Tennessee Titans Caravan stops at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
Rashaan Evans (Alabama), Sharif Finch (Temple), Dennis Kelly (Purdue) and Dane Cruikshank (Arizona) made their way through the grounds of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center as one of 18 stops in three states over three weeks.
“Being here is my first trip to Huntsville as I grew up in Chicago so getting a chance to interact with the children and meets fans from different states is really nice as this goes a long way to show the fans we want to interact,” said Kelly, a 6-foot-8, 321-pound offensive lineman who has played two seasons with the Titans and was a 2012 NFL Draft pick out of Purdue. “I tell the kids to follow their dreams as mine was to play in the NFL. I did the right things to do that and had fun with it.”
The 6-2, 232-pound Evans was a first round draft choice out of the 2018 National Championship Alabama team. The talented linebacker was reunited with former Crimson Tide teammate Derrick Henry. Evans, a native of Auburn, said of his Heisman Trophy winning teammate, “To have a guy like that and the way he plays just brings excitement to the stadium and to the team. The way he runs like that anybody would be happy to be on his team.”
Evans shared some of his thoughts on how Alabama has been at the top of college football for the last decade and numerous players making the NFL. “It’s the work. That’s the number one thing and most underrated is the things we do behind the cameras. Those early morning workouts where we sometimes do 30, 110 runs running our guts out. People ask me all the time what we do that is different. When we walk out there for warmups we’ve already beat many of the teams. Alabama has that honor of being looked at a little different.”
Finch, a 6-4, 250-pound outside linebacker spoke to the Space Campers about staying in school. When asked his favorite cartoon he said, “Sponge Bob,” which received a huge cheer from the group of youngsters.
The 6-1, 209-pound defensive back Cruikshank urged the attending crowd to leave the video games and stay focused on something more than games and go to college.
Evans was a crowd favorite and when a student asked him who he wanted to sack more than any other quarterbacks in the NFL, he answered Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson, but a thunderous applause erupted when he also mentioned Tom Brady of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.
“Be what you want to be and give 100-percent to that commitment,” Evans told the attending group.
The Tennessee Titans 2019 season begins with preseason games Aug. 8 and the regular season kicking off Sept. 8.
