MIAMI — Unlike his celebrated teammate on the other side of the ball, San Francisco 49ers safety Jimmie Ward isn’t really a Chicago area kid.
He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, before moving to Mobile, Ala., where James Neko Suave Ward had a very good but not great high school career at Davidson high school, making him a 2-star recruit.
That’s how he ended up in the Chicago area at Northern Illinois University in 2010, the same year the Garoppolo kid from Arlington Heights ended up at Eastern Illinois.
However, Ward would go on to an outstanding career in DeKalb, becoming only the second player in school history to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft.