It’s training camp time in the National Football League, which is a brutal side of the business as teams have competitions to get their rosters down to 53 active players ahead of the regular season beginning in September.

An old joke is that the NFL should stand for Not For Long, as so many careers end and begin in the blink of an eye. The average tenure of an NFL player lasts about three and a half years.

The beautiful thing about the whole process is that it doesn’t matter if you graduated from the University of Alabama or Emporia State, it’s all about what you can produce when the field is filled with other professionals.

Every training camp features underdog stories, guys trying to make the roster after not getting drafted, and that built in drama is a big reason why HBO Sports has had a longtime hit with its docuseries, “Hard Knocks,” that focuses on one team through camp as the roster takes shape.

As far as my NFL fandom goes, I follow the Saints, which hasn’t been much fun lately, but more than anything, I root for specific players and there is one guy in particular that I root the hardest for.

Baltimore Ravens defensive back Arthur Maulet is my favorite player in the NFL and in 2024, the Copiah-Lincoln CC football alum goes into camp with a level of comfort that he’s never had in a professional career that began in 2017.

That comes from Maulet recently resigning with the Ravens on a two-year deal. Last season was his first in Baltimore and he made an impact, playing in 14 games after overcoming an injury. Maulet finished the 2023 campaign with 37 tackles, one interception, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, and five passes defended.

Maulet is a ball hawk, but he’s also an underdog and his story to the NFL is one that can inspire everyone who hears it.

I’m sure you probably love underdogs in the same way I do. We grew up rooting for Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance, not Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire.

The oldest of five children, Maulet grew up in New Orleans. He didn’t suit up at one of the powerhouse high school programs in the area like Edna Karr or John Curtis, but played at Bonnabel High, a school in Kenner that you’ve passed but probably never noticed beside the interstate near the airport.

After his family home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Maulet, then a junior high aged student, and his family spent time living in Ann Arbor, Michigan following their evacuation.

Incredibly, Maulet only played one year of high school football, as a junior, after his family returned to New Orleans. His main sports were basketball and soccer, which he credits with helping him master the footwork needed to do his job in the NFL.

 To say that he was a recruit with zero stars is an understatement, he was a recruit that didn’t even have an online profile on the sites that track thousands of prospects every year.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College has a long history of sending players to the NFL throughout the years, accomplishments the program can proudly boast about.

Yet while some alums like Nick Fairley, the 13th pick in the 2011 draft, came to Wesson with great expectations due to their high school careers, Maulet was a virtual unknown when he showed up to work out for Davis and his staff.

“There is a guy named Donald Cox who coached and worked as a rep for Under Armour in New Orleans and he brought Arthur and Joseph Este, another kid from that area up here for a workout,” said Davis. “We watched them go through some drills and watched them run the 40 and told them that we’d get them enrolled in summer school and they could compete for a spot on the team.”

Today, Co-Lin gets 15 players from out of state high schools, but back then, they only got eight of those out of staters.

On a recent podcast appearance posted by the Ravens, Maulet cited that experience with preparing him for the NFL training camp process, where everyone is fighting for a job.

“I had to walk on to a junior college team,” said Maulet to the hosts of “The Lounge” podcast. “I think that’s kind of what got me prepared for the NFL. You’re fighting for your position just like the NFL. I just think God had a silver lining and a blessing for me, just showing me that this is going to be your career, if you really work hard at it.”

Davis and his staff would assemble 15-20 players from out of state roots in the summer and those guys would compete for theeight spots, four on offense and four on defense, through summer workouts and fall camp.

Some players, like future NFL defensive end Montez Sweat, a transfer from Michigan State, had their spot secured before camp started.

There were always a couple roster spots up for grabs though and who got those positions was decided by competition, not by how much hype that a recruit had in high school.

Right around the same time that Maulet was fighting for a place on the roster, Co-Lin had signed a high school All-American tight end that had four stars beside his name.

The tight end didn’t know how to take care of business in the classroom. He was used to having the world bend to his talents as is often the case for highly celebrated high school student-athletes.

That’s not how things work in life, especially at a blue-collar junior college program like Co-Lin.

When it was all said and done, Maulet went on to make the roster for the Wolves and start two seasons, while the lauded tight end did eventually find his way to a college field after getting cut at Co-Lin, but not to the SEC, where he’d once been projected to play.

From 2013-2014, Maulet was a cornerstone of the CLCC defense. He had five interceptions and broke up 20 passes during his sophomore season, an 8-3 year for the Wolves. He went from an unknown commodity to a highly recruited mid-year transfer after his second season in Wesson.

Then University of Memphis head coach Justin Fuente made recruiting Maulet a priority, as his staff put a full-court press to sign the physical cornerback.

Maulet’s two seasons for the Tigers were good for him and good for Memphis. The team went to two straight bowl games, Maulet played in every game over those two seasons, and he was named Team MVP following his senior year.

At this point, Maulet probably heard the naysayers that he didn’t have the size or speed to play in the NFL.

At 5-foot-10, he needed to run well at the 2017 NFL combine. His best time was 4.62 in the 40-yard dash. That might seem fast for you, but if you are a defensive back in the NFL and stand under 6-foot, you need to be in the 4.4 range of speed.

Yes, it does seem ridiculous that tenths of a second make such a big difference.

The New Orleans Saints made Marshon Lattimore the 11th pick of the 2017 NFL Draft and the Ohio State alum was the first cornerback off the board.

In all, 27 corners were taken in the draft, but Maulet did not hear his name called.

It almost felt like the divine was at hand when Maulet signed as an undrafted free agent with his hometown team, the New Orleans Saints in April of 2017.

Remember though, this is an underdog story, so Maulet still has a big climb to actually putting on the black and gold and running out at the Superdome.

Waived in September of 2017, to then re-sign with the Saints three weeks later. He was placed on the practice squad on Sept. 26 and then promoted to the active roster in December.

Used as a nickel-back, Maulet played in six games in 2017 for New Orleans, where he also stood out for his efforts on special teams.

The next season, he played in five games for the Indianapolis Colts in a similar role to the one he had with the Saints. When Indy waived him in November, Maulet re-signed with the Saints practice squad.

He then worked his way up from the practice squad for the New York Jets in 2019, playing in 12 games. Maulet followed that up by playing 11 games for the Jets in 2020.

From there, he played in a combined 33 games over two seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2021-2022.

He built a reputation as a nickel corner that isn’t afraid to stick his nose in the fircest parts of the field as the line of scrimmage or across the middle.

With strong stints in New Orleans, Indianapolis, New York and Pittsburgh, that’s a pretty solid career for a cornerback in the Not For Long league.

In that same podcast discussing his signing, Maulet talked about how he’s always felt like a Raven, even before he signed with Baltimore.

Baltimore is a city that celebrates a gritty football team that plays with a passion and toughness that’s reflected in the city and its fans.

“I’ve felt like I’ve been a Raven my whole career and to have my best year of my career here, I didn’t want to leave,” said Maulet. “I love the team, I love my teammates, I love my coaches, this is the most fun I’ve ever had.”

It really is a perfect fit, for a player with a story like Maulet to play for a team like the Ravens.

He’s one of three CLCC alums on an NFL roster right now, along with Sweat in Chicago and receiver Malik Heath with the Green Bay Packers.

“Artur definitely has a story that’s worth telling and worth hearing,” said Davis. “We’re just proud that Co-Lin was part of that journey for him and he’s a great example of the kind of guys that you love to have on your team as a coach.”

My neighbor and friend Missy is the number one Ravens fan in Brookhaven and I’m not going to fly a Baltimore flag outside my house like she does during football season, but I’ll be watching plenty of their games this season.

My eyes will be looking for No. 10 in purple and black, a dude that shows you what you can get and where you can go if you refuse to quit.

“I see a lot of people that take the grind for granted,” said Maulet as he wrapped up his podcast interview. “I’m a true testament of the grind. Just keep your head down and keep working and you never know what you can get.”

Cliff Furr is the Sports Editor at The Daily Leader. He can be reached via email at sports@dailyleader.com