University of Memphis Athletics
On The Right Track - Lavaris Edwards Feature
Sep 19, 2011 | Football
Sept. 19, 2011
By Adam K. Moussa
At first impression, defensive back Lavaris Edwards appears to be just an average college football player. Nothing about the senior's humble attitude and quiet demeanor alludes to the story of struggle and strife that lies just beneath the surface.
Take the time to hear Edwards' story, and you will quickly realize that an extra fire burns within the 22-year-old speedster from Miami, Fla. It's a flame born from a difficult upbringing, fanned by the loss of a parent and nurtured by the tough love of a high school football coach who refused to give up on him despite seemingly insurmountable odds.
Born to a father that to this day he has only met once, Edwards and his two younger brothers were raised by his mother and grandmother in Florida City, Fla., a southern suburb of Homestead, 30 minutes from Miami.
Gifted with innate speed and athleticism, Edwards was naturally attracted to sports throughout his adolescence, often playing touch football and pick-up basketball in school yards and parks throughout south Florida. As Edwards grew, he became increasingly interested in playing organized athletics, but monetary constraints hindered his childhood aspirations.
"Growing up, I always wanted me to play ball, but my mom was having a hard time providing our family, so sports had to take a backseat," said Edwards. "With her working all hours of the day and without anything to occupy my time, I basically ended up in the streets doing things I shouldn't have been doing."
"My mom saw that I was headed down a negative path, so by the time I finished junior high, she told me that she was going to get me onto a football team."
Edwards' mother, who suffered with kidney problems throughout much of his childhood, held true to her promise.
After Edwards completed the eighth grade, his mother and grandmother reached out to a Miami football coach for help. Don Chaney, the executive vice president, chief operating officer and head football coach at Bay Point Schools, a private, all-boys academy committed to utilizing athletics as a means to keep at-risk youth on the right track, agreed to meet with Edwards and his family about the possibility of enrolling him at the south Miami institution.
After sitting down with Edwards, hearing about his family life and his mother's worsening health problems, Chaney agreed to admit Edwards into Bay Point.
"One of the first things Coach Chaney said to me was that he could see a lot of himself in me. He grew up in a similar situation, so he could relate," recalled Edwards. "From that day forward, he basically just took me under his wing and looked out for me."
Edwards' enrollment in the military-style academy afforded him a dorm room on Bay Point's private campus, moving the then 13-year-old Edwards away from the negative influences that surrounded him in Florida City.
"When Coach Chaney brought me to Bay Point, he basically took me out of the streets and put me the classroom," stated Edwards.
Chaney, a former stand-out wide receiver at the University of South Carolina, not only put Edwards in the classroom, but on the football field as well.
"Once I got to Bay Point, I realized that it was no joke," said Edwards. "Coach Chaney stayed on me about everything. In the classroom, he made sure that I did my work to the best of my abilities, and when it came to sports, he pushed me harder than anyone had ever pushed me in my life."
Early morning strength and conditioning sessions, class and football practice until sun-down occupied much of Edwards' time, and provided him with the structure and discipline he needed to succeed. And succeed was exactly what he did.
As a freshman, Edwards earned playing time on the Falcons' offense at wide receiver, where his natural athleticism began to show.
"Coach realized that I had some speed, so he put me at wide out to utilize my quickness," recalled Edwards. "He always liked to get me the ball in space so I could run with it."
In the spring of his freshman year, intrigued by just how fast Edwards truly was, Chaney signed him up to run for Bay Point's track and field team.
"One day, Coach came to me and told me that he wanted me to run track," Edwards recalled. "I figured I'd give it a shot, so the next day I joined the team."
Once in the starting blocks, Chaney realized that his eyes hadn't been deceiving him, and that Edwards' natural stride was even faster than he anticipated.
"After my first race, Coach came up to me and told me that I was going to do something special," remembers Edwards. "And to be honest, even I was a little bit surprised by some of the times I was running."
At only 14-years-old, Edwards starred as a 100-meter sprinter on the Falcons' track and field squad, often finishing with times one-to-two full seconds faster than his upperclass opponents.
At the 2005 Florida State Championships, Edwards recorded a blistering 10.92-second 100-meter dash time, shattering school and state records in the process.
"Sports gave me purpose," said Edwards. "I finally felt like I was doing something positive with my life and that I was working towards something important."
Edwards went on to record similar results in his sophomore season, earning both 100-meter and 200-meter medals on the track and seeing increased playing time on the gridiron at both receiver and defensive back.
But, as he neared the conclusion of his second year at Bay Point, tragedy struck Edwards' family and altered his positive path.
A stroke that would send his mother into a coma prompted Edwards to drop out of Bay Point to assist his elderly grandmother in providing for his ailing mother and two brothers.
"At that time, I needed to be there for my mom and my brothers, and I couldn't do that from Miami. So, I dropped out of Bay Point and went back home to Florida City," stated Edwards. "But once I got home, I basically fell back into the negative path that I had been in before I left."
To compound an already difficult situation, Edwards' mother's health problems worsened daily.
"I basically sat there and watched my mother die right before my eyes, one day at a time," Edwards said somberly. "There is absolutely no way to describe how that felt."
After nearly five months, Edwards' mother passed away, shocking him into readjusting his priorities.
"After my mom died, I basically sat down and thought about the type of person that she wanted me to be. I looked at my little brothers, and I realized that I needed to be a positive role model for them, so I knew that I needed to go back to school."
Leaving his two brothers to live with his grandmother full-time, Edwards returned to Miami, where he lived homeless for nearly three months while waiting for school to resume at Bay Point.
More focused and committed than ever, Edwards re-enrolled at Bay Point after what had been one entire year away from the school.
Edwards' new-found motivation fueled his fire on the gridiron and helped him to excel at both wide receiver and defensive back, earning All-Dade County honors along the way.
"I wasn't just playing the game for myself anymore," said Edwards. "I was playing in memory of my mom and everything that she sacrificed for me."
Nagging injuries forced Edwards to retire his track spikes for good, but by the time he concluded his junior season, interest from Division 1 football programs from around south Florida had already come flooding in.
Both nearby FAU and FIU inquired about Edwards' talent, but his first offer came from Coach Tim Walton at the University of Miami.
"I met Coach Walton my junior year," Edwards recalled. "He sold me on staying home and playing for the Hurricanes, and I was all in. I thought my plans were set."
But like much of Edwards' story, an unexpected twist changed his plans.
Following the conclusion of Edwards' senior football season, Walton left Miami to accept the defensive coordinator job at a school Edwards had never heard of, the University of Memphis.
"I was pretty committed to going to Miami because of Coach Walton, so when he left I didn't know what to do. But, he stayed in contact with me and brought me up to Memphis for a visit. I basically just fell in love with the university and the city on my visit, and here I am," said Edwards.
Now, more than three years later, Edwards serves as a veteran presence in the Tigers' youthful secondary.
Despite the thousands of miles he has traveled and the multitude of hurdles he has overcome on his long journey, Edwards hasn't forgotten where he comes from and the man who helped guide him along the way.
"Growing up in Dade County was very tough, but I was fortunate enough to have people like Coach Chaney around me who truly cared and always looked out for my best interests."
Today, look closely at Edwards' bio and you will notice a living tribute to the man who took him under his wing.
"I asked to list Coach Chaney as my father in my bio because throughout it all, that is exactly what he has been, a father figure," said Edwards. "I know that he is proud of me for the things that I am doing today, and the only way I can try to re-pay him is to do the absolute best I can do on the field and in life."
"I just want to stay on the path that I am on right now, because I finally feel like I am on the right track."
