Daylon Mack knew the question was coming. Again and again and again.
"What happened your sophomore and junior year?"
The Texas A&M defensive tackle has a ready answer, but numbers speak louder than words.
Mack was one of eight A&M players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. He measured 6 foot 1, weighed 336 pounds, did 30 reps in the 225-pound bench press and ran a 5.1 in the 40-yard dash.
Coming on the heels of solid all-star game performances in the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl, Mack's offseason performance has upped his draft stock.
"I know a lot of people had questions," said Mack, who has trained at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney since January. "I feel like I've definitely answered those."
Mack has another chance to impress on March 26 at the Aggies' Pro Day.
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A CHANGED MAN
Mack can't change what happened in 2016 and 2017. He can't change his parents' divorce. He can't change the scheme he played in his first three seasons.
Not that he would.
"I wouldn't change anything," Mack said.
Mack was one of three five-star players in A&M's 2015 recruiting class. Receiver Christian Kirk was a second-round choice last year, and quarterback Kyler Murray, who transferred to Oklahoma after his freshman season, could go first overall this year.
Mack showed promise as a true freshman with 32 tackles, including 9.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. But Mack's parents were in the process of divorcing, and when Mack went home to Gladewater, he found things different.
At some point, Mack's teammates noticed a change in him.
"To be honest, you could tell something was wrong; something was different," said A&M linebacker Otaro Alaka, who also participated in the combine. "But he wouldn't really talk about it. I don't blame him. Obviously, it's just a hard thing to talk about. But you could tell something was bothering him. I'm close with Daylon, so I'd try to talk to him. Every now and then, I would ask him, 'Hey are you good?' I'm checking on him, making sure he's OK. When he finally told me, we just kind of talked about it, and made sure he is good now and that everything is cool. I was praying for him."
Mack made 2.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss combined in his sophomore and junior seasons, starting only one game. He considered transferring more than once, but his mother, Geraci Mack, put her foot down.
"He talked about it, and I told him, 'We don't quit anything. You aren't quitting,'" Geraci Mack said. "He kept saying, 'I am, too. I'm leaving. I'm transferring. I'm getting out of here.' I told him, 'If you can give me a better plan and put it in place, then we can work forward from there. Give me a better plan.' So, he had to stay.
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"But those two years were tough. It was a sadness to momma, maybe not so much to others, because he's been raised that no matter how far you're down, you hold your head up and you keep going. You don't let anyone take your dreams from you."
Daylon never was diagnosed with depression, but he was depressed.
Geraci Mack, a crisis counselor and chaplain who owns her own business, had long talks with her son. Daylon also credits Mikado Hinson, A&M's director of player development, for helping him out of his funk.
"I think more than anything I was just a sounding board for him to vent, for him just to talk and get some things off his chest, maybe some things he couldn't share with anyone else," Hinson said. "He just needed someone to talk to. From the beginning, even in the recruiting process, he and I developed a really good relationship. I think he just trusted me. I may have said some things that really helped him in some of those tough times and dark times of his life, but I think more than anything, he just felt safe around me and could talk. He knew I was going to listen; he knew I wasn't going to judge him; and he knew what he said was safe with me."
Early in the offseason, Daylon Mack started talking publicly about what happened in his personal life, hoping to get in front of the inevitable questions from NFL scouts. Even though he wasn't diagnosed with depression and didn't seek help from a therapist, Mack hopes sharing his story can help those going through something similar.
If a big, tough football player can be depressed, anyone can.
"Daylon Mack is a guy that comes to school every day and has the biggest smile on his face, one of those comedian guys in the locker room," said A&M running back Trayveon Williams, who also participated in the combine. "That just grabs the concept that anybody can be struggling, and you just wouldn't know it."
Mack's two mission trips to Haiti as part of an A&M contingent also helped put his situation in perspective, Mack said. The Aggie athletes "served the people" by digging a trench, painting a school, passing out water tablets, washing clothes and praying with the Haitians.
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"It made me not take things for granted as much," Mack said. "I'm really glad Mikado got me in that mode to be doing things like that. It really kind of got me out of my shell."
Mack never intended to stay at A&M all four seasons, but his play as a sophomore and junior gave him no choice. It turned out to be the best thing for him, with Jimbo Fisher arriving as the Aggies' head coach, Mike Elko as the defensive coordinator and Elijah Robinson as defensive line coach.
Mack was a changed man.
"This defense we played this past year definitely was the most beneficial for me, as far as my playing style," Mack said. "They wanted me to be a one-gap penetrator, get up the field and be disruptive, and that's what I do best."
People may have forgotten Mack "once was a really good football player," as he said they had, but he reminded them his senior season when he became a full-time starter. He made 32 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in 2018 and was a big reason the Aggies finished with the nation's third-best rushing defense.
Mack never has minded doing the dirty work inside, taking on blockers often while getting no credit on the stat sheet.
"I just like being disruptive honestly," Mack said. "It's about making the play, but you can make the play without actually having to tackle the guy. My best game was Clemson, and I had one tackle. But I was so disruptive. We were getting a lot of TFLs [tackles for loss]. I helped get a lot of TFLs for my teammates."
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THE FUTURE
Mack already has several private workouts and visits lined up with teams, Scott Casterline, Mack's agent, said. Mack had two formal interviews at the combine and 10 informal meetings with teams.
Two of the best days of Mack's young life will happen within two weeks of each other.
Mack will hear his name called sometime during the NFL Draft on April 25-27. Then, on May 9, Mack will earn his communication degree.
After struggling with his grades as a freshman, Mack currently has A's in the two online classes he is taking to complete his degree, Geraci said. His mother is prouder of that than she is of Daylon living out his dream of playing in the NFL.
"I'm very proud," Geraci said. "When I'm writing about him, it starts off with, 'If I had ten thousand tongues, there's no way I could thank God enough for what I've watched him do with my son, the favors he's given him. I cried most of the day [during the combine], and thought, 'That's my baby. That's my little man. That's the child that made me throw up in the cheese section of Brookshire [grocery store] when I was pregnant.' It's amazing. It's hard to describe."
Although Mack never made All-SEC or All-American as he expected, he left his stamp on the program. He could become an even better ambassador for A&M with his play in the NFL.
"I hope this process is going to be productive and prosperous for Daylon," Hinson said. "I just hope he hears his name called. I do know the team he goes to, they're going to get a darn good football player. They're going to get a better young man. I'm proud of that."
"What happened your sophomore and junior year?"
The Texas A&M defensive tackle has a ready answer, but numbers speak louder than words.
Mack was one of eight A&M players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. He measured 6 foot 1, weighed 336 pounds, did 30 reps in the 225-pound bench press and ran a 5.1 in the 40-yard dash.
Coming on the heels of solid all-star game performances in the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl, Mack's offseason performance has upped his draft stock.
"I know a lot of people had questions," said Mack, who has trained at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney since January. "I feel like I've definitely answered those."
Mack has another chance to impress on March 26 at the Aggies' Pro Day.
Â
A CHANGED MAN
Mack can't change what happened in 2016 and 2017. He can't change his parents' divorce. He can't change the scheme he played in his first three seasons.
Not that he would.
"I wouldn't change anything," Mack said.
Mack was one of three five-star players in A&M's 2015 recruiting class. Receiver Christian Kirk was a second-round choice last year, and quarterback Kyler Murray, who transferred to Oklahoma after his freshman season, could go first overall this year.
Mack showed promise as a true freshman with 32 tackles, including 9.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. But Mack's parents were in the process of divorcing, and when Mack went home to Gladewater, he found things different.
At some point, Mack's teammates noticed a change in him.
"To be honest, you could tell something was wrong; something was different," said A&M linebacker Otaro Alaka, who also participated in the combine. "But he wouldn't really talk about it. I don't blame him. Obviously, it's just a hard thing to talk about. But you could tell something was bothering him. I'm close with Daylon, so I'd try to talk to him. Every now and then, I would ask him, 'Hey are you good?' I'm checking on him, making sure he's OK. When he finally told me, we just kind of talked about it, and made sure he is good now and that everything is cool. I was praying for him."
Mack made 2.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss combined in his sophomore and junior seasons, starting only one game. He considered transferring more than once, but his mother, Geraci Mack, put her foot down.
"He talked about it, and I told him, 'We don't quit anything. You aren't quitting,'" Geraci Mack said. "He kept saying, 'I am, too. I'm leaving. I'm transferring. I'm getting out of here.' I told him, 'If you can give me a better plan and put it in place, then we can work forward from there. Give me a better plan.' So, he had to stay.
Â
"But those two years were tough. It was a sadness to momma, maybe not so much to others, because he's been raised that no matter how far you're down, you hold your head up and you keep going. You don't let anyone take your dreams from you."
Daylon never was diagnosed with depression, but he was depressed.
Geraci Mack, a crisis counselor and chaplain who owns her own business, had long talks with her son. Daylon also credits Mikado Hinson, A&M's director of player development, for helping him out of his funk.
"I think more than anything I was just a sounding board for him to vent, for him just to talk and get some things off his chest, maybe some things he couldn't share with anyone else," Hinson said. "He just needed someone to talk to. From the beginning, even in the recruiting process, he and I developed a really good relationship. I think he just trusted me. I may have said some things that really helped him in some of those tough times and dark times of his life, but I think more than anything, he just felt safe around me and could talk. He knew I was going to listen; he knew I wasn't going to judge him; and he knew what he said was safe with me."
Early in the offseason, Daylon Mack started talking publicly about what happened in his personal life, hoping to get in front of the inevitable questions from NFL scouts. Even though he wasn't diagnosed with depression and didn't seek help from a therapist, Mack hopes sharing his story can help those going through something similar.
If a big, tough football player can be depressed, anyone can.
"Daylon Mack is a guy that comes to school every day and has the biggest smile on his face, one of those comedian guys in the locker room," said A&M running back Trayveon Williams, who also participated in the combine. "That just grabs the concept that anybody can be struggling, and you just wouldn't know it."
Mack's two mission trips to Haiti as part of an A&M contingent also helped put his situation in perspective, Mack said. The Aggie athletes "served the people" by digging a trench, painting a school, passing out water tablets, washing clothes and praying with the Haitians.
Â
"It made me not take things for granted as much," Mack said. "I'm really glad Mikado got me in that mode to be doing things like that. It really kind of got me out of my shell."
Mack never intended to stay at A&M all four seasons, but his play as a sophomore and junior gave him no choice. It turned out to be the best thing for him, with Jimbo Fisher arriving as the Aggies' head coach, Mike Elko as the defensive coordinator and Elijah Robinson as defensive line coach.
Mack was a changed man.
"This defense we played this past year definitely was the most beneficial for me, as far as my playing style," Mack said. "They wanted me to be a one-gap penetrator, get up the field and be disruptive, and that's what I do best."
People may have forgotten Mack "once was a really good football player," as he said they had, but he reminded them his senior season when he became a full-time starter. He made 32 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in 2018 and was a big reason the Aggies finished with the nation's third-best rushing defense.
Mack never has minded doing the dirty work inside, taking on blockers often while getting no credit on the stat sheet.
"I just like being disruptive honestly," Mack said. "It's about making the play, but you can make the play without actually having to tackle the guy. My best game was Clemson, and I had one tackle. But I was so disruptive. We were getting a lot of TFLs [tackles for loss]. I helped get a lot of TFLs for my teammates."
Â
THE FUTURE
Mack already has several private workouts and visits lined up with teams, Scott Casterline, Mack's agent, said. Mack had two formal interviews at the combine and 10 informal meetings with teams.
Two of the best days of Mack's young life will happen within two weeks of each other.
Mack will hear his name called sometime during the NFL Draft on April 25-27. Then, on May 9, Mack will earn his communication degree.
After struggling with his grades as a freshman, Mack currently has A's in the two online classes he is taking to complete his degree, Geraci said. His mother is prouder of that than she is of Daylon living out his dream of playing in the NFL.
"I'm very proud," Geraci said. "When I'm writing about him, it starts off with, 'If I had ten thousand tongues, there's no way I could thank God enough for what I've watched him do with my son, the favors he's given him. I cried most of the day [during the combine], and thought, 'That's my baby. That's my little man. That's the child that made me throw up in the cheese section of Brookshire [grocery store] when I was pregnant.' It's amazing. It's hard to describe."
Although Mack never made All-SEC or All-American as he expected, he left his stamp on the program. He could become an even better ambassador for A&M with his play in the NFL.
"I hope this process is going to be productive and prosperous for Daylon," Hinson said. "I just hope he hears his name called. I do know the team he goes to, they're going to get a darn good football player. They're going to get a better young man. I'm proud of that."