KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the last month, Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has written his brother’s name on his gloves and donned an undershirt that used to belong to Tqarontarion “TQ” Harrison on game days.
It’s been seven hard weeks for Sneed, 25, since Harrison was stabbed to death in their shared hometown of Minden, Louisiana.
“I have mentors who’ve helped me along the way,” Sneed said. “I’m just trusting the process and taking it day by day. I’m just learning from this experience and talking to people who’ve been in my situation. They’re helping me along the way, but it ain’t easy.”
The game-day ritual to honor his late older brother helps, so does playing football in general.
“Football takes my mind off things like that,” Sneed said. “That’s why I love the game of football, because it takes my mind off the things that are going on in my life.”
Sneed missed two games — wins against Las Vegas and at the Los Angeles Chargers — after Harrison’s murder.
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Sneed’s life in Minden was hard. Both of his parents and several other members of his family have served lengthy prison sentences, according to an in-depth profile by The Star’s Sam McDowell.
But Sneed is determined to break the family curse. He’s also inserted himself into the Kansas City community, becoming an official spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City in September.
