As Tucker High School students slowly filled up the auditorium, THS graduate, former UGA football player and NFL player Jonathan Ledbetter overheard kids’ conversations. As they were looking in their gift bags, the kids said that “they gave us soap because they think we stink,” which he found funny.
Ledbetter and fellow THS alumni pro football player Elijah Sullivan helped host a talk with students for World Mental Health Day through his foundation, Led a Better Way.
“I am just very grateful that me and Eli here were able to help try to push them to be successful individuals and successful kids after high school.” Ledbetter said.
The event consisted of a speech from Ledbetter, special guests and prizes. The NFL defensive end spoke to the students, explaining why he was there and the importance of mental health.
“The reason why we are here today is because of teen mental awareness,” Ledbetter said. “I know there is a stigma around mental health. Not everyone wakes up feeling ok. It’s ok not to feel ok. It’s ok to feel bad. It’s ok to express those feelings with people you care about and others around you.”
During the event Ledbetter instructed the students to take a journal out of the gift bags they received and write three characteristics that described them. The former Tiger then went around the auditorium and asked them to share what they wrote. Ledbetter explained to them that journaling can help with mental health. The former Bulldog said that he journals every day. He writes how he feels and suggested they do the same to improve their mental health. During the event Ledbetter told students another way to improve their mental health is to speak positivity to themselves.
“I am going to tell y’all a little bit of my transition,” Ledbetter said. “You guys are probably like, ‘who is up here talking to me? He did not do this and this and that. He is probably a little goody boy’ and what not.”
After leaving THS Ledbetter went through an identity crisis. Ledbetter said he knew he was good at football but was not sure if he wanted to be a football player. Ledbetter shared that as a freshman he was arrested for possession of alcohol and marijuana and for drinking and driving, and it is by the grace of God that he is still alive today afterward.
“I fell asleep at a stoplight for 35 minutes with my foot on the brake with ongoing traffic in front of me,” Ledbetter said. “I was the first car at the stoplight. The police officers and investigators had no idea how the car did not move and how I did not get hit by multiple oncoming cars and how I am still alive. When I went to jail that day, I feel like God came over me because other than the beginning, I have no recollection of anything else.”
During that period Ledbetter thought getting in trouble with the law was his identity. Ledbetter is thankful for positive friends that helped him get back on track.
“The village that started with me at Tucker High School and the people who I continued to talk to and poured into me surrounded me and protected me,” Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter’s support system also helped him get through another tough period in his life. He was not drafted to the NFL while watching live at a party with over 250 guests and media.
“I cried in my aunt’s house in front of all my guests,” Ledbetter said. “I thought my life was over.”
Ledbetter said his family and friends encouraged him, and he eventually worked his way into the NFL as a free agent. His friend Sullivan, who played football for Kansas State University and plays in the United States Football League, echoed the same sentiments of having a support system.
“You got to have a strong support system around you,” Sullivan said. “There are going to be times when you are kind of going to doubt yourself. There are times where you are probably not doing the right thing. No matter what, it is always good to have a group of friends who you can talk to.”
Towards the end of the event Ledbetter led a meditation with the audience. He later stuck around for pictures and autographs. The two Tucker 2015 graduates were glad to give back to their alma mater.
“I think everything in the event went well,” Ledbetter said. “I really like the beginning. Man, these kids are crazy. I usually forget. We come in here to try to talk all sophisticated and stuff like that, but these are high school kids. We put a bunch of stuff in their bags, and they were like ‘they gave us some soap, they think we stank.’ I just started dying laughing. No matter what, kids are just kids.”
