Broncos rookie WR Royal will start again

ENGLEWOOD • Pearl Royal was sifting through some of her son Eddie’s belongings, preparing to send some things to him in Denver when she came across a box of notes he wrote as an introspective and quiet child.

One note by Eddie Royal, a rookie receiver with the Broncos, said his mother was his best friend. To even things out, Pearl Royal laughed when she found another note complaining that she took Eddie’s brother Chris to football practice and didn’t take him.

Eddie Royal was always religious, and Pearl Royal found some notes to God. One pleaded, “Make me tall. Make me strong.”

Royal never became exceptionally tall or big. At 5-foot-10, 182 pounds, he is considered small for a NFL receiver. But his small stature didn’t matter in high school or in college at Virginia Tech, and it didn’t stop him from moving up the depth chart in Denver.

Last week he became the first rookie receiver in Broncos history to start a preseason opener. He should start again today against Dallas.

“I found a picture he had of this cat looking in a mirror, and he sees a lion,” Pearl Royal said. “That’s what he sees himself as, the strong one.”

Royal overcompensated for any physical shortcomings. He worked hard and was always mature for his age, back to when he was writing the notes to himself. He got guidance from his six siblings, all older than him, and his mother.

“I kept to myself a lot when I was younger, and I paid attention to a lot of things,” Royal said. “I picked up on things, the way to come off on people, and that was big. As a younger kid, I really paid attention to the little things.”

He was always a favorite of his coaches. He picked up the nickname “Eddie Beamer” because he was close to Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer. People from the church in his hometown of Chantilly, Va., looked out after him. Brian Kelley has been Royal’s mentor from the time he was Royal’s fourth-grade teacher.

“Hundreds of people touched our lives,” Pearl Royal said. “Our family has been blessed by that.”

The reason Royal picked up so many guiding forces in his life is his infectious personality.

“It’s pretty hard not to like him,” Kelley said. “There’s so many people — he probably has no idea — that are behind him. A lot of people are proud because he did everything the right way.”

Teammates called him “Mr. Perfect” in college. Pearl Royal said she never had a problem with her son not listening to her. She said he treated everyone who came across his path with respect.

If Royal had a not-so-perfect time, it was at the end of high school. He almost didn’t qualify academically for college. He admits he focused too much on football and didn’t apply himself in the classroom. He worked, made the grades and got into Virginia Tech.

Then, to the surprise of nobody who knew him, he kept that focus and earned his college degree from Virginia Tech in 3½ years. He said when he struggled in school, he knew it bothered his mother.

“I made an extra effort to say school’s not going to hold me back,” Royal said. “I’m going to show everybody I’m not just a jock there to play football and that’s all I can do.”

Royal is also proving that he can play football at the highest level. He said even when he was young, he envisioned making it in the NFL.

“I always saw the big picture and knew what I wanted to do,” Royal said. “No matter who believed in me or not, I had the confidence in myself that I would find a way to make it. That if I did everything perfect, I should make it.”