It must be pretty great to be Julian Edelman. He's one of the best wide receivers in the NFL and has two Super Bowl rings.
His ridiculous catch led to the Patriots completing one of the greatest sporting comebacks in all of history. Last month, he signed a new contract with the Pats, to the tune of $9 million.
It all could've been so much different if he had listened to the advice of his college lecturer. Edelman attended the College of San Mateo for a year before transferring to Kent State, where he earned his NFL place.
With just under two months to go until the league returns, Edelman has shared a brilliant letter from a former lecturer at CSM. The unnamed lecturer had told Edelman in 2006 to 'set realistic goals' instead of talking about how he was going to the NFL.
Eleven years later, he finally apologised.
set your goals high.
do whatever it takes to achieve them. #motivation pic.twitter.com/1eoaG2yp9w— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) July 18, 2017
The letter in full is worth a read:
Dear Jules, I'm not sure you will remember me: I was your teacher for your English 100 class at CSM in the spring of 2006.
I've been wanting to write to you for, oh, what seems to be a thousand years, to apologise to you for a flippant comment I made to you that semester. You may not even remember it but I've felt bad about it for years.
You made some comment about 'going to the league' and I said something about setting realistic goals, about how few people enter the ranks of the professional athlete, blah, blah, blah.
I don't think it fazed you, quite frankly, but when I look back on it I feel terrible, not because you proved me wrong but because I voiced an uneducated opinion that implied I had disdain for your passion for the game.
I think it was early in the semester, before I knew you, but how I could ever have doubted your tenacity and grit is beyond me!
Again, I doubt you've even thought about it twice, but even so, I'm sorry for wedging my foot so firmly in my mouth that day.
The 2017 season starts with a full round of games in the first week of September. Edelman's Patriots kick off the season with a road trip to the Kansas City Chiefs on the 7th, live on NBC and Sky Sports.
