EXCLUSIVE: Raiders Draftee M.J. Devonshire Talks Growing Up in a Football Family

Las Vegas Raiders seventh-round pick CB M.J. Devonshire comes from a football family.

Sep 23, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back M.J. Devonshire (12) / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Las Vegas Raiders 2024 seventh-round pick cornerback M.J. Devonshire grew up in a football household.

He was born into it, having several family members with football backgrounds, including his father Marlin Devonshire Sr., who coached at M.J.'s alma mater, Aliquippa Junior/Senior High School in Pennsylvania.

M.J. talked about the start of his football journey when he joined our Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. on a recent episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

"Growing up, I always tell people -- they be like, 'When did you start playing football?' I started playing football at 3 years old," Devonshire said. "I turned 4 during the season, but I was initially, my first couple games, I was 3 years old. All I knew was my uncles played, my brothers played, my cousins played, my dad played, and I wanted to be a part of that. I didn't know anything else as a kid; it was just go out there and fulfill and do the things that they did.

"My uncles were linemen, my brother was a defensive end and a tight end, my dad was a safety, I have cousins that played quarterback. I wanted to play everything. It wasn't really about the Xs and Os so much, it was just about trying to be like them. And I found my groove playing corner at a young age, and I was a quarterback and a receiver, so I found out I was a skill position guy. But it was just truly a love for the game just watching those guys -- it was all I knew. I thought it was what I was supposed to do, and so, it was like second nature to me. I want to play football.

"And when my dad finally put me in pads, it was like, 'Let's go do it.' And I just was having a blast running around trying to tackle people, just no business being out there but being out there and having fun, and little kid right there was like -- it started a little bit before that, but that right there was like my thing where I was like, 'Yeah, I want to do this for real.'"

You can watch M.J.'s entire interview with Carpenter here.

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