I remember after the surgery, the next day, my mom was like, you know, 'Don't get your bandage dirty. Don't go outside and throw the ball.' But I came back inside with a football in my hand with a bloody bandage, but I knew I felt better. And I was just happy to play.
It was like a roller coaster at UCF, with highs and lows, but overall, it was a good ride. You look at the stadium and see 'National Champions.' It doesn't get any better than that.
Nobody was ever going to tell me that I didn't belong on a football field. And nobody was ever going to tell me that I couldn't be great.
My mom saw me do my first pull-up my freshman year, and she's emotional, and she started crying. She walked out, and I thought, 'You've got to let her be sometimes.' She does that.
I'm always gonna be smiling. I'm always gonna be in a good mood.
I'm gonna be called Shaquem Griffin the football player, not Shaquem Griffin the one-hand wonder.
Even without football, football doesn't define Shaquem Griffin. It's who he can help that defines him.
Me holding a grudge is not going to help me. It's not going to make me any better.
When you can get o-linemen guessing about what you're going to do, that means you're already winning before you start.
If you got a disability or a handicap, that means you're limited to certain things. And I don't feel like I'm limited to nothing. I can do anything anybody else can do.
People don't wanna take a chance. And I just feel like that's what it was, it's like that in every single level I've been in, from little league to high school and college.
A lot of people in our generation like to make excuses about little things that really don't hinder them from doing what they want to. It always comes down to the work ethic.
There is no limit to what I can do.
I don't define myself by my successes. I define myself by adversity and how I've persevered.
At some point, your physical ability, it can't be the only thing you rely on.
I looked into the rule book, and I never seen a rule of only two-handed players can play football.
Obviously, it was tough for me, coming from high school and being that guy who was always playing and then having to sit and wait my turn... Mentally, it was taxing.
It's nothing, really, for me to be able to say it's overwhelming or anything. It's just - you do the interviews, you interact with everybody, and you make sure that, at the end of the day, you focus on why you're here, and that's to play football and make sure I can contribute as a teammate.
My dad owns his own towing business, and my dad used to tow Hulk Hogan's cars back and forth from Clearwater to different shops and stuff. And they had a relationship where when the cars would get done getting fixed, he'd pick it back up and take it back to Hulk Hogan's house.
I get underestimated every single day.
