Meet Laken Tomlinson, Detroit Lions’ 2015 first-round draft choice

 
 
 
 
 
Born in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica, Tomlinson grew up in a small, crowded, and very humbling dwelling. He said that he and his siblings lived with a large extended family, which including his mother’s siblings and a host of other relatives. His first sport played, according to Tomlinson, was soccer while living in Jamaica.
At age 11, Tomlinson migrated with his mother, Audrey Wilson, to the United States and settled in the Rogers Park section of Chicago. They lived with his grandparents, who had left Jamaica many years earlier. “It was rough when I first got to Chicago,” said Tomlinson. “It was so cold. In Jamaica I never wore many sweaters. There was also a language barrier that I had to overcome.”