Taking on challenges came early for Rogers

“My mom stayed in the hood. I wanted to stay out of it,” Rogers said. “I went there every now and then, but I felt like [leaving home] was the best decision for me to excel.”

One of Rogers’ best friends became his quarterback at Northwestern High, Teddy Bridgewater. The pair later committed to the University of Louisville together, and now Bridgewater plays for the Minnesota Vikings.

Lamar Miller was Rogers’ position coach at Louisville and said he had a long talk with Rogers early on about not making excuses when things didn’t go his way.

The results were almost instantaneous.

“Guys like him are the reason you’re in coaching,” Miller said. “They get it. They hear it, and they get it. They put the time in, and they become successful.”

Miller called football for Rogers “his way of evening the score in life” and exhorted him to get his degree. Rogers started out studying sports administration but graduated with a communications degree in 2015.

“Coming from where I come from, guys barely go to college,” Rogers said. “The guys that do go, most don’t finish. They leave early or just don’t finish.”

Rogers prays a lot. He wears a leather bracelet with “bELIeve” inscribed on it. One of the things Rogers believes is that he was destined to change the misfortunes of his family through his Godgiven talent on the football field. Another is that Tranae, recognizing this, always pushed him harder than her other kids.

“It was always something with me, like I was the special child,” Rogers said. “She’d always tell me, ‘No, you don’t do this.’ Or always tried to pull me away from those things, that life that I could have seen. She always tried to do that and keep me away from it. I feel like she always believed I could be the one to bring the change to our family.”

‘Eli’s a real genuine guy’

great players on the field, but Eli’s a real genuine guy.”

Football-wise, Rogers’ position plays to his strengths. As a slot receiver, he’s lined up on the inside of the formation, not outside like Brown.

It requires Rogers to think a couple steps ahead, almost like a pool shark.

“In the slot, it’s a game of chess because there’s a lot of grass,” said cornerback William Gay, who’s often responsible for covering the opposing team’s slot receiver. “It’s a lot of option routes, a lot of technique and timing with the quarterback. That’s what makes him so tough. He pays attention to details, and he never stops.”

‘A breath to breathe’