Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is a junior safety from St. Petersburg, Fla. A communications studies major, McNeil-Warren is the first person in his family to attend college. He leads the Rockets with 43 tackles this season.

On being one of nine children
"I'm from Tampa, Florida. I've got eight siblings. The oldest is 25 and the youngest is 11. My mom takes care of all of us by herself. It's hard on her so I just try to help her, keep her happy. I'm the oldest boy so there's a lot on my table. I've got to be the man of the house. I take care of my little brothers and my little sister. I help keep them on the right track. My mom is always working, putting food on the table, making sure we're all straight."

On how football has helped him reach his goals
"I had to change my environment, stop being around certain people. When I was young, I didn't want to listen to anyone. I had to change my habits. I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't want to be in the wrong place and make my mom sad. I loved football so I figured football can take me far. I wanted to make my mom proud. So I had to lock in as a man, focus on school, focus on playing football, focus on not hanging out with the wrong people."

On being inspired by his mother
"My mom (Sharona McNeil) pushes me to keep working, never give up. She always pushed herself, even through hard times. She always has a smile on her face, even when things are bad. That keeps me motivated to just keep going."

On how football helped his relationship with his father
"My dad (Tarus Horne) came (later) into my life. He helped teach me how to be a man. He coached football at my high school. He was on the offense, coaching the wide receivers. I started at wide receiver, but they moved me to safety. I liked making plays against my dad's offense in practice, making plays against him, telling him I was better than him when he was little. Since I started seeing him more we have a stronger connection. We can talk to each other. At first we weren't like that. It was on and off. Now we talk to each other. We're on the same connection."

On why he chose to major in communications
"My major is communications. I'd like to get better at speaking in front of a lot of people so I won't be nervous when the time comes when I have to do that."

On choosing the University of Toledo
"Going into my senior year of high school I got a concussion and missed the first three games of the season. Some schools stopped talking to me. Coach (Robert) Weiner came to my school and asked if I was still interested in Toledo. I came on a visit and the coaches treated me like family. They were all in on me. I felt like it was a home for me."
 
On his personal goals
"My personal goal is to make all-conference. And then try to make All-American."

On being the first person from his family to attend college
"I'm the first person in my family to ever go to college. My mom and dad, my grandparents, none of them went to college. I'm trying to keep my younger brothers and sister on track so they can go to college too. That keeps pushing me too. They look up to me. They see how I'm doing it the right way. Now they say they have to do it, just like their big brother."