NORFOLK, Va. — 10 years ago former ODU quarterback Taylor Heinicke graduated from Old Dominion leaving an indelible mark on the program as the best player to don the silver and blue. But every year since no matter where his NFL career has taken him which has included stops with the Vikings, Patriots, Texans, Panthers, Commanders and Falcons, he still carves out Memorial Day Weekend to the city that gave him his start.
On Saturday morning Taylor Heinicke hosted his 10th annual youth football camp at Norfolk Christian Academy coaching kids grades 2-8 through a plethora of drills and competitions.
"I remember the first one. It wasn't nearly as organized and there weren't as many kids and now you fast forward 10 years and its unfortunate but sometimes we have to turn down kids because its just getting too big," said the Falcons quarterback.
Heinicke has often credited Norfolk as being his second home with ODU being the first school that offered him.
"It doesn't feel like 10 years ago. It feels like it was just a couple of years ago but I will say when you go back to ODU's campus there is always something new being built. Its a totally different campus than when I was there and its really cool to see how far they've come. I haven't been back for a home game in a while so that's the goal this year."
The 10th anniversary of the camp also marks Heinicke's 10th season playing in the NFL.
"I always try to take a step back and look at it from when I was a kid or even in college. Its always been a dream of mine to play in the NFL. So to be able to say that its my 10th year in the NFL playing quarterback is really special and again its one of those things I look back on where if I was 18 and someone told me you'd go play in the NFL for 10 years, I would have taken it in a heartbeat."
Heinicke enters his second season with the Falcons and shared his thoughts on the new coaching staff in Atlanta with Raheem Morris, the former defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, replacing Arthur Smith as head coach.
"When you have a new coaching staff it takes some time to get used to it because he is a lot different from Arthur Smith but its great. I love Raheem. He's awesome."