Today’s San Diego Union Tribune reports that top pick Larry English loves his mom, and gives her most of the credit for his success as the teams top pick:

Larry English is a professional football player, just as expected. He knows the single-mindedness of his focus was in a way foolhardy – “considering the odds,” he said – but it was a plan that was real and unwavering (and along the way he got a college degree, too). “I always saw this as my goal,” he said of playing in the NFL. “I never saw myself doing anything else. I feel fortunate I was right, looking back. It might not have been the most educated plan, but I’m glad I felt that way about it. Having that confidence helped me.”

It’s a plan that took root in a hardscrabble but picture-pretty town of Aurora, Ill., about 40 miles west of Chicago, where a mom had a plan of her own. The mom gives credit to so many – grandparents and teachers and coaches. The son is thankful for that support system as well. But he makes it clear there was a force at the center of his universe. “It was mostly my mom,” English said. “She put us before things she might have wanted.”