Andre Odom worked as a graduate assistant at Temple after his college football career ended. He eventually landed a job as a scouting assistant with the Chicago Bears before transitioning to representing players instead of evaluating them.
He made the right move.
When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell steps to the podium next Thursday night in Cleveland to announce the first-round draft picks, two of Odom’s clients – Florida tight end Kyle Pitts and Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons – could be picked in the top 10. Another client, Penn State defensive Jayson Oweh, could go in the first round. It’s been a long journey to reach this point for Odom, an agent with Athletes First who also co-represented 2020 first-round pick K’Lavon Chaisson.
“It’s been an obstacle course of many trials and tribulations, many sleepless nights, 17, 18 hours in the office as a graduate assistant,” Odom said. “Then going to the NFL and working in the front office, having long, tiring days, and not seeing your family. It was a journey, a tremendous grind, but it was worth it.”
His grandmother raised Odom in Philadelphia, and he was a two-way starter at running back and defensive back at George Washington High School from 2001-03. He went to Bloomsburg University, played defensive back, and was a sprinter on the track team before transferring to Temple.
Odom walked on Temple’s football team under coach Al Golden, but a severe back injury ended his playing career before it began. After earning a bachelor’s degree in communications, Odom worked in radio sales and banking and returned to his high school as an assistant coach. He joined Temple’s staff as a graduate assistant in 2011 and spent three seasons there while earning a master’s degree in sports management. Odom joined the Bears in 2013 and had not considered becoming an agent until he was fired in 2015. He pursued it because of his passion for helping young athletes develop into better men.
“Growing up and being hands-on with these athletes, people kind of looked at me as a street agent,” Odom said. “A lot of those individuals are good people, and those athletes need those people because some of us don’t have parents where we’re from. I didn’t have a mom and dad to hold my hand and walk me through, and many of these young men don’t.
“It’s a tough life being a professional athlete. It’s not easy. Everything is not going to be perfect on sunny days. You’re going to have those rainy days. You will have those painful days when things don’t go well. So who’s going to be with you? Who’s going to help educate you? Who will be fully invested in your future, not just your success contractually, but individually, emotionally, mentally, and things of that nature? So I just felt like me. I had a lot to offer.”
