after this last offseason - at least for a bit.
 
great name, wasn't he England's secretary of war during WWI?
 
Awesome story....the school taught him/gave him the discipline he needed to succeed....he then took it from there and put in the work.
 
mahmacoat said:
great name, wasn't he England's secretary of war during WWI?
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Maybe you are thinking of Neville Chamberlain who was Great Britain's Prime Minister just before the outbreak of war. Chamberlain was conned by Hitler, who signed a Peace Treaty and was replaced by Winston Churchill as PM.
 
spiketex said:
Maybe you are thinking of Neville Chamberlain who was Great Britain's Prime Minister just before the outbreak of war. Chamberlain was conned by Hitler, who signed a Peace Treaty and was replaced by Winston Churchill as PM.
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you had to ruin my dumb joke with facts
 
ITS!MATEO said:
I definitely didn't see him making the 53.. In fact, I thought he'd be the first UDFA LB cut. Hope he brings something to our lb core, because we need it...

Oh and 30 ****ing years for a non-violent crime?? What a sad joke...
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Prison for profit, it's a shame
 
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