On growing up in Fort Lauderdale: My name is Javian Mallory. I’m from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I grew up with my parents, mom, dad, my little sister. You know, I had a lot of family around when I was growing up. Auntie, uncles, cousins. So, you know, I grew up with a nice group of people, who got my back. The dynamic growing up, knowing I had a bunch of people, you know, supporting me and, you know, who had my back was amazing, you know, knowing I had nothing to worry about, knowing that, you know, no matter what I’m going through, no matter how happy or sad I am, I got people who will always call to check up on me, who I can always call when I need their help, and who are always gonna be there for me when I need them.
On discovering football at Age 4: I started playing football at four years old at the North Lauderdale Raiders. My mom put me in, you know, just to keep me busy. My uncle as well. They put me in just to keep me busy, not knowing I would get here one day. But, yeah, they just signed me up one day. I know one day after school, my uncle picked me up, took me to my first practice, and from there, football was me.
On his earliest football memory: My earliest football memory was, I wanna say, when I was like five or six, getting ran over and one of my teeth falling out. I had a tooth fall out, crying, didn’t wanna play no more. And that’s my earliest memory. And then from there, that’s when it clicked. That’s when everything just switched, took a 360. I was little to the game. I was only like a year in, you know, I was a baby. I was playing up in age group, and they didn’t care about none of that. But I just remember trying to go ahead and tackle somebody, and I just flew back, tooth knocked out, my mom was crying. It was a long night.
On his favorite memory in high school football: Probably either winning my first or second state championship. My team was full of players that grew up together. You know, all of us, we grew up together, so we really had that chemistry already, that brotherhood already built in. So from there, we just, I feel like that’s what made our team just so special. You know, we didn’t have to worry about people not fitting in and people not feeling welcome to the team. You know, it was just a brotherhood from day one, and all we had to do was worry about football.
On the support of his mom: My mom hasn’t missed anything from day one, from before practice to a game to anything. She hasn’t missed nothing. She’s always had my back. She might not know too much about football, but she knows I’m her baby, and she knows she want me to, strive for the best, so she’s always pushing me, keeping me humble, keeping me grinding, and keeping the main things the main things. And, without her, I don’t think I would be here right now. I know I wouldn’t.
On battling through injuries: I think I only finished one full season in high school. Freshman year, I tore my labrum. Sophomore year, tore MCL. Junior year, cracked skull. So it was just like senior year, I had one full season. I’m just blessed, you know, that I’m coming into college, 100% healthy. But that’s definitely been the biggest challenge, you know, staying healthy.
On when everything changed: I wanna say eighth grade, when I was playing at Westminster, I was playing, watching in eighth grade, I was really just like killing the competition. That’s really when I really like gained that real-deal confidence, like really knowing what I can do and where I can go if I really take this football thing to that next level. And then high school really just solidified that, you know, after my freshman year, I had, what, 15 or 20 offers, and I was really like, okay, I can really do the big one here. A lot of people go to other schools for other reasons, but for me, it’s Coach Cristobal. Just the way he, like, was just staying me and my parents, everybody was coming to be with me on visits, and just the culture he built here, you know, and the, it just reminded me a lot of my high school, my high school head coach. They just reminded me the same person. I just feel like I’ll be well taken care of here, and why not come 45 minutes down the road and put on for the crib?
On Mario Cristobal: Every time he talked, my eyes would even like wide open. When I got here, I got here early for the playoff run they had. Before every game, not even before every game, for every practice, after every practice, every time he spoke, he just really put that, that umph in my body, like, I feel like I was getting ready to play. And he’s just one of the coaches I want, he was the coach I wanted to play for. Like, I knew that from day one. He’s practicing what he preaches. He’s showing us that, he wants us to do something, he’s doing the same thing. He wants us to give our all, he’s giving his all. He wants us to, put 100% effort into everything we do, and that’s what he’s doing, whether that’s on the field, off the field, everything he does. He’s really just one of those people that, I look up to and, It’s a real culture.
On what ‘The U’ means: Growing up, I wasn’t a Miami Hurricanes fan, so I didn’t really know what it meant to, you know, put that U on my chest, on my back. And now I know what it is, that culture real different, I’m very happy I made that decision to come here.