UCLA's Kenny Clark's path to the NFL draft shaped by his father's murder conviction

— -- Kenny Clark Jr., all 6-foot-3, 314 pounds of him, settled as best he could onto the hard, courtroom bench inside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Santa Ana, California. The former UCLA defensive tackle squeezed in between his mom and brother, with his twin sisters and a cousin nearby. Soon after, his father, Kenny Clark Sr., walked into the room. The resemblance was uncanny -- two immense figures with big smiles and large, round faces. Except that while Kenny Jr.'s frame was easy to make out underneath his short-sleeved, green button-down shirt, his father's was not. Kenny Sr. was wearing a baggy, bright-orange jumpsuit: In 2005, he was convicted of second-degree murder. His sentence was 55 years to life, with no chance of parole. Escorted into the room in shackles by a pair of U.S. marshals, he smiled and nodded at his family before falling into a seat next to his attorneys from the federal public defender's office.

It was the first time in nearly 12 years that the Clarks had shared a room outside of a prison.

Three weeks earlier, Kenny Jr., a dominant player over three seasons at UCLA, had declared for the NFL draft. On this day, Jan. 19, he should have been training for the scouting combine. Instead, he was here, once again at the intersection of hope and disappointment.

Kenny Jr. was 9 when his father was sent to prison. From the time he began serving his sentence in 2005, Kenny Sr. has maintained his innocence and fought for his release. The result has been more than a decade of legal filings, hearings and appeals -- always with the same ending: Kenny Sr. still in prison.

Kenny Jr.'s mother had worked to shield her children from the drama, but now, for the first time, she was bringing them to one of Kenny Sr.'s hearings. This one represented their father's last, best hope at freedom. For Kenny Jr., on the precipice of a childhood dream fulfilled, the timing felt auspicious.

Kenny Sr. had introduced him to football. And even in prison, Kenny Sr. had maintained their bond through the sport: He would call before Kenny Jr.'s games to offer pep talks, after games to get full reports and even during games to get live-action updates from his wife. Father and son were so connected by football that two of UCLA's coaches visited Kenny Sr. in prison during the recruiting process. Sitting in the courtroom that day, Kenny Jr. dreamed of sharing the signature moments of the coming months with his dad: the NFL combine, UCLA's pro day and, of course, draft day.

Kenny Jr. knew well how justice had its own, deliberate pace, but he was convinced that this was the day. Months earlier, Kenny Sr. had been granted this rare hearing after a federal court reviewed his conviction and ruled that enough questions had been raised to suggest "a compelling claim of actual innocence."

"That morning I was planning on my dad getting out," Kenny Jr. says, "It was going to be so exciting because I'm going into the draft."

But the judge dealt Kenny Jr. something else instead: another test of his will in a life that, so far, has been full of them.

Nick Aquilino, a producer in ESPN's Enterprise and Investigative Unit, contributed to this report.