Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion made a strong statement with his play on the field this past season. He made another one in The Player’s Tribune on Thursday.

In the letter, Concepcion detailed his family’s struggles growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina as his father was “in and out of prison.” He also described having a stutter, and the social isolation it brought.

Concepcion wrote that football provided a welcome escape. 

“The one place where I never had to figure any of that out was on the football field,” Concepcion wrote. “Out there, nobody cared how I talked. They only cared about if I could play.” 

In his junior season, after transferring to Texas A&M from North Carolina State, Concepcion had 61 catches for a career-high 919 yards with nine touchdowns and won the Paul Hornung Award as the most versatile player in major college football. Kiper Jr. has him as the sixth-best wide receiver in this class. 

Speaking from the heart, Concepcion would beg to differ.

“I’m the best receiver in this draft. Period.” he wrote. “There are a lot of great receivers. But I promise you this: Everything I’ve been through didn’t just shape me … it’s still in me. Every rep, every route, every time I refuse to quit … that’s where it comes from. Draft me and you get all of that.”