Super Bowl Champion and recent Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner Andrew Whitworth gave a heartfelt speech at the NFL Honors award ceremony last Thursday detailing how he was able to positively impact a young man’s life through his philanthropic service.
Whitworth, a Cincinnati Bengal from 2006 to 2016, detailed how he was approached by a former mentee of his from the Greater Cincinnati Boys & Girls Club after the Los Angeles Rams midseason win over the Detroit Lions.
That mentee was Lions rookie linebacker Derrick Barnes. Barnes is a native of Covington and graduated from Holy Cross High School in 2017. Barnes was a three-sport athlete at Holy Cross, where he played football, basketball and ran track.
As a senior, Barnes recorded 126 tackles as a linebacker. On offense, he rushed for 1,567 yards and scored 22 touchdowns. He was rated a two-star recruit by national recruiting service 24/7 Sports. He committed to play for Kentucky native Jeff Brohm at Purdue University.
Barnes was a three year starter for the Boilermakers, playing both inside linebacker and defensive end. He was named 2nd Team All-Big 10 in 2020. The Detroit Lions selected Barnes in the 4th Round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Whitworth detailed the illuminating experience during his acceptance speech.
“One experience brought it all together for me this year, and it happened to me on a football field,” Whitworth said. “In our game against the Detroit Lions, I had a young player from the Lions run up to me as soon as the final horn went off. And I saw him sprinting over, and I didn’t know what was going on, like we’d known each other forever. I couldn’t place him. It made me so nervous. Had I actually played long enough that a coach’s son or player’s son is playing against me? He stopped that. He said, ‘Hey man, you’re not going to remember me. I’m Derrick Barnes. You spent time with me when you were a young player in Cincinnati at the Boys & Girls Club, and it meant the world to me. You used to sit with me and talk to me about life. And I was just a little kid. I want you to know how much it meant to me… You know what, the main thing I wanted to say, Whit, I made it. I made it to the NFL, Big Whit.’”
Three days ago, Barnes took to Instagram to publicly thank Whitworth for positively impacting his life and giving him the inspiration to pursue his NFL dreams.
“There’s nothing more to say but thank you Big Whit. When I was a child, all I ever dreamed about was making it to the NFL. Things don’t happen like this very often and little does Whit know, coming and talking to me, playing with me, and being a role model to me, changed my life. He was and still is a huge part of where I am today. Words can’t describe how much he means to me. I don’t remember much from my childhood, but I remember Big Whit,” Barnes said in an Instagram post.
Last night, Barnes publicly congratulated Whitworth on his Super Bowl victory in an Instagram story with the caption, “You deserve it.”
