Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow breathes confidence and coordination, but there were many stops on his journey to stardom.
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00:00Joe Burrow is only four years into his NFL career in 2024,
00:04but he's already accomplished a great deal. Although he's yet to score a Super Bowl victory
00:08as of early 2025, he's established himself as a formidable quarterback.
00:12But Burrow's journey started long before he was playing in the big leagues, or was even an LSU
00:16star. Joe's love of sports dates back to his childhood in Ohio. His parents, a former college
00:21football coach and a principal, supported his dreams from an early age. Apparently, Joe has
00:26always possessed the qualities that have translated well into his professional football career.
00:30Joe's mother, Robin Burrow, described a young Joe to Reuters in 2022. She recalled,
00:36"...very similar to the way he is today. He was very focused on sports,
00:39very driven to do the best he could at whatever he did, whether that was just
00:42playing video games or in school or in his competitions and different sporting events."
00:46She later expressed that these values also informed his confidence — confidence he
00:50certainly brought with him during his impressive run playing college ball.
00:54Although his first taste of the league was at Ohio State, he later took his talents to LSU,
00:58where he became a serious contender for the NFL. It was also at LSU that he eventually scored the
01:03coveted Heisman Trophy. And though Joe played football for both schools, he associates his
01:08athletic success with Louisiana. As he said in a 2023 press conference,
01:12"...I always say, I went to school at Ohio State. I played football at LSU."
01:16Joe's allegiance to LSU was just as strong a year earlier. While he and the Bengals prepared
01:20for the Super Bowl, he told Sports Illustrated,
01:23"...LSU means everything to me. They gave me this opportunity to put myself in this position
01:27to be talking to everybody today." In 2020, Joe officially left his
01:31college glory behind when he was drafted by the Bengals in the No. 1 spot. He shared his feelings
01:36about this new chapter with ESPN, explaining that he was already confident in his team and coaches,
01:41but that his place in the draft was a particular surprise.
01:43"...To jump up to No. 1 overall is crazy to me, but it's a dream come true."
01:49He also spoke about becoming the most sought-after college player
01:52after a less-than-stellar junior year.
01:55"...I wasn't very good my junior year. You know, it's pretty simple. I worked really
01:58hard to get better. All my guys worked really, really hard to get better."
02:01Since then, his athletic prowess hasn't gone unnoticed by the football community.
02:06Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, for example, compared Joe to Superman
02:10after their team bested the Cleveland Browns in December 2024. Meanwhile,
02:14the Bengals' head coach, Zach Taylor, publicly expressed his admiration following their team's
02:18triumph over the Denver Broncos that same month.
02:21"...I don't know that anybody can stand on a field and watch Joe Burrow and say he's
02:24not the best player in the world."
02:25Of course, his skill on the field isn't his only talent. In an August 2024 interview with Us Weekly,
02:31Joe's parents revealed another positive quality he's had since childhood — his giving nature.
02:35Speaking about Joe and his brother's upbringing, Robin reflected,
02:38"...We wanted them to understand that it's important to look beyond yourself,
02:42to help when you can, and try to be empathetic to others and understand
02:45other people's positions in life. If there is something you can do that might help somebody
02:49else, you should do it."
02:50Don't let Joe's expensive clothes fool you. The quarterback has taken that lesson to heart and
02:54made sure to use his platform to improve far more than just his own wardrobe. In fact, that Us Weekly
02:59interview was to promote his partnership with Kodiak, which helped supply thousands of meals
03:03to the less fortunate. And that's just the tip of Joe's charitable endeavors, which he carries
03:07out through his foundation.
03:09We're blessed that Joe has a huge platform
03:13to be able to make an amazing difference in a lot of different people's lives.