It will be a text message or a phone call that arrives an hour or two before Jets rookie free agent defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III plays in his first NFL game of the season on Monday night in San Francisco.
For the past two years, the self-described mama's boy has received motivational words from his mother, Cherita Smith.
“The thing I always tell my son before a game is, 'A person's greatness comes from within,'” she told the Post.
Just three months after losing the NFL Draft, Taylor awakened his inner greatness in training camp and fulfilled a boyhood dream that seemed inevitable as a five-star high school recruit to stay in his hometown and play at Miami (Fla.).
“Growing up, I used to watch Lawrence Taylor,” Jets forward LT told The Post. “He and I had the same jersey number. I was No. 56 in Little League. My stepfather was [Rodney Frye]One day, my dad told me to look up Lawrence Taylor and see how he played. So I grew up watching him play and was fascinated by the way he played, the way he moved around, the speed he got off the ball, everything about it. He was an outside linebacker, but he was still disruptive in a lot of ways that I like. So I try to match his game a little bit to how I play.”
Of course, there is only one LT, and this LT is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 305 pounds.
“I think I can be explosive out of the backfield,” he said. “I think I'm a sack monster, to be honest with you.”
The Giants' LT was the ultimate sack monster.
“I feel like when I come off the ball I can get around the ball as much as I can,” Leonard Taylor said.
His mother often tells the story of a day in Fort Lauderdale when 8-year-old Leonard's life was anything but normal.
“I remember when my son first started playing football he got hit because he didn't really understand what was going on. He tried to skip, took off all his equipment and tried to quit,” she said. “Then I went over to him and said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I don't want to play anymore,' and he started crying. So I said, 'I'm not raising a kid who doesn't give up. If you don't want to get hit, you'd better hit him first.'”
He started hitting enough players to become a potential first-round draft pick, and she encouraged him to leave Miami and turn pro.
“You're stuck,” she told him, “and there's nothing else these guys can teach you. If he plays, they'll pull him, if he plays, they'll pull him.”
Then on draft night, the phone never rang.
“I know he was disappointed that they missed out on him,” Smith said, “and he didn't get drafted, and I didn't know why. I just heard they said he didn't love football. It was just a little thing that was brought up.”
It would be easy to root for him.
“He's just a humble giant,” his mother said. “He didn't like problems, he didn't like conflict. He always has been, and he still isn't. That boy would give you the shirt if you could give him it.”
However, this does not apply if he attacks before his opponent attacks him.
“When he steps on the field, it's like he becomes a totally different person,” Smith said. “It's like, game day, let's go.”
She worked three jobs to provide for her four sons, something he'll never forget.
“Everyone back home knows I'm a mama's boy,” Leonard Taylor says. “I can be honest with her about anything and she always gives me the right advice to make sure I'm okay, so my mom has been a big help. When I wanted to quit and give up, she always told me to persevere. She had to work three jobs growing up and work hard to provide for her family, so if she could work hard, I could too.”
Smith still works at hospice and now runs his own business, an ice cream and food truck called Lee Lee's Sweet Treats. Though Leonard appears to be on life support, his dream lives on and he is proud to be represented by Young Money APAA Sports Agency. “God had another door lined up for me so I'm just going to take it,” Leonard said.
He kicked that door down, and Quinnen Williams is helping him keep kicking that door in. “I always tell him football is not on him, it's within him,” Smith said.
The day Leonard found out he was playing for the New York Jets, the mother-loving son and his mother shared a special moment.
“I was screaming. He called me on FaceTime and I was screaming,” Smith said.
Mother always knew best.
