DORAL, Fla. – A former star at Florida International University heads home to South Florida -- where his father still works -- to face the Miami Dolphins.
Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Eugene "T.Y." Hilton starred at FIU before he was drafted in 2012.
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His father, T.Y. Hilton, works Monday through Friday in Doral. Most Sundays, he, his wife, and his wife's mother travel to Indianapolis to watch his son play.
"I mean, you can't get beyond yourself where you just say, hey, this is really happening, this is really happening," said Hilton. "To sit there and see the tunnel, the smoke, all the players running out -- boom, boom -- fireworks, and see your son, [you] say wow, where he done come from."
Before Hilton set a rookie record for the Colts with five 100-yard receiving games, he showed the speed and sure hands at Miami Springs High School, then FIU.
"I'm saying to myself, man, this kid, this kid -- even though it's my kid cause you coach a lot of kids -- this kid got something, and honestly, I said to myself, I don't think I'm going to be working when I get to 54," said his father.
Hilton has coached thousands of football players, but none reached the level of his own son.
"To see his son and you're sitting there, his kid saying, 'That's my daddy,' and then you think as a father, 'That's my son running out [of] this tunnel,' you know, the long road he had, now his dream is coming true," added Hilton.