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<\/p>\n\u201cSome nights I would get lucky and one of my schoolmates or friends would ask their mom and I could stay a night on the couch. The majority of the time I didn\u2019t get that luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Delonte Hood is a player most Toronto Argonauts fans don\u2019t yet know. He\u2019s been elevated from the practice roster and will make his debut as the starting field corner when the Boatmen host the BC Lions on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s come a long way from the streets of Washington D.C., where he spent four years as a homeless teenager, constantly looking for a place to sleep, always looking for a way out of a horrendous situation.<\/p>\n
Hood\u2019s family was poor, and when a self-described \u201cmoment of crisis\u201d happened at his house, he left. He was just 13 years old and forced to be on his own. His departure led to a journey through the massive homeless scenario that so many cities are experiencing.<\/p>\n
Dunbar High School became his sanctuary. Located a dozen or so blocks due north of the U.S. Capitol building, the school had showers, hot water, and most importantly, some sympathetic figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween one of my high-school coaches and the maintenance guy at the school, I asked for some change to get a tent,\u201d Hood explained to Argonau.ca. \u201cI basically put it under a bridge, and I would just set up there overnight. If I couldn\u2019t make it to the tent I would just last as long as I could on the subway, that\u2019s how I scheduled my nights.\u201d<\/p>\n
It forced him to grow up early.<\/p>\n
At some point he realized that football could be his way out of an unimaginable situation, but he had no college offers after his senior season. His head coach was able to get Glenville State in West Virginia to take a chance on Hood.<\/p>\n
It worked out well. He suddenly had a semblance of normalcy in his life and started to show off his skills. The defensive back had eight interceptions in his sophomore season and was named First Team All-Mountain East.<\/p>\n
After that season he\u2019d transfer to Toledo where it didn\u2019t work out as well. He\u2019d last just one season.<\/p>\n
From there, it was off to Peru State University in Peru, Nebraska, according to the 2024 U.S. census, a town of just 683 people. He\u2019d regain his football mojo in the Great Plains, playing well enough to be named Second Team All-Conference.<\/p>\n
It was also there that he met someone who eventually become an important figure in his life \u2013 future Argos defensive co-coordinator Will Fields. Fields, now the defensive coordinator in Ottawa, would be Hood\u2019s defensive coordinator and positional coach with the Bobcats.<\/p>\n
Which word would Hood use to best describe his coach?<\/p>\n
\u201cPassionate,\u201d he said, before expanding. \u201cWe had great times in college. In my last college year, I came to him, asking him to steer me in the right direction to be a great pro player, NFL, CFL, whatever. He believed in me, and I believed in him. I like the way he coached, that you can do anything on the field if you believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hood still had some dreams to chase before eventually signing with the Argos. He was a final cut of Cincinnati in 2022, then suffering the same fate a year later with Denver. To get back on the field, and earn some money, he played with the Arlington Renegades of the UFL, where he led the league in pass breakups.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d attend yet another NFL camp last year, this time with Arizona, and he would again be released at the end of training camp. He\u2019d sign a futures contract with the Argos in October of last year, before reporting to training camp Guelph in May.<\/p>\n
As camp continued, Hood continued to impress. Caught in a numbers game with several veterans in the secondary, he continued to grind it out and will finally get his opportunity to show off his skills Saturday at BMO Field.<\/p>\n
Ryan Dinwiddie let Hood know of his plans to use him this week, welcome news after such a long wait. He says he\u2019s anxious but confident, and that anxiety has been alleviated because of the mentorship of Tarvarus McFadden, the man who\u2019s usually manned the field corner spot before moving inside to halfback last week.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll line up next to each other against the Lions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a real leader and a real vet in the room,\u201d said Hood of McFadden. \u201cHe\u2019s been welcoming me since I got here and making sure I\u2019m on point with the calls, what he sees, how he reads the position; just little tips and tricks to help me play fast. I appreciate him a lot and I\u2019m confident to be out there with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Hood has a football superpower, it\u2019s his combination of size and speed. He\u2019s 6\u20191\u201d, tall for a corner, and has run the 40 in a blazing 4.25 seconds, even faster than Benjie Franklin \u2013 acknowledged as one of the CFL\u2019s fastest players \u2013 who clocked a 4.28 at his pro day.<\/p>\n
It will give the Argos a ridiculously fast tandem at the cornerback spot.<\/p>\n
BMO Field is a long way from East End D.C., but the two areas both experience homelessness. There\u2019s a stigma attached to those who live on the street, with many, not all of those on the street suffering from mental health or addiction problems.<\/p>\n
Argonauts.ca wanted to know if Hood sees something that others don\u2019t when he experiences someone who is living on the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I can get a little emotional,\u201d said Hood, his voice beginning to tremble. \u201cI\u2019ll at least try to acknowledge them because sometimes that\u2019s all they want to be is acknowledged. I remember how I felt when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also has some words of wisdom for people who feel uncomfortable when they see someone who is unhoused.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times you can\u2019t control it,\u201d he said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t control why I was homeless. My advice to them would be optimistic, just an acknowledgement would help. I\u2019d say not to be stuck up towards them or turn up your nose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hood appreciates the opportunity he has in Toronto. He loves the city, the wide variety of restaurants, and most importantly, the warm bed into which he crawls every night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSome nights I would get lucky and one of my schoolmates or friends would ask their mom and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-93746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}