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

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Additionally, Rogers Park had more than its share of rival gangs and crime. Determined to stay focused and out of trouble, Tomlinson discovered football, especially as he began to pick up weight. He credits his uncle, Chris Wilson, with telling him about the game.
While much different than the game of soccer that he played in his native Jamaica, before long, Tomlinson had learned the finer points of football. “I didn’t even really know what football was until I actually started playing. I hardly knew who the Chicago Bears were,” Tomlinson once told a writer for Duke’s newspaper. “What really excited me about football was that I could go out there and run around and hit people. I thought that was pretty fun at the time.”