They swear they didn't force it on their sons. Being former professional football players for the Bills, it wouldn't be surprising if the narrative was that they pushed their sons into football. But for Nate Clements, London Fletcher, Drew Haddad, Fred Jackson, and Spencer Johnson that just wasn't the case.

All five former Bills are now proud fathers of high school football players, who are all in a good spot to play major college football. But none of them put them on a football-only track since they were in a crib.

In fact, they all took a similar approach to their kids' youth sporting lives. They put them in almost every other sport but football.

"I really put him into everything in terms of activities," said Johnson, of his son, K.K., who is entering his junior season as the starting quarterback at Fort Bend Marshall in Missouri City, Texas. "I wasn't going to be the kind of dad that forced him down the same path as me. He was a very diverse kid. He liked the arts and music, so I just let him choose his own path. He played, basketball, baseball and of course football as well."

Fletcher let his son, Steele, play flag football when he was little, but he tried to convince Steele that soccer or basketball might be his path.

"He played a bunch of different sports," said Fletcher, whose son is now a sophomore at Providence Day high school in North Carolina. "He played soccer, T-ball, basketball, and he played flag (football). He enjoyed all the sports even up until this year. He played football, basketball, and runs track. I actually tried to push basketball. He also did soccer, but football was just his main sport that he loved."

"Football was the last sport that I introduced to them," said Clements, who has two high school boys, Ace and Major who now play at Weddington high school in North Carolina. "I had them swinging golf clubs, baseball, soccer. I had them on a swim team one year. I waited for them to ask me, and then when they asked me about playing football we got to work."

Haddad, a former seventh-round pick of the Bills in the 2000 NFL Draft, and former University at Buffalo standout receiver, has three boys. His oldest, Brady, is already playing college football at John Carroll University after a back injury in high school compromised his college recruiting. His middle boy, Cody, is an early commit to Ohio State as a high school senior at St. Ignatius and plays safety. And his youngest, Trey, is going to be a high school sophomore and lines up at receiver at St. Ignatius in Cleveland.

But he too pushed multiple sports.

"That's the way I was raised," Haddad said. "Play as much as you can and see what you really like. Whether it was golf, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, football, basketball. I let them do it all. When they were at an age where they were deciding to skip basketball to go to a football camp or skip lacrosse to go play baseball. Then I started weaning it down and had those conversations as they got to sixth, seventh grade. And then it became seasonal. Pick a sport for every season and it turned into track, lacrosse, basketball and football. We went from a lot to a little."

The only exception might be Fred Jackson's son Braeden. Often seen at One Bills Drive as a young kid during Fred's playing days, his first born got the bug for football early.

"With us having all the guys over my house all the time and them just kind of treating him like a nephew, he just fell in love with the sport from an early age," said the former Bills running back. "For me it was just letting him see the other side of it. He fell in love with being in the locker room and talking to the guys when they came to the house. Being out on the field is something different, but he loved the camaraderie too."

Still, Jackson made Braeden play other sports as a young boy.

"There are so many things you can learn from other sports that can translate to football," he said. "It can help you learn body control and angles. There are definitely benefits to being a well-rounded athlete."

Each of the former Bills let their sons navigate their own course to football. But once football was chosen each every one of them sprang into action and provided insight and knowledge wherever they could.

Clements and Fletcher coached their sons' middle school teams. They then teamed up to put together a 7-on-7 team in Charlotte where their three boys line up as teammates at college showcase tournaments.

Steele, just a sophomore, already has college offers from Maryland, Middle Tennessee, and UNC-Charlotte.

Clements's son Ace, also a sophomore, has offers from Middle Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

"It was a no brainer to get exposure for the kids," Clements said. "We're here in Charlotte. (Former NFL RB) Clinton Portis is our offensive coordinator. We all have kids the same age. London Fletcher is the defensive coordinator, me and Antoine Bethea, the former safety, we all help on defense. So, we've put together a team with that being the foundation, and we've added some kids that would be a good fit, and we can showcase their talent when we go to these camps and get (college) offers."

Their 7-on-7 team actually plays up an age group often playing junior and senior 7-on-7 squads, with their team of freshman and sophomores.

"On some of these college tours and tournaments, these other kids and coaches know that we are former NFL players, so they let us know that we might have a target on our back when we get there," said Clements, who was a first round draft pick for Buffalo in 2001 and named to the Pro Bowl in 2004. "And we tell our kids, so they know all the other teams want to show us up. We've got some savages on our team. My son Major is the youngest on the team at 14. The rest of them are just turning 16. Not only do we compete, but we're actually winning against these older teams."

Haddad's boys are all going through the same powerhouse football school he did at St. Ignatius in Cleveland, after he coached them all the way up through middle school. When his middle son Cody started playing varsity as a sophomore at safety it put him on the college radar.

"His sophomore year film was really good, and Ignatius doesn't play a lot of sophomores. So, if you're starting as a sophomore at a power school like St. Ignatius, colleges say, 'Okay this kid must be good, let's see his track times.' And Cody ran a 10.73 in the 100 and then schools started calling. Scholarship offers started coming. Having the track times propelled him to that next level recruit where he's getting ranked top 10 in the state at his position and getting more recognition and notoriety."

Fred Jackson's son also runs track out in Iowa, where he was part of a state champion 4x200 relay team at Centennial high school. But Braeden loves playing running back like his father.

"It's been a fun part of the process knowing the ins and the outs of the position," said Jackson.
"It's just been fun to talk to him after games. He'll tell me how he missed a linebacker scraping over the top and how he should've got back under the block that the guard was making. I try to record every play he was in since his sophomore year on my phone and send it to him immediately with a note underneath it. It was fun to talk to him through another pair of running back eyes. He takes it all in."

Braeden Jackson doesn't have any offers yet, but he's been on 15 school visits including Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa. He's up to 190 pounds as a high school senior and is ready to tear it up this fall.

"He didn't play varsity as a sophomore, so he'll be a senior evaluation, and he knows that," Jackson said. "So, if he goes out there and produces and shows any kind of ability to play at the next level it can happen for him. That's one of the things he's most excited about. He wants to come out and show he has the ability to play beyond next year.

"Knowing his dad took the hard way to an NFL career keeps him grounded. If the door doesn't open right away, that doesn't mean it's closed forever. He knows he just has to keep working, producing on the field and as long as he does that, he'll have that ultimate opportunity."

The one with perhaps the highest ceiling is Spencer Johnson's son K.K., who is already 6-6 and 220 pounds. He started five games as a sophomore quarterback for Fort Bend Marshall in Missouri City, Texas last fall. On a number of quarterback rankings lists in Texas, Johnson already has offers from Colorado, Texas San-Antonio and Tuskegee.

"He's definitely on the radar," said Johnson of his son, who resembles a young Cam Newton. "He's somewhat of a dual-threat quarterback. He has a big arm, but he can also run despite being the size that he is. Marshall high school is one of the most dominant track programs in the state, and K.K. runs track for them as well. I like to think he's a dual quarterback. They've got him listed as a pro-style quarterback, but he can run as well."

Junior season is often the most important for a high school athlete, and Johnson, who played defensive tackle for Buffalo from 2008-2012, knows how important this season will be for K.K.

"I know how big this season is for him, and I think he understands that as well," said Johnson, a former Bills defensive lineman. "We're just trusting the work, trusting the training and he's mature enough to know he's the leader of that team and he's going to do what he's supposed to. At the end of the day, it's in God's hands and we're going to stay prayed up and keep working. That's all we can do now."

And while all the former Bills see exciting futures for their sons, having been through a similar journey themselves, they know how important it is to take that journey a day at a time.

"I understand that this is a process, a long process," said Clements. "They're still young and we're going to take advantage of every step along the way. Major is only going into the ninth grade and Ace will be going into his sophomore year. We'll just keep working it and keep grinding. I tell them you'll get out whatever you put in. They put in work. They're not afraid of that. They're not afraid of sacrificing time to perfect their game rather than hanging out with friends. They know they have to put in work to separate themselves from the rest."

Just like their dads did.