OWINGS MILLS, Md. — For most of the around 30 players at Ravens rookie minicamp this weekend it’s their first taste of life as a football player in Baltimore.
That isn’t the case for Tyler Badie.
"I haven’t been back in eleven years so, like, being back now is like everything is different," he said.
The Ravens sixth-round draft pick lived most of his childhood in Randallstown and started playing youth football right around the corner from the Ravens' facility.
"Coming out here and just being around Owings Mills, I played at Northwest Regional Park for Wolfpack, it’s just weird," he said. "Right down the street. Right down the street. Literally we drive past it every day. And I’m like, I keep looking like, ‘That was me over there.’ So, it’s kind of cool."
Badie said he remembers Ravens hall of fame linebacker Ray Lewis attending his youth football practices because Lewis' daughter played for the same organization. Badie also attended a youth football camp in the area hosted by another Ravens hall of famer - safety Ed Reed.
The running back out of University of Missouri played lacrosse at Friends School of Baltimore until his junior year. That’s when he moved to Memphis when his mother changed jobs. That wasn’t the only time he had to pick up and move.
Badie was born in New Orleans in 2000. In 2006 his family was displaced by Hurricane Katrina. That’s how he ended up in Randallstown. He said he thinks of that time in his life as a positive.
"It taught me a lot of things about adversity and toughness and I use that on the football field. A lot of times people don’t come from where I come from, see what I see. So, a lot of times it’s just another thing to add onto your stripes, use that as motivation to keep pushing forward."
All the way to a spot on the roster of the team he cheered for as a kid.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
