Baylor star WR Corey Coleman weighs reconciling with imprisoned father

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WACO, Texas --  Corey Coleman learned to play football in the streets against a backdrop most of us couldn't begin to imagine.

Maybe that's where he gets his passion for the game and his steely toughness, two things Baylor coach Art Briles says separates the Bears junior receiver, who's torching cornerbacks, shattering records and blazing his way into serious Heisman Trophy consideration.

Coleman spent the first part of his childhood growing up in one of the toughest sections of South Dallas, the Highland Hills neighborhood in Oak Cliff.

"We'd be playing tackle football on the street, and you'd hear gunshots," Coleman recalled. "My mom would come out and make me come in. And after an hour, I'd sneak back out to play again. That's just the way it was. Police were always coming around. People were getting arrested, and sometimes people got shot. I guess you got used to it."

In such a dangerous environment, it would have been easy for Coleman to wind up as just another statistic. But thanks to his mother's will and his own determination, he's now putting up staggering numbers for the No. 2 Bears. He has already broken the Baylor single-season record with 16 touchdown catches in just six games and is on pace to break the FBS record of 27, set by Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards in 1998.

Coleman speaks softly and reverently about his mom, Cassandra Jones, who raised three children on her own. Coleman's father, Melvin Coleman, has drifted in and out of his life and is currently serving time at Texarkana Federal Correctional Institution. He was convicted of felony cocaine distribution last year and has a release date of Nov. 26, 2021.

Coleman has two older sisters, Ashley Coleman and Kenosha Jones. He and Ashley share the same father, and both have managed to forgive him over the years for not being there. Ashley, who's 14 months older than Coleman, has gone to visit her father in prison a handful of times. He hasn't reached that point yet, although he has communicated with his father via letters and phone calls since he has been incarcerated.

"It's been hard. All of it has," Coleman said. "Growing up, you've got your mom and two sisters, and just about everybody else has their dad in their life. I had to learn a lot of stuff on my own, learn from my mistakes, because I didn't have my dad there to help me through them. That's hard for a little kid, but it worked out.

"My mom was there and so were my sisters, and here I am today. I made it."