2022 NFL Draft: Kayvon Thibodeaux expects to be great on, off field

By Laken Litman
FOX Sports College Football Writer

Kayvon Thibodeaux was always told he was great. And from a young age, he always believed it.

"Kids are what you tell them they are," said Antonio Patterson, Thibodeaux’s former elementary school teacher and mentor. "A gang-banger could have easily told him [he was something else], and that’s how he would have been identified and how he would have portrayed himself. I always told him he was great."

With that mindset, doing and achieving great things was the expectation Thibodeaux set for himself. He was valedictorian of his middle school and president of his senior class. He played chess against locals at Venice Beach and was the nation’s No. 2 overall recruit out of high school. 

He graduated from Oregon in two years and became an All-America edge rusher, was named All-Pac-12 first team twice and won a Rose Bowl, among other things.

Next, he hopes to be the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Thursday night.

Thibodeaux was 8 years old when he first met Patterson. As the story goes, Patterson noticed Thibodeaux in the Angeles Mesa Elementary School hallway and, because of his size, thought he was a teacher’s aide. "He was one of the biggest kids on campus," Patterson said, estimating that Thibodeaux was already 5-foot-10. 

When Patterson realized Thibodeaux was a student, he had his son, Justin, who has since become Thibodeaux’s best friend, pass him a note on a Little Caesar’s Pizza napkin asking if he wanted to play football.

You could say the rest is history, but there’s much more to Thibodeaux’s story than football. The former Oregon star defensive lineman, who is considered one of the best players in this draft, knows what he wants his legacy to be and has been working on it for years. 

He’s opening a charter school later this year, he launched his own cryptocurrency, and he scored lucrative NIL deals with Nike and United Airlines while in college. He has been working out with trainer extraordinaire Travelle Gaines since high school. He plans to integrate himself into the city of whichever team drafts him and give back to that community. He wants to be a role model for kids growing up in environments similar to where he was raised in South Central Los Angeles. 

He wants to do all of these things so his family is set up for generations.

He loves football — though some analysts and college coaches have questioned his work ethic and passion — and wants to be a Hall of Fame pass-rusher. But for Thibodeaux, football is ultimately a means to an end. 

"I want to be a guy who can do it all," he said.

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Patterson says Thibodeaux’s confidence can be misconstrued for arrogance. He has a tattoo on his forearm that says "Chosen One," similar to the one LeBron James has on his back. Thibodeaux explained that he’s "at the point where if I’m not No. 1, I’ll be disappointed" while quickly adding that he will "still be grateful for any opportunity I get."

For months, Thibodeaux was at the top of everybody’s draft board, but he has recently slipped, with some analysts now putting him outside the top five. Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson and Georgia’s Travon Walker are the current favorites for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ first pick. 

There are theories as to why Thibodeaux, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 258 pounds, might not go No. 1. After clocking a 4.58-second 40-yard dash and posting a position-best 27 reps on the bench press, he opted out of position drills at the NFL Scouting Combine. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported the Detroit Lions once thought about taking him at No. 2, but a league executive said Thibodeaux’s "personality is a lot, and you hear the head coach there isn’t a fan."

"The most ridiculous thing I’ve heard is that I’m not the best player in this draft," Thibodeaux told reporters at Oregon’s pro day in early April. "That, to me, is outrageous. With the film, with the numbers and what I can do as far as my ability, you know, I have confidence in what I can do."

For Thibodeaux, this narrative is just the next hoop he will have to jump through. Growing up, he was such a big kid — 6-foot-3 by the sixth grade — that he couldn’t play sports with kids his own age. A friendly game of tag with other 8-year-olds became a not-so-friendly game of tag because everybody ran away from him. 

One time, a referee asked Thibodeaux to sit out of a Pop Warner game because parents complained about his size and strength. Another time, Thibodeaux was playing running back and walked into the end zone for a touchdown because nobody wanted to tackle him.

"It was frustrating at the time, but we look back on it now and laugh," Patterson said. 

Thibodeaux grew up in South Central L.A. His mother, Shawnta Lioce, was a single parent. He always excelled in school despite bouncing around in high school. First, he went to Serra with his buddy, Justin Patterson. Then he transferred to Dorsey, where he says he had a 4.0 GPA. After sophomore year, he moved to Oaks Christian, a private school in the affluent Westlake Village, to further challenge himself academically. It was worth it for Thibodeaux, even with a drive of 43 miles in L.A. traffic.

"He always understood that education is the key to success," Antonio Patterson said. 

Around this time, Thibodeaux met Gaines, who owns a private gym in the area and trains professional athletes and celebrities. He doesn’t market or advertise, and the address is unlisted. It’s kind of like a secret gym, an "if you know, you know" sort of thing, Gaines said. His clients include the likes of D.K. Metcalf, Saquan Barkley, Trae Young, Candace Parker, Myles Garrett and Lonzo Ball, among other superstars. 

Thibodeaux wanted to be the best, so he did his research, found Gaines’ gym and showed up one day. Gaines doesn’t normally work with high schoolers "unless they’re unbelievably dedicated," he said. 

"When you’re in high school, you want to hang out with your friends, play video games and do TikTok dances," Gaines said. "Any free time you have is dedicated to your craft, and in the situation of Kayvon, who was a 4.0 student at a great school and played football, his whole world revolved around his craft. He wanted to dedicate his life to making himself better on the field and then making himself and the community around him strong."

Gaines told Thibodeaux that if he wanted to train, he’d come at 6 a.m. before school. So Thibodeaux did.

"He’s been training alongside and interacting with pros since he was a junior in high school," said Gaines, who is not just Thibodeaux’s trainer but now also his business partner. "He blended in well, and people thought he was a pro. He became a fixture in our gym. He’s been training around Trae Young for the last five years. It was a very instant acceptance."

Thibodeaux says he doesn’t model his game after any one player, but he admires Maxx Crosby and Von Miller and sometimes implements their moves into his game. He has often been compared to Miller, as the two played under the same defensive coordinator, Tim DeRuyter, at Texas A&M and Oregon, respectively. The players are also similar in size and explosiveness off the ball.

Miller had 10.5 sacks his final year at A&M and was the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft. Thibodeaux had seven sacks his last year with the Ducks, missing some time due to injury. In 2019, Thibodeaux set an Oregon freshman record with nine sacks and 14 tackles for loss. In 2020, he was named MVP of the conference title game, in which he had 12 quarterback pressures. He finished his career in Eugene tied for seventh in program history with 19 career sacks in 31 games.

He did all of this while balancing his off-field interests. He chose NIL opportunities that align with his passions, such as partnering with Nike founder and longtime Oregon donor Phil Knight, whom Thibodeaux calls "Uncle Phil," and famous sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield for an NFT art collection. He also partnered with United Airlines to provide special direct flights from Eugene to select Ducks away games last season.

"Most kids go to practice, lift weights and go home," Gaines said. "Then they have 20 hours of their day to play video games and DM girls on Instagram. Kayvon doesn’t do that. He uses his time to be productive.

"Everybody has the same amount of time [in a day]. He’s just not wasting his time doing things that aren’t productive."

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Thibodeaux is expecting to open a middle school this fall at Core Prep Academy, just north of Los Angeles. The seed for such an idea was planted long ago. Antonio Patterson spent 15 years as a special education teacher and founded JREAM, a youth development organization that serves underprivileged children, which Thibodeaux was part of until he was 14 years old.

"When I was thinking about what I wanted my legacy to be, my mentors helped me come to see that this is what I really want to do," Thibodeaux said. "This is what’s going to make me happy at the end of the day."

Patterson, who calls Thibodeaux his "bonus son" and will be in Las Vegas with him on draft day, says nothing Thibodeaux has accomplished so far surprises him. He remembers when he first met him as a kid who "didn’t know a lick of football."

"He was just a big kid who wanted to be class president and lead the sled down the aisle as Rudolph in the class play, even though he was 6 feet tall, and no one could see the other kids," Patterson said.

Patterson likens Thibodeaux to Jim Brown, someone he believes will dominate in the NFL and shatter records.

"He’ll be the voice of the people," Patterson said. "Kayvon could be anything. He could be a politician. He just has that personality and connection with the community. He has that trust about him."

Thibodeaux sees himself as more of a LeBron James kind of guy, especially considering what the NBA legend has done with the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. Thibodeaux says he and LeBron have mutual friends, and he hopes to meet James soon and pick his brain.

"My standards are so high, and I think what we're going to do is make history," Thibodeaux said.

Most likely in many more ways than one.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously covered college football, college basketball, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and the Olympics at Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. Her first book, written in partnership with Rizzoli and Sports Illustrated and titled "Strong Like a Woman," was published in spring 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX.