A junior college All-American kick returner for Phoenix College who spent the last two years out of football, Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi had a Hail Mary’s chance of making the NFL after finally getting a tryout with the Cleveland Browns this season.
That was before last night when the undrafted rookie, who only got a shot with the team after falsely claiming to know Browns’ VP of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith, fielded a punt at his 14-yard-line and took it to the house for an 86-yard touchdown.
“I’ve been waiting for a moment like this for a long time,” Sheehy-Guiseppi told Cleveland.com. “It brought me back to my (junior college) days. I’m just excited to be able to get back there and return again.”
Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi takes it to the house!#WASvsCLE pic.twitter.com/iEbWQk0fHR
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 9, 2019
During the runback, Sheehy-Guiseppi displayed the speed (4.38-second 40-yard dash time) that compelled the Browns to give him an official tryout in Cleveland after he impressed team officials with his phony Highsmith story during a meeting in Miami.
In the week between the Miami meeting and his workout in Cleveland, Sheehy-Guiseppi was broke and resorted to sleeping outside or at 24-hour fitness centers and eating food at he could scrounge at the cookouts of strangers.
When Sheehy-Guiseppi’s teammates mobbed him after scoring the TD in Cleveland’s 30-10 win over Washington, it probably felt like it was all worth it.
WHAT A MOMENT 😭
Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi returns a punt 86 yards for a TD — and the whole bench clears to celebrate pic.twitter.com/anLZ3EEgAT
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 9, 2019
“I felt all the love,” Sheehy-Guiseppi said. “I couldn’t breathe under the pile. I was over there gasping for air, but I felt all the love. I saw all of them come running down there (to the end zone) and it was just a blessing.”
In addition to the special teams players blocking for him during the return, Sheehy-Guiseppi got an assist from another one of his teammates: Odell Beckham.
Another cool twist on this story: Sheehy-Guiseppi told me he wore Odell Beckham’s cleats tonight. Says he had misplaced the ones he wanted to wear. Beckham, who has taken a liking to the kid, said, “Here, I broke these in for you.” pic.twitter.com/o41GIhGhBm
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 9, 2019
Despite scoring the touchdown, the speedy wideout has certainly not locked down a spot on Cleveland’s 53-man roster. That said, he’s certainly closer than he was when he was sleeping on the street not that long ago.
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