SB-Bound Poindexter Still Focused On Big Picture

Arizona Sports News online

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Shawn Poindexter has always taken the road less traveled.

So to know one’s surprise the former Centennial High School and University of Arizona star has been rehabbing in the Bay Area while his San Francisco 49er teammates are already in Miami preparing for Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Poindexter’s rookie season essentially ended before it even started when the undrafted wide receiver tore his ACL in the Niners’ first pre-season game back on August 19th in Denver. However, the 6-foot-5, 218-pounder knows his goal of playing in the NFL is still very much in front of him.

It was a goal which was set in a familiar place to many Valley residents.

“I set a vision and a goal for myself to make it to the league when I was bussing tables at a Mexican restaurant named Valle Luna,” Poindexter said to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat in a recent phone interview. “I told myself that was the goal and that’s what I was going to do. I’m going to make it happen no matter what life brings.”

I chronicled Poindexter’s well-traveled life the past five or six years last spring as he was preparing for the NFL draft.

“Even now, in this circumstance, coming off the torn ACL,” Poindexter said. “It’s like, ‘Ok, you’re an undrafted free agent and you tore your ACL in your first year and it’s like, I can play at this level and I’m not going to let anything stop me from playing at this level.'”

Poindexter said he’s planning on joining the team in Miami later this week to “experience the Super Bowl environment.”