ASHBURN, Va. β Washington Commanders wide receiver, Terry McLaurin, couldn't stop smiling when talking about the opportunity to play in his hometown of Indianapolis. McLaurin was born and raised in Indianapolis, and will return to the city he calls home when the Commanders play the Colts, Sunday. This is the first time McLaurin is playing in Indianapolis since entering the NFL in 2019.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say it's kind of cool to go back to where I grew up, to where my affinity for football started. I was fortunate to win a few state championships in that stadium in Indianapolis, to win a few Big Ten championships in that stadium. I grew up a Colts fan sitting in section 540 with my dad, so I have a lot of memories about Indianapolis," says McLaurin.
McLaurin used to attend Colts games when he was younger with his father. They had seats in section 540, and he enjoyed watching football and chowing down on a stadium eats. "I was loving them pretzels! I had to get one of those every game! From elementary school up until freshman year of high school, I was at pretty much every home game," says McLaurin.
McLaurin circled this Sunday's game when the schedule first came out, knowing he would finally have the chance to play in the place he first fell in love with the game. "To be honest, it's something I always wanted to have the opportunity to do. We don't really play that division a lot so seeing the schedule this year, and seeing the Indy game, that was a pretty cool moment. My next thought was that I got to start getting on these tickets right now because I already know it's going to be crazy. But honestly that's the fun part about it that I get to share this moment with some of the people who have helped me get to where I am today," says McLaurin.
Once the schedule came out, McLaurin has been flooded with ticket requests. "You don't even want to know how many!" laughed McLaurin. "I think seeing that game on the schedule early allowed me to get ahead of things, so this week isn't going to be too stressful on the ticket side. I've had a few former teammates hit me up, say they're going to the game and going to check me out. My old receivers coach from high school, his son and him, are going to be at the game too. I probably have about 70 people that I got tickets for," says McLaurin. "My parents are doing a good job of getting my extended family involved too. It's going to be cool, everybody's going to be in the house."
McLaurin played in high school state championship games at the field in Indianapolis during his time at Cathedral High School, as well as Big Ten Conference championship games while playing for Ohio State University. He looks forward to being back on that field. "It's going to be cool to be back on the field. As an opposing player, that's kind of crazy but just reflecting on that and how blessed I've been, and how God has been in my life. You never know where your journey is going to lead. You couldn't have told me when I was seven years old that I would be playing in the NFL, and to come back and share that moment with my family and my close friends, that's going to be pretty cool," says McLaurin.
Kick off is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
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