Denver Broncos offensive guard Robert Myers, foreground center, is blocked by Max Garcia (73) as they run a drill during an NFL football practice in Stanford, Calif., Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
LA VERGNE — Maurice Grooms remembers when he first saw Robert Myers.
He knew then that Myers had an NFL body.
Grooms, a La Vergne assistant football coach at the time, just had to convince Myers.
“I was helping coach girls basketball at the time and had his sister on the team,” Grooms said. “I saw him in the yard one day when I had to take her home after practice.
“I asked him why he wasn’t playing football. I told him, ‘You’ve got what you can’t coach — the size.’ He said he was wrestling and in the ROTC.”
His junior year, Myers finally came out for football.
Fast forward seven years later to present day.
Myers, a 6-foot-5, 326-pound offensive guard, is an NFL rookie for the Denver Broncos. On Sunday, he will be on the sidelines for Super Bowl 50 when the Broncos play the Carolina Panthers.
“I’m really excited for him,” said Millicent Myers, Robert’s mother. “I never saw this level. But it’s here.
“We Facetime every day. He’s excited. We’re both nervous.”
Myers spent five days on the Indianapolis Colts’ 53-man roster in September after they claimed him off waivers from the Ravens after the cut to 53 players. The Colts later waived him, and he rejoined the Ravens on their practice squad.
The Broncos picked Myers up off the practice squad on Dec. 30 to fill out their 53-man roster.
Grooms said Myers played little his junior year in high school.
He was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference Second Team after his senior season at TSU in 2014.
“He probably had the most potential of any player I’ve ever coached,” said Nolensville coach Will Hester, who was the La Vergne head coach during Myers’ high school years. “He had unbelievable God-given size and ability.
“Obviously, you don’t expect him at that time to get drafted. But he had the potential to do some amazing things. He was very new to football when we coached him.”
His skills were fine-tuned at TSU. And that’s also where he picked up the nickname “Snacks” from coach Rod Reed, who noticed Myers always seemed to be in the cafeteria eating between meals.
Grooms said TSU was one of the first colleges to realize Myers’ ability. They saw him in ladder drills during spring practice after his junior season.
“They showed him some love,” Grooms said of TSU. “They knew from looking at his body type that all he had to do was be introduced to the game.
Grooms insists he knew when he first saw Myers in his yard that he had the ability to be special at football.
“It’s amazing where he is at, but I knew it in my mind when I first saw him,” Grooms said. “God blesses you with that body and athletic ability. He did what he needed to do to get to the next level.”
Mike Organ contributed. Reach Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Kreager.