Lynden Trail's path to the NFL and the Washington Redskins is an inspiring one, and one that Trail is eager to share with young people everywhere, as he's looking to be a beacon of light for those who are looking for guidance.
On Monday, Trail, and his former Norfolk State teammate, Deon King of the Indianapolis Colts, visited Douglass Park Elementary School in Portsmouth, Va., and spent the day with some of the students.
Trail and King wanted the students to know that with hard work and a belief in themselves, anything is possible in life, as you can see and hear Trail tell the students via this Instagram post from KMK Productions.
Trail didn't approach this assembly half-hearted. He was very serious about the task at hand, which was to reach out to our future leaders and let them know the right road they need to travel down in life in order to be successful and make a difference in this world.
For Trail, the process of making it to the Redskins was a topsy-turvy one, having entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Houston Texans in 2015.
Trail was waved by Houston, then picked up by the Redskins, where he had two separate stints on their practice squad. Trail would end up being released after Week 2 of the 2016 season. Ten days later, Trail signed on with the Los Angeles Rams' practice squad, but was released, making way for him to move away from football temporarily, as he worked for UPS for a few weeks, before the Redskins called again.
"I got a call in the middle of work," Trail said. "They were like, 'Are you in shape?' I was like, 'I go to work, I go home, then I work out. I'm not in the best shape of my life, I'm in football shape.' They told me to stop whatever I was doing, call my supervisor and I pretty much needed to drive up to Ashburn."
The rest, as they say, is history -- history Trail wanted the students at Douglass Elementary School to know about, and to let them know that they are somebody, and that if he can make it and fulfill his dreams, there's nothing from stopping them from achieving theirs as well.
"They don't have to be a product of their environment," Trail said. "They can rise above with hard work, patience and prayer. Anything is possible. It's a blessing to be standing here today."
