You step into a room and the door closes behind you. Inside, there are five men, one of whom you recognize from television; he’s an NFL head coach. You shake everyone’s hand and sit across from the group. They ask about a dozen questions. For Lorenzo Mauldin, each one smacks of one overarching, burning question, unspoken but ever-present.
Did it break you?
The road that Mauldin—veteran of 16 foster homes—took to Louisville’s December graduation ceremony is nearly impossible to retrace in the 15-minute window teams are allowed with prospects at the combine. Wearing red-tipped dreadlocks that cover half his face, he did his best.