Charles Woodson is a Heisman Trophy winner, a Super Bowl champion and a Pro Football Hall of Famer. But before any of that, he was just the kid nobody could name in Fremont, Ohio.

On the Champion Mindset podcast with Daniel Cormier, Woodson opened up about what it was like growing up behind his older brother Terry Carter. Terry was the star of their hometown, a standout in football, wrestling and track at the same high school Charles would later attend.

"I was always kind of in the shadow a little bit. That's hard to do. That was hard," Woodson said.

Terry was so well known locally that Charles didn't even get his own identity for years. People in Fremont didn't call him Charles. They called him Terry's little brother.

"I was called his little brother all the time, and I didn't like the fact that people weren't calling me by my name," Woodson said in the same podcast.

That's what lit the fire. Not money, not fame, not trophies. Just the simple need to be seen as his own person.

"I'm not Terry's little brother. I'm Charles. And so from that point on, it was I'm going to make you guys remember my name," he said.

He had two things driving him every day after that. One was chasing his brother's level. The other was getting out from underneath a label that didn't belong to him.

"Once I started coming up and people started seeing me, it was like oh, we got somebody special coming up. This is Charles," he said.

By junior high, people started noticing Charles for his own ability on the field. The recognition started coming. But with it came pressure.

Woodson publicly credited Terry in his Pro Football Hall of Fame speech in 2021

The story came full circle when Woodson stood on the stage at Canton in 2021 to accept his Hall of Fame induction. With everyone watching, he called Terry "the rabbit he was chasing as a child", per the Green Bay Packers.

He also credited Terry's tough love for teaching him to push through pain. Woodson played through a broken leg during the Raiders' 2002 playoff run and attributed that toughness directly to what his brother put him through growing up.

Over an incredible 18-year NFL career, Charles Woodson completely rewrote the record books by racking up 65 interceptions, 20 sacks, 33 forced fumbles, and a historic 13 defensive touchdowns.

The kid who spent his childhood being called someone's little brother ended up becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history.

Do you think Charles Woodson's story is one of the greatest motivational stories in football history? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi