FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- On the weekend Massachusetts high school Super Bowl champions will be crowned at Gillette Stadium, it was timely that New England Patriots defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois was taking a trip down Memory Lane.
Now in his ninth NFL season, he was reminiscing about one of the highlights of his time at Carol City High School in Miami Gardens, Florida, when he learned he was being moved up from junior varsity to the varsity.
"We were inside the weight room and coach was calling out names and he said, ‘If I call your name, it means you’re moving up to varsity.’ I’m thinking that he isn’t going to move me up because I’m in ninth grade. At the time, we had some of the best defensive linemen in the state, let alone the country. Then when I heard him say my name, I looked up and wanted to be excited, but [teammate] Eric Moncur grabbed me and said, ‘Don’t do it, don’t jump, act like you’ve been here before.’ I was like ‘I’m a ninth-grader going up with seniors!’”
Jean Francois, who turned 31 on Nov. 23, might feel as though he’s moved up to the varsity again after signing a one-year free-agent contract with the Patriots on Nov. 7.
“I’m blessed to be here, because they don’t just pick anybody to walk inside this building,” he said. “They are a rare team. A lot of players can’t say they had this chance to play for the Patriots, or to be coached by Bill Belichick.”
Jean Francois, who has added depth (40 snaps over the past three games) behind big-bodied defensive tackles Malcom Brown, Lawrence Guy and Alan Branch, shares his “football journey” as part of ESPN.com’s weekly feature:
When he first started playing football: “Fourth grade. I played flag football first, because I was too heavy. At 10 years old, I was 210 pounds. We had different weight levels and the highest one was like 150s, and those were 15- and 16-year-olds playing. When I got to sixth grade, I had a chance to play, with the 150s.”
Favorite teams and players growing up: “Being from Miami, everyone was a Dolphins fan: Dan Marino, O.J. McDuffie, Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Larry Izzo. I was also a Miami Hurricane fan: Sean Taylor, Ed Reed, Phillip Buchanon.”
Role models in his life: “My dad. Where we’re from in Miami, it’s kind of hard to be disciplined, and my dad disciplined me. He was from Haiti and was a real strict guy with me. It helped me in the long run. Another guy, Donald Heaven, he helped me ever since I started track and field. He kept me in line and kept my head straight. Another big influence was Walt Frazier, my high school coach who helped me see things for what they are. He made sure I stayed on the straight line and knew I had abilities that I didn’t even know when I was young. I’m blessed to have those people that helped me.”
Best game at Carol City High: “The game before state, we played Miami Killian, and they had Bobby Washington, who was one of the highly recruited running backs. We had to do our best to stop him and go to state, and it ended up being a 3-0 game. I remember everyone in the Orange Bowl, when it was over, coming out of the stands to run on the field.”
Enrolling at LSU: “I took trips to LSU, South Florida, Tennessee, Florida State; it was a hard decision to make, but I wanted to be around experience and open myself to new things. I picked LSU because there were a lot of guys who played on the 2003 national championship team, like Kyle Williams, Laron Landry, Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey.”
Top memories at LSU: “When I was a kid, I saw [Florida State] Peter Warrick, after playing Virginia Tech, holding up that crystal ball with black-and-white Nike gloves next to Bobby Bowden. I said, ‘My one biggest dream is to hold that crystal ball the same way he did.’ So coming back [sophomore] year, we played in the SEC championship, and I was named MVP. Then we won the national championship, and I was running around. I wanted to go into the stands to my parents and celebrate with them. Two of the PR guys and a security guard kept grabbing me and they said, ‘You just won the MVP.’ I was thinking, ‘Nah, Glenn Dorsey had to win it.’ He was one of the most highly decorated defensive linemen in college history. When they gave it to me, and I saw that confetti coming down as I was holding that ball, it made me think about that dream as a kid when I saw Peter Warrick do it.”
Seventh-round selection by the 49ers in the 2009 draft: “I was sitting there on draft day and kept seeing the rounds go and go and go, and my name not being called. I left my family, I left all my friends, and went to Haulover Beach. I sat down and looked up to the sky and said to God, ‘I don’t care where I get drafted, I don’t care where I get signed, just put me on a team and I’ll do the rest.’ Soon enough, I see a number on my phone I didn’t recognize and I hear, ‘This is Jim Tomsula of the San Francisco 49ers and I’d like to draft you. But if you wouldn’t like me to, just tell me now.’ I was like, ‘You’re crazy, who would tell a coach on the phone I don’t want to be drafted?’ He was like, ‘OK.’ But a few moments before that, a coach from the Miami Dolphins called and said, ‘Rick, we have this pick right here, we’re going to pick you.’ So I’m ready, it’s my hometown, excited to put on a Dolphins cap and then I see they picked a tight end. I was like, ‘What happened?’ But that’s when the 415 [area code] number showed up on my phone. It was [then-49ers coach] Mike Singletary and he told me they picked me. I was just happy from there.”
Four seasons with the 49ers (2009-12): “I learned a lot, build a lot of relationships with guys. Isaac Bruce, Nate Clements, Dre Bly, Randy Moss, Braylon Edwards, Leonard Davis ... I could go on and on, just sitting down and talking to them and talking to them about their experience and how they managed their money, what they encountered, negative and positive. They told me the best teacher you’re ever going to have is experience. That was the right thing and I kept learning, evolving, becoming well-rounded. I had never been somewhere that has four different seasons. It was so much to take in.”
Joining the Colts (2013-14): “I thought I was going to stay in San Francisco, but ended up signing in Indianapolis. I had a life lesson to learn: What should you do with a large amount of money? At first, when you don’t have it, you think of all the things you might do, but when you finally get it in your hands, things can change. I learned a lot there, and ended up meeting my wife back in Miami throughout that time and bringing her to Indianapolis, and she helped me with the playbook, keeping things organized.”
Moving on the Redskins after being cut (2015-16): “I think the life lesson there was that the man above wanted me to meet some people that were going to affect my life, like Jason Hatcher, Malcolm Blacken, their player-development guy. When I finally went through everything there, I felt like I really grew up and went to a man from a boy.”
Limited time with the Packers (2017): “I felt like I touched a lot of younger guys, who maybe wanted to hear something from a veteran point of view. I had never been inside a room where I was the oldest. Just to be a ninth-year guy, being in that situation, it was kind of nice.”
Signing with the Patriots: “All I tried to do when I got here was learn the playbook, and learning how to play football, how certain things we say throughout the day -- ‘You have to work hard’ and ‘You have to execute’ -- they came to pass. You have to work hard. You have to prepare. Right now, I’m still in the learning process, still learning this book, still learning the guys around me. I want to talk to everybody.”
What he loves about football: “It teaches you so many life lessons. It can break you down. It can build you up. You have to be prepared go through those ups and downs, how to show you can be a champion when you’re down, not just when you’re up. It builds character.”
Owning 30 Dunkin’ Donuts franchises: “I understand how a lot of younger guys like to go out and party, but my message to them is to put that on the back burner and try to connect with the players you have around you. Those players could connect you with people that you wouldn’t think was otherwise possible. I’m now the owner of a territory of 30 Dunkin’ Donuts, and that’s just being around the right people. You have to make sure your circle is built for you to succeed. If you don’t have that type of support, the league will eat you.”
Summing up his football journey: “It's about being faithful to the process. When it feels like things aren’t going your way at the moment, you have to keep trusting, keep grinding, keep preparing physically and mentally. No matter what happens throughout the journey of your football career, you must embrace the process, and if you do, I promise you something big will come out of it. It may not be a Super Bowl ring, but it could be relationships, or connections with businesses or something else.”