Injured Denzel Conyers Picks College but Won't Give Up on Pirates

When Denzel Conyers was growing up, he was like any American youngster, dreaming big.

As in NFL big.

Watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers first preseason game two weeks ago at Kansas City, a seventh-round draft pick, Bucs cornerback Anthony Gaitor caught Conyers' eye.

Gaitor made a few splash plays and celebrated a big hit. But that wasn't so much what got Conyer's attention, but where Gaitor came from.

Gaitor is from Florida International University, not yet a Florida football powerhouse.

But Conyers hopes to change that. A defensive back, Conyers can envision himself taking Gaitor's path to the NFL, and rekindled his boyhood dreams.

Conyers recently decided he would play for FIU.

"That is one of my dreams," Conyers said of the NFL. "One of my dreams when I was a little kid playing flag football."

Conyers wasn't hesitant at all in choosing FIU over some other state football factories.

"They put guys in the league," Conyers said of FIU, and once again referenced Gaitor.

Conyers isn't just choosing FIU because of Gaitor. FIU was one of the first schools to recruit Conyers. This spring Conyers blew his knee out and will miss his senior season at Boca Ciega. A lot of schools, his Boca Ciega coach Antez Brinson said, not only quit recruiting Conyers because of the injury, some of the coaches who recruited him wouldn't even return his calls.

Since the school showed a degree of loyalty with Conyers, he decided FIU was the place for him.

Loyalty and family mean a lot to Conyers. Despite not being able to play his final year of high school football because of his knee injury, suffered in the Pirates spring game, Conyers is a fixture at Boca Ciega's football practices.

"He is here every single day," Brinson said of Conyers. "I've coached and played with guys that had season-ending injuries and a lot of times those guys disappear. That's not to be negative, but it shows his commitment to his teammates and to the program that he is here everyday, and I mean every day."

Conyers works out the Pirates daily, as much as he can. The rest of the time he sits along the sideline sort of as a volunteer coach, giving his teammates tips and offering support.

Conyers is of the mind that it is his responsibility to be there daily.
"It means a lot to me," Conyers said. "They are like brothers, like my real brothers. I know we love this game and we all have the same goal of bringing a state championship to Boca Ciega."

"It speaks to the character and the quality of the young man and his family and what kind of morals and values they instilled in him, that he will not turn his back on his family, that just because things aren't going well for me doesn't mean I can't be there for my family.

"I think it is humongous."