CINCINNATI — Darrin Walls’ phone rang around 3 a.m. on the morning of May 29, one of those calls that when you hear the phone ring, your heart starts pounding.
The Jets cornerback was in the middle of the team’s OTAs when real life interrupted. It was his cousin on the other end of the phone, calling Walls to tell him another cousin — 18-year-old Earnest Williams — had been shot and killed a few hours earlier in their native Pittsburgh.
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Walls said recently.
Williams had grown up in the same house as Walls in Pittsburgh, but recently moved to an area known as the Hill District to live with his mother. The area is known for having a lot of crime. Williams was scheduled to graduate from high school a week after he was shot. Police have not found the shooter.
Walls took the practice field a few hours after learning of his cousin’s death, but he struggled to concentrate. Later, he decided to tell his coaches about what happened. They told him to take some time away. Walls had buried his grandmother and an aunt in the previous 18 months and decided he could not see another loved one in a coffin.
“I couldn’t do any more funerals,” Walls said.
So, he stayed in New Jersey. He skipped one OTA, but then was back out with his teammates. Walls, who is in his third season with the Jets, said he thinks about his cousin when he is out on the field.
“I look at life with a different perspective,” Walls said. “A lot of people take it for granted and a lot of people take what we do for granted. It’s a blessing for me. I praise God every day for it.”
Walls, 26, has an opportunity to get some playing time with the Jets, with injuries to three of the team’s top four cornerbacks. Walls has gotten some chances in his time with the Jets. He started the final game of the 2012 season as a reward from coach Rex Ryan for his hard work that year. He started three times last year when Dee Milliner was out with a hamstring injury.
Now, Milliner has a high ankle sprain, and the Jets’ other starter Dimitri Patterson is dealing with several leg injuries. That clears the way for Walls to possibly play.
“I’m at a position where I feel like I can be a starting corner in the NFL,” Walls said. “I think I’ve grown a lot over the years. I take that into perspective and try to keep that in mind, knowing I have the confidence and the ability to be a starter.”
The bad news for Walls is the team moved safety Antonio Allen to cornerback this week, a sign they don’t trust Walls enough to put him in the starting role. But Walls said he accepts the challenge and he hopes to prove to the coaches that he is better than last year when he played.
“[Last year] I was a little hesitant and wasn’t that confident,” Walls said. “I think as the year went on I gained a lot more confidence. This year I think I’m playing with that confidence I ended with last year. I’m more comfortable in the system. I know the situations. When I first got here I was just trying to learn the defense, but now I can put myself in better situations to make plays.”
Walls said he will keep his cousin in mind this year.
“He was just one of those kids that you could see so much potential in him,” Walls said. “When he moved with his mother, a lot of people had written him off, saying it’s not good to move over there and people think he wouldn’t make it out of high school. Here he was, about to graduate. We’re a proud family. We like proving people wrong. He did that.”
Now, Walls will try to do the same.