Ex-Tucker High star was cut 8 times before Bears debut

Bears linebacker James Vaughters, a proud member of the AJC’s Super 11 in 2010, is a case study in perseverance.

The former Tucker High standout linebacker will return home wearing No. 93 for the Bears (2-0) to face the Falcons (0-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

After Vaughters finished his career at Stanford in 2015, he wasn’t drafted by an NFL team.

He was cut eight times by four NFL teams and one Canadian Football League team before making his NFL debut with the Bears on Nov. 3, 2019. You understand why he shed tears of joy on the sideline that day in Philadelphia during the national anthem.

Vaughters, who turned 27 in June, had stints with the Packers, Patriots, Chargers and the Calgary Stampeders before his breakthrough.

“When you’re young you hear the words perseverance, manhood, scholarship and uplift, but then as you get older you start applying those things to life itself,” Vaughters said. “You just start to realize the experiences are so far beyond the words that you even have a hard time using the words to describe it.

“It gets to be so many different emotions, so many different feelings, so many different acts of perseverance that you’ve had the opportunity and had to make the decision to execute that you somehow kind of lose sight of the words themselves.”

The four words are cardinal principles of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and they helped Vaughters through the peaks and valleys of trying to make it in the NFL.

Vaughters, who’s 6 feet 1 and 256 pounds, played in the CFL for the Stampeders

■ He was a four-star recruit coming out of powerhouse Tucker High.

■ He is the third of four children. He has an older sister Jahnisa, an older brother Johnathan and younger sister Ryan.

■ He stayed with his parents, Jonathan and Vanessa, in Stone Mountain between his football stints.

■ He earned a degree in political science from Stanford.

in 2017 and 2018, helping them win the Grey Cup in his second season.

Vaughters never gave up his dream.

“I did it for the guys that came in after us at Tucker,” Vaughters said. “Guys that came after me at Stanford. They all have a dream of playing pro sports and all have a dream of doing things the right way and getting an opportunity based on what they’ve done.

“It’s a big blessing for me to be able to finally experience that even though it didn’t come at the time that I expected it to or in the way that I expected it to. It means even more in this situation.”

Vaughters played 35 of the defensive snaps (45%) in the Bears’ 27-23 season-opening win over the Detroit Lions. He also played 12 snaps on special teams.

In the 17-13 win over the Giants, he played 24 defensive snaps (37%) and eight special teams snaps.

“The first thing that jumps out when you are playing linebacker is the ability, especially for him to be an outside linebacker is in the run game, how are you doing on the edge-setting and in the run game to be physical while playing in those kind of matchups,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “James certainly has that. The other value that he adds, obviously you like linebackers and (defensive backs) to have the ability to play on special teams. The first thing that jumps out to me was his strength.”

Vaughters is making plays for the Bears, too.

“I like the way that he’s grown for us the last couple of years,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “I just know that our defensive coaches really appreciate the knowledge that he has in this defense and the way he plays.”

He had three tackles against Lions and four against the Giants.

With a 4.0 GPA at state powerhouse Tucker High, Vaughters had 35 big-time college scholarship offers before choosing Stanford. He started as a freshman and had a solid career at Stanford.

After he wasn’t drafted, Vaughters wasn’t ready to give up.

“I just had to decide that I wasn’t going to be denied no matter how small the chances, no matter where the game took me physically, emotional, mentally, all of that stuff,” Vaughters said. “I was going to see it through.”

It was six years of struggle before Vaughters got his shot to play. On that day against the Eagles, he played four snaps from scrimmage, nine on special teams and made a tackle.

“I feel like I’ve been a better player,” Vaughters said. “A better person and sometimes we get caught up in the tangibles. Especially as football players, when you’re out there fighting for trophies, fighting for accolades, All-America-this, Pac12 championship-that. You get caught up in the tangible things, oh maybe I’m not even good anymore if I’m not getting the tangible recognition.”

Vaughters said he had to forget all his past successes to keep moving forward.

“Once I started to focus more on my process and focus more on growing mentally, physically and spiritually every day, every week, every month, every year, I was able to get where I wanted to be,” Vaughters said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been thrust upon you the same way.

“It feels like something that you have no doubt in your mind that you’ve earned.”