- April 25, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Every time Roman Tatum steps foot onto a football field, it’s a testimony — his testimony.
Life and sports have a tendency of being reflective of one another — there are high highs and low lows — with more of the latter than the former.
Although Tatum — a Winter Garden native and West Orange High alumnus — is now playing for the newly formed LA Wildcats of the XFL, he knows the struggles of trying to achieve the difficult task of making it to the NFL.
“I went through some really dark times to get to this plan — I didn’t have it the easy way, man,” Tatum said. “I came from semi-pro — that’s literally where I started at. This road for me has not been easy ... it’s been a journey for me.”
When Tatum graduated from West Orange in 2013, things were looking bright. He had dominated on the football field for the Warriors his junior and senior seasons and had earned first team all-metro and all-conference honors as a senior cornerback.
His talents landed him a scholarship at the University of Delaware to play for the Blue Hens football team. But there — during his freshman and sophomore years — he spent most of his time as a backup and only managed to start one game. That’s when Tatum decided to transfer and finish his collegiate career at Southern Illinois University.
“I went through some really dark times to get to this plan — I didn’t have it the easy way, man. I came from semi-pro — that’s literally where I started at. This road for me has not been easy ... it’s been a journey for me.”
— Roman Tatum
At SIU, Tatum found playing time as a consistent starter for the Salukis. Despite the success, it wasn’t enough to help Tatum make it to the pros.
“I went to a couple of really nice D1 schools, but out of college, it wasn’t easy for me,” Tatum said. “I didn’t get a shot right out of college to go to the NFL. I did a bunch of workouts, but no team brought me in.”
After playing at the semi-pro level, Tatum moved to the West Coast, where he found a home with the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks of the American West Football Conference. Tatum didn’t stick around long, and he moved back home to Florida to play for the Orlando Predators during the summer of 2019.
It also was during that time that Tatum received an email inviting him to a showcase in New York for the newly formed XFL.
“I had a game on that Saturday, but the showcase was on Friday — so I flew out to New York on Thursday morning, did the showcase Friday, flew back and played my game,” Tatum said.
Since being taken by the Wildcats with the first pick of the fourth round, Tatum has a routine he now lives by.
He wakes at 6 a.m. to eat breakfast, then takes in morning meetings before practices start. It’s a busy — but simple — schedule to keep, but it didn’t come without early struggles.
“The (environment) is completely different than Florida,” Tatum said. “When I first got out here, my breathing was a little different — even though I was conditioned — and I was training in a much different environment.
“But the time difference, that was probably the biggest thing — I was jet-lagged the first couple of days, waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and not getting a lot of rest,” he said.
Tatum also had to adapt to the differences in the game itself. The XFL is slightly different than NFL and even more so than the arena football he had been playing. He also had to switch from the defensive specialist position — a spot specifically played in arena — to the corner and nickel positions for the Wildcats.
By the time of the Wildcats’ inaugural game against the Houston Roughnecks, which aired primetime on FOX, Tatum was ready and knew the significance of the moment.
“It was definitely surreal,” Tatum said. “We worked all year just to be in a situation like this — to have this opportunity. I had to remind myself, ‘Don’t let the moment be too big for you.’”
Tatum spent time on both defense and special teams that game, and although he didn’t rack up much in stats, he finally had found his place on a national stage playing the game he loved.
Now halfway through the season, there is still plenty of football to played. For Tatum, that means more opportunities to win and prove himself.
“I’m excited to go out there and compete every game, because I love this game and I love to compete,” Tatum said. “The main goal is to win the XFL championship. And I want to put myself in the best position to be seen by the NFL. That’s everybody’s goal — to get to the league or get back to the league.”
