An athlete’s physical strength is not the only thing necessary. Mental health is equally vital! And, while many people don’t discuss it much, the Ravens QB Lamar Jackson brought it up. The quarterback has been an unstoppable force and an inspiration to many with his incredible talent. But did you know, in addition to his talent, training, and physical conditioning, the man had to cope with a lot of mental hardship at one point in his life?

For those who missed it, Lamar Jackson was on the Essence YouTube channel where he spilled the beans. The Ravens’ QB mentioned how difficult it was for him to juggle studies and football at the same time. And there was a point when he had such bad grades that he had to stop playing for a year during high school. In that one year, the future NFL star studied tirelessly, but never felt satisfied with what he was doing. As a result, after a year, the man returned to the field and determined to give football his all.

Lamar Jackson explained, “Some people hate it you know cuz some people can’t take like, how is he able to be this person like why wasn’t [it] me? Like you wasn’t grinding for real, you know you just talking about it. This person was being about it, you know, even when this person didn’t play football cuz one year I didn’t play football. You know 10th grade cuz I was being a kid.” After all of this, the QB clarified that this was one of the reasons he had never wanted to attend Junior College (JUCO).

And this is also the reason why Jackson confessed that he has a great deal of respect for NFL players who attended JUCO. But do you know someone made it to the NFL after attending college, even though they found it as difficult as Lamar? Maybe you guessed it right.

Lamar Jackson’s troubles are identical to the Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill

Yep, Tyreek Hill is no different from Lamar Jackson. The WR didn’t get good grades in high school and had to go to a junior college. However, at the time, he chose a JUCO based on track and field named Garden City Community College, which happened to have a football team. Hill became interested in football during his undergraduate years, and the rest is history.

Tyreek Hill revealed all these things in the Club Shay Shay show, where he stated, “So I’m like, okay I can go to JUCO and then I can come to y’all,” he continued. “So they recommended this JUCO called Garden City Community College. So I go to Garden City. Once I get to Garden City, I’m just there for the track. But Garden City they got a football team.” And then the NFL got its ‘Cheetah’ soon after!

Hill’s and Lamar Jackson’s stories are surely encouraging for athletes who are tired of balancing their education with sports. And everyone can imagine that it is undoubtedly difficult for them. But with time, things work out. As Lamar mentioned, it’s about the ‘grind‘.