Five years ago, NaQuan Brown put on his cap and gown, picked up his diploma and graduated from high school. Football, he likes to say, was placed on a "temporary stoppage." His family needed him more.
With his mother struggling to find full-time work, Brown enrolled at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, instead of pursuing his football career. Eventually he took a job in the hardware section at Wal-Mart. He, his mother and younger brother lived in a small apartment, where Brown was the primary bread-winner while his mom hunted for jobs.