I was like, 'What are you offering me?' I didn't really know what it was," Kinlaw told The Greeneville News in 2018. Long before using his 6-foot-5-inch, nearly 325-pound frame to become a punishing defensive lineman for the University of South Carolina's football team, Kinlaw was a kid growing up in poverty in Washington, D.C. without a permanent place to live. South Carolina's coaches convinced him to enroll in a GED program at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi in the spring of 2016, promising him that a commitment to improving his grades would land him a spot at the university the following year."Homeless people come up to me all the time, and I don't know why they pick me," Kinlaw said in the interview. During his senior year of high school, Javon Kinlaw lived with the family of a football teammate. Whether he succeeds or not at the professional level, as a high draft pick Kinlaw will soon have enough money from his rookie signing bonus to ensure he and his family never again have to endure the same hardships he did as a child.Meanwhile, Kinlaw's massive size and athletic ability attracted college recruiters, who began talking to him about college football scholarships to schools like Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina.But Kinlaw's story becomes even more unique than his fellow soon-to-be NFL draft picks when you consider just how far he's come on his path to becoming a millionaire professional athlete. I can get me somewhere to live. Some days he would ride the trains all day to stay warm."[They] really didn't have to talk me into it. I was homeless at the time," Kinlaw said in 2018. Why not?"Kinlaw got his GED and even started some coursework at the junior college. He played college football at South Carolina, and was drafted by the 49ers in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. "We would light the stove with a little match or something, get a tall pot, boil the water, mix it with some cold water, put it in a bucket, take it upstairs, take a shower like that."Get Make It newsletters delivered to your inboxWhen he was partway through the ninth grade, Kinlaw's mother decided to send him to live with his father in South Carolina, hoping he would have more opportunities and less exposure to the crime-ridden neighborhoods they were inhabiting in Washington, D.C.Kinlaw and his brother would hop the turnstiles to ride Washington, D.C.'s metro, he told reporters, sometimes going to school but sometimes not. Even when the family returned to D.C. after a few months James struggled to make ends meet."I know I'm gonna get some type of money," Kinlaw told ESPN before the draft. I'm going to try to stick it out.' I was just playing football to pick up a hobby and stay off the streets at first."Learn more about the world of CNBC Make ItThe family would live with friends in the city, or sometimes find temporary housing even if it meant staying somewhere without electricity or running water. In December, the Associated Press named Kinlaw a first-team starter on the publication's 2019 All-American squad, cementing his status as one of the best players at his position in college football.Without money coming in, James was forced to reach out for help and ended up staying in a neighbor's basement for a few months.

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