CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jamal Coker first realized his son was a special football player during a pee wee game in Virginia more than 10 years ago. He calls it a "Hallmark kind of story,'' one where Jalen Coker was so annoying for the opponent that Jamal began calling him an "ankle biter.''
"I had tears kind of in the corner of my eye,'' recalled the elder Coker, a star high school receiver growing up in Charleston, South Carolina. "I didn't show no tears, but they were there.''
Those tears returned on Sunday when Jalen, an undrafted rookie receiver for the Carolina Panthers, caught four passes for 78 yards and his first NFL touchdown in a 28-14 loss to the Denver Broncos.