Inside the rise of promising Patriots WR Ja’Lynn Polk

FOXBOROUGH – With his father in and out of jail and his mother working long hours, a young Ja’Lynn Polk needed a role model.

So he followed his uncle everywhere.

When Jacob Fredieu played middle school football, his nephew was running up and down the sideline. In high school, the boy followed him to offseason workouts and ran drills. When he learned to box at the local Boys and Girls Club, Polk did, too.

Then there was that one morning before school.

Polk adored uncle Jacob, who is eight years older. He tried to follow him everywhere and one morning, that included school. Standing at the bus stop, Polk watched Fredieu walk up the steps and followed him in without anyone noticing.

“I think he fell asleep and ended up waking up in the area where they had all the buses stored. The bus driver thankfully saw him,” Fredieu said. “Oh, that was a panic. They called my mom at work. I remember that. They were like, ‘Hey, they’re not sure your grandbaby is here at the bus stop.’ It was a whole thing.”

With his mother tirelessly working and his father absent, Polk sought guidance. He found that in his uncle. They bonded over sports and their desire for more for themselves and their family

“I just remember being super active as a kid. He pretty much raised me,” Polk said. “I had to be around him a lot with my mom working, so he watched me a lot. Everything he did, I was trying to do. Any chance I had to get away and sneak with him, I did.”

The upbringing forced both to work hard. If they wanted to improve their situation, they had to earn it. Between seeing a hardworking mother and leaning on his uncle, Polk had a foundation that put him on the right path.

Polk applied those seared-in principles even on the football field.

Perfect role models

Jennifer Fredieu fought to provide for her children.

The main goal was to put food on the table for Ja’Lynn and her daughter, Jada. As a younger single mother, it wasn’t easy to find work. When she did, it didn’t pay nearly enough.

That’s why she wasn’t always around. She worked up to three jobs to pay for food and rent. When Polk was in middle school, she worked at Taco Bell, Denny’s and as a waitress.

“It just showed me sacrifice,” Polk said. “You have to make sacrifices for the ones you love for the things that you want. That might take time. Seeing that growing up, played a huge role in knowing you have to put the work in without making excuses.”

This is why his mother leaned on Jacob, her younger brother. He was just a teenager when Ja’Lynn started to shadow him around the community.

Jacob didn’t grasp it initially. He loved his nephew, but he was so young that he didn’t realize Polk looked at him like a father figure. When he was a teenager, his mother (Polk’s grandmother), sat him down and explained the situation. She told him he needed to look at his nephew and it opened his eyes.

‘Look at him when he’s around you,’ she said.

“I realized, man, this kid is trying to walk the way I walk. He tries to talk the way I talk. He tries to do a lot of the things I do,” Fredieu said. “I was like, man if that’s the case I want to set a good example for him because I want him to be better than me.”

Seeing the family struggle motivated both to do better.

Although he briefly played football in high school, Fredieu stopped during his junior year to focus on academics. After high school, he went to Lamar University where he earned a degree in industrial engineering and science. He’s now an industrial engineer at Boeing where he works on the executive fleet in San Antonio.

Considering how and where he grew up, Fredieu knows his life could’ve been different.

“It would’ve been easier to go that (wrong) path, but if you grew up seeing that, you kind of know the end result. Everyone I’ve seen go that way ended up in prison or dead,” Fredieu said. “I don’t want to go that way. That’s definitely not in the cards for me. I was like, ‘I’ve got to figure something out.’ I think Ja’Lynn had the same mentality.”

As Polk got older, he took that attitude to heart. He used to sneak into his high school gym to work out. He’d watch extra film after practice. Polk needed to work harder than everyone else. He became addicted to the grind because he wanted to provide a better life for his family.

He also had a great lead to follow.

“He was a figure in my life that I needed,” Polk said. “Just having somebody in your life be able to set an example for the family, that’s somebody you want to look up to. What he’s been able to do for himself, living life the right way and me being able to see it all, played a huge role.”

A way out

The apartments weren’t nice, but it was home. The exterior of the buildings was covered in a brick-layered façade. Some might call this place low-income housing. The people who lived there used two words to describe it:

‘The Bricks.’

It’s the site of Polk’s earliest memories. It’s where he learned about sports and learned about life. His family resided here in Center, Texas for five years. That included his mother, Jennifer, grandmother, Charlotte, uncle, Jacob, and sister, Jada.

“A lot of less fortunate families. A smaller community. Everybody knows everybody,” Polk said. “Everybody’s related. It’s in the country. In the middle of nowhere. All my family lived close.”

The family moved around East Texas a lot. When Polk was 6, they went to San Augustine where they lived near the projects. Before he went to high school, he lived in five different towns within the state. That included stops in Nacogdoches, La Porte, Baytown, and finally, Lufkin.

Fredieu describes it as “country ghetto.” It’s a place where people commonly still ride horses. High school football is the main event. Polk was 13 when he moved here and it’s where his mother still resides.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Lufkin High School coach Todd Quick said. “We’re right about the halfway point between Tyler and Houston. You play football here and people go to the games because there’s nothing else to do. Not a lot of industry here. It’s just simple folks.”

Life wasn’t easy for Polk and his family. They didn’t have much, but they had each other. As he got older, Polk had sports. His first memory of the sport was watching his uncle play. As he grew older, he realized how hard his mom worked to keep the family afloat. When he looked at where he lived, he knew he needed to work just as hard as she did.

He had special gifts but stayed steadfast in maximizing his abilities. It helped that he had a role model who stayed out of trouble.

“I was gifted in a way that was different than a lot of people. I just had this different type of shield over me,” Polk said. “Being a young kid and having a good understanding of my surroundings and support system like my uncle. He was in my corner all the time. Just leading me through to the right path.”

By the time he was in high school, Polk understood what was at stake. Hard work could lead to a scholarship. If he pressed forward, his dreams of being in the NFL could be realized.

He saw a ticket out for him and his family.

“I will say that we made the most out of our situation,” Fredieu said. “I feel like Ja’Lynn and myself had the mentality to overcome and get through it all. It was good to see that in him. Even back then he had the mentality of ‘I’m not going to let this define me. I’m going to overcome my odds and I’m going to be a better person because of it.’”

A greater purpose

Polk drove across Texas with a purpose. He was days away from seeing his dream become a reality. He knew his life was about to change.

Following a great career at Washington, the receiver was headed to Houston for the 2024 NFL Draft. Before he met with his friends and family for the watch party, he had a stop he needed to make.

Polk picked up his phone and called his high school coach, Quick. He explained he was coming to the school and wanted to meet with players on the football team. The soon-to-be NFL receiver had some things he needed to say.

Quick looked up the students’ schedules and found a handful who would be free. He told the players to come with him and led them to a room inside Lufkin High School.

“We get about 25 kids who are in lunch because we can’t pull them out of class,” Quick said. “We put them in a classroom and he talks to them for about an hour – on his way to Houston for the draft. We walked out of the room, shut the door, and let him have them because we trust him with everybody. He told them just like it is. The day before the biggest day of his career, he’s still giving back to the kids.”

Polk talked about his life. He explained how it wasn’t perfect at home but told the students how he persevered. He explained he worked hard and stayed out of trouble. Good things happened for him, and could for them, too.

He explained he was proof there was a way out. If anyone was in a similar situation, they didn’t have to be bound by their surroundings.

“One conversation can change a kid’s whole perspective on life and whatever they’re going through in that moment,” Polk said. “I’m always looking forward to going back and giving words of encouragement. I wish sometimes I would’ve had that — somebody who’s in those shoes that’s actually doing it and has been in that same predicament and trying to help them find ways to get through it.”

Life has changed for the 22-year-old. The 37th overall pick signed a four-year contract worth up to $9.69 million this spring. However, he knows that this is only the start. Those lessons he learned while growing up remain. His goal — to help his family — is still the same.

His family is going to get a little larger. In the same week that Leonard, his father was at Gillette Stadium to see him catch his first NFL touchdown, he found out that a son of his own is on the way.

“Growing up, my pop had a lot of trouble. In and out of jail,” Polk said. “I feel like, then, it was something we didn’t want but now, it made us closer. Just being able to make up for that time and continue to build that relationship. For him to be here and also him to experience that he has a grandson on the way. Making up for that time, it’s been really important. He’s doing everything now that he can.”

Polk will never forget how he got here. The rookie receiver still ‘sneaks’ into the gym and often works out inside Gillette. in the early morning hours. He’s living his dream but will never forget his ‘why’ and how he got here.

“Growing up, seeing all that work ethic around him and knowing the odds are already stacked against you, you’ve got to work extra hard to really make it,’ Fredieu said. “Even when you get to the top, it don’t stop. You’ve got to keep working. That separates one person from another – hard work, determination. That’s what gets you to where you want to go.”

Ja’Lynn Polk is on his way.

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