TALLADEGA, Ala. — He knows the cheers and the rumble of a crowd. But standing in front of his graduating class, one graduate whose name is synonymous with American football - and Atlanta baseball - said he felt something unlike any of that when he took the podium.
Deon Sanders was introduced last - someplace, unfamiliar to a household name in sports. Last is not something that usually meshes with an identity that saw 14 years in the NFL, two Super Bowls and a Hall of Fame induction along with an appearance in the World Series - yes, that last one was with the Braves.
But it was far from a negative moment when he walked up to receive his diploma. As his introduction said, he played college football at Florida State, but he got his degree from Talladega College.
"I understand the screams and the yells and the adulation from your peers because I felt that on the field," he said. "But, sitting here, seeing your faces, seeing the joy, seeing the respect, seeing the work, seeing the toil, and the satisfaction when you walk across the stage blessed me so, so much."
The Super Bowls, the World Series - but this, Sanders said, "is something that I would have never fathomed."
At that moment, he turned the attention to those sitting around him on the stage - the people that made the day possible for him and others.
"I don't think you understand the ramifications of what just transpired for me," he said. "Not only did you make a way for me, but you made a way for some many other people that you're going to see as it plays out shortly."
It was a long journey for Sanders. But in his speech, he had a message:
"Class of 2020, we were delayed but we wasn't denied," he said. "They thought we wouldn't make it, but we did. They counted us out, but we made it. Some of us got caught up in some other nonsense but we got back on-path and we made it. Our finances got funny, but we made it. Family members acted out, but we made it. Friends and loved ones didn't show up today on our day but guess what?"
A crowd of graduates shouted back: "But we made it!"
To Sanders, it was not only a long and unique journey to a degree. It was a summation of something he wanted and something that didn't come easily.
"There's nothing in life that you would ever accomplish, that's great, that's wonderful, that's life-changing that you're not going to have to fight for," he said.
He said that was especially true because of COVID-19.
"This particular time, with this one, this ignorant pandemic that we have to deal with, you had to roll up your sleeves, you had to focus, you had to really get yourself settled, and get your head and your eyes and your feet pointed forward," he said. "And you had to press through the storms, the trials, the tribulations, all the mess that caused you stress."
"But I promise you," he said, "you have no idea what God has in store for you, 2020 Class."
As for the degree itself, Sanders said to may have taken him 30 years, and one of his kids may have even gotten one before him. But none of that mattered.
"Because, I've got mine," he said.
One by one, he listed off his kids who are about to start college or who are about to graduate themselves.
"And, if God can help it, I cannot wait to see all my kids sit in one picture frame with me, and all of us holding up our diplomas," he said, "saying -"
"We got ours," his fellow graduates screamed as they built into a roar.
Sanders is no stranger to the cheers and the rumble fo a crowd. But this one was different.