Shareece Wright finds ‘right time’
Shareece Wright can shake his head now.
Three years ago, he didn’t know better.
The Chargers drafted the former USC cornerback in 2011. Close to college and his hometown, he was comfortable. Veterans played ahead of him. On most weeks, he was inactive. Wright was young and embraced it all — the league, the money, the lack of responsibility.
“I was a totally, totally different person,” he said.
Wright has changed. No longer the 23-year-old who played four snaps his rookie year, he’s matured. He is a starter. He is a father. He is a man who now understands what it means to be accountable to others. This season is the final one under his rookie Chargers contract.
The past 27 years seem to have culminated to this.
Wright grew up in a low-income area of Colton. His mother raised him and his five siblings. Their father wasn’t around, so it was him and his brother teaching themselves to shoot a basketball. His sister taught him how to drive. He saw every example of strength in his mother, who worked multiple jobs to support her children first and herself second.
He learned to find his way in life.
The NFL was similar. The longer he was in the league, the more he looked around and understood what it took to succeed.
“The ones who are successful, they’re grown men,” Wright said. “They’re organized. They’re professionals. To be a pro, you have to have your life in order. Outside of football is just as important as inside because those things outside of football can linger into practice, into meeting rooms, a game. ... That was my biggest thing, getting my life in complete order and growing up, making grown-man decisions.”
Wright always felt that, one day, he’d find order when the time came.
In March 2013, he learned he would become a father.
The season began in September, and for the first time with the Chargers, Wright was a starter. It took him time to find a rhythm, in part due to hamstring and foot injuries, but he closed out the year with the best stretch of his career. The season ended Jan. 12. Seven days later, he and his girlfriend welcomed Elijah James “E.J.” Wright.
That changed him. Others have seen it.
“I was motivated to be a great father,” Wright said. “It takes a man to raise a man. I’ve got to be a man if I want to raise my son to be a man. I’ve got to be an example.”
“He takes his job seriously now,” safety Eric Weddle said, “from rehab to meetings to weight room to film study, to working hard every day regardless of how you feel or your body feels. (He understands) how much time and effort it takes to be a pro, not being happy with being average. He’s grown up since last season. ... He is now counted on by two people to be successful and make a great life for them. It’s great to see. I love it, the commitment.”
Wright met girlfriend Yanni Covarrubias through a mutual friend a few years ago.
He credits her in large part for the man and player he’s become. He is more focused. This offseason, he had better discipline in his training, accomplishing what he set out to accomplish. She also has helped guide him, he says, to find his faith.
Their son was baptized Saturday.
It’s funny. This is Wright’s contract year, and his future is so uncertain. Yet, he knows exactly what he wants.
Wright has a question for her.
“I feel like I’m ready and prepared for this,” Wright said. “Three years ago, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t prepared when I first met her. She helped me get to this point. It’s something I want, and it’s something that’s right. ... The timing couldn’t be any better than this. Now is the time to ask her to marry me.”
UPDATE: On Saturday night, Wright read the above story aloud to Covarrubias at a restaurant before about 15 family members. “Then I said, ‘With all that being said,’ and I pulled out the ring and took a knee,” Wright said. “She cried. I cried a little bit. It was a special moment. ... We had the whole restaurant pretty much watching, so we got a standing ovation after.”
