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Derrick Coleman Jr. didn't get drafted for the Viking then he went and tried out for the Giants but he also didn't make it as well. He gave up hope but then one day he got a Call from the Sea hawks saying they wanted him to fly out and try out on the practice team first. He did and they where interested in him. After playing on the practice team for a while they finally called him asking him to come in to practice with the actual team and he was really excited for that. After the season started they won all of their games except for one. Derrick didn't only get to play in the NFL he got to go to the Super bowl and the Sea hawks won too so because he didn't give up he exceeded even his own expectations for himself and being hearing impaired didn't stop him

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When Derrick Coleman Jr. was born doctors said he was perfect, that nothing was wrong. Later when his grandma started noticing that he was having hearing problems she told his mom to take him to the doctors she was hesitant but she took him to the doctors. "... Grandma Coleman asked my mama if i'd gotten my hearing tested at the hospital when I was a baby... maybe I needed to get it checked out again, Grandma said."(37 That's when they found out that he was legally deaf and that he needed to wear hearing aids.

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Derrick didn't care that he was legally deaf but the kids around him did. He had to move a lot when he was younger because his parents were on and off. One day a group of kids started teasing Derrick calling him "four ears" and they pointed and yelled that at him over and over. He was scared to come back to school the next day.

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Growing up Derrick loved basketball before he even knew what football was. "... in fact, back then I loved basketball even more than football."(73) Later on he went to a football game were he grew to love the game but he never thought he would play because he was deaf.

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When Derrick was in middle school he wanted to play football even though he was deaf but his parents were worried that he would get injured. After a year of thinking and after a doctors approval his parents finally agreed to let him play

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Later on in high school playing on the high school football made him more determined to become a better player because in middle school he "sucked" according to him. Soon Derrick set records in high school he was also featured in magazines and was described as "unstoppable". "

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By the time Derrick graduated high school he was ranked number 3 football running back in the nation. In California which was were he lived he was ranked number 1. And also ESPN which is a sports news app praised him for being a "productive fullback... [who] flashes potential to be a quality, well rounded fullback."(123)

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After graduating high school in 2008 Derrick was deciding which college he wanted to go to USC or UCLA. He really wanted to go to USC but they already had a lot of players that played his position which meant less field time for him so he went with UCLA because they needed more tail backs which meant more field time. "USC already had a lot of tailbacks... UCLA was hungrier for the position I played."(124

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After being disqualified from the playoffs Derrick and a couple of his high school friends decided that they would go to a game of their biggest rivals and support them. Their actions got them landed in the newspaper.

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Derrick got into UCLA and he was excited about it but he didn't expect his start to be rocky. After training one day he started feeling a throb in his right knee so he went and got and MRI done. Turns out he had a common knee injury, a torn meniscus it happens when you twist or turn too quickly. He had to get surgery done and he couldn't play for a while and he hated that.

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At the start of a new season their team won game after game and they thought they where going to the playoffs but because of a transfer student they got disqualified from the playoffs.

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When Derrick was on the field the day they were playing Arizona he had the jitters. The first play was a false start and the next one he had his first carry. He had what was called "Fog of war" it's when you can't remember what your trained to do because your brain turns to mush."In the military they call it the "fog of war", when your brain turns to mush and you can't remember what you trained to do."(133-134 He also fumbled the ball which made him angry at himself.

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After the doctors told Derrick that he had a concussion he walked out into the waiting room where a lot of people were waiting for him. A lot of the people were worried and praying for him and some were even crying that's when he felt really loved and he knew he came a long way since grade school. "Man, the feeling is hard to describe when you see a pile of people waiting for you in a room like that... I knew I was loved." (144) The next game he sat out and the after that he barely got to play but soon after the coached got him on the field more often.

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Derrick was playing in a game against Stanford when he caught the ball and started running after he ran for a couple yards he got tackled by a couple guys but soon more guys ran and jumped on top of the existing pile. After they all got up the other players and Derrick's mom realized that Derrick wasn't getting up so they all ran towards him and they got him into an ambulance and rushed him to the hospital where they told him that he had a concussion. "It was only a concussion, nothing worse."(145)

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After some of the other running backs got injured there were only two and they were both redshirting that year. A guy named Johnathan and Derrick. The coach came up to Derrick and told him to suit up because he was playing next round. They were playing Arizona at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

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After the surgery Derrick was back on the field in three and a half weeks which was rare someone to heal that quick. After he came back he decided he wanted to redshirt that year which meant that you practice with the team but don't play, thereby keeping another year of eligibility

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Derrick got a call from Mark Bloom saying that he wasn't going to be drafted for the NFL but several teams where interested in him to sign on as a free agent. "From the teams that where interested he narrowed it down to two, Miami and Minnesota. He went with Minnesota because Minnesota wanted him to play as running back while Miami wanted him as full back and he wanted to play running back.

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When Derrick flew out to Minnesota he came into the locker room and he found his locker with his name on a locker but he wanted a locker outside where the veterans were not the rookies. The entire time he was there for the three day training camp he only thought about how he could get a locker outside so he went and asked the coach told him to get out on the field and prove himself and he did but it was only the beginning. "Just go out there and prove yourself." (160

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Derrick later became friends with a guy named Johnathan even though they were both competing for the same position, running back, they got along well. The next couple of games they played they both got field time. When Johnathan got his time he wore the opposing team down then Derrick would come in execute plays and take the team home hence earning the name "Thunder and Lightning".

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Derrick and 44 other free agents where all competing for 8 spots on the team. Derrick was always the first to arrive on the field and the last to leave. Derrick also had his college graduation on the same day as his moms birthday and the coaches where okay with him leaving but he was thinking about not going but he went because college graduation only happens once."On June 13, 2010, I flew back to Los Angeles from the East Cost and walked across the UCLA graduation stage."(150)