LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - Juan Thornhill stood in the stands on a Sunday night in February last year. His Kansas City Chiefs had just emerged from the tunnel to play San Francisco in the Super Bowl.
Thornhill cheered. Then he fell silent. Started thinking about all he was missing after an ACL injury cut his rookie season short three games prior to the Super Bowl.
Instead of fulfilling his childhood dream, he was just one of 62,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It just, like, hit me super hard and I shut down,” Thornhill told reporters this week. “Like, mentally, I just really wanted to be there on the field. I think that’s what drove me throughout this whole year. Like, ‘I’m going to get back to that game.’”
It can be deflating to get so close to your dreams, only to watch them breeze past. But for some people, those introspective moments become fuel, used as motivation. So Thornhill made up his mind that nothing was going to stop him from getting back on the field, despite the injury that required a seven-month recovery and nearly a full 2020-21 season to get back to full strength.
Through it all, he never forgot the feeling of missing Super Bowl LIV.
“I had to get back,” he said.
Here he is, just like he promised. Thornhill is healthy - using words like “100%” and “confident” and “ready” this week - and stoked to do his part at safety as the Chiefs take on Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV on Sunday night.
Mike Scharnus, who led Altavista’s football team for 11 seasons before becoming an assistant at Rustburg, talks with his former quarterback and defensive back regularly.
“It’s an unbelievable story,” Scharnus said, “because two years in a row he’s in the Super Bowl. And last year was disappointing for him. … A lot of times, you don’t get a second chance.”
Thornhill is coming off what was, arguably, his best performance of the season. He had four highlight-reel pass breakups Jan. 24 as the Chiefs took down Buffalo in the AFC championship game. He’s secured a season high of six tackles twice this season. When Kansas City defeated the Bucs 27-24 on Nov. 29, he made three tackles.
He’s given the Chiefs defense a shot in the arm this season with 41 total tackles (33 solo). In his two NFL seasons, Thornhill now has 99 total tackles (75 solo), four interceptions for 66 yards (an average of 16.5 per interception), one touchdown and eight passes defended.
Remarkable for a guy from one of the smallest high schools in Virginia, who, despite all the upside in the world coming out of Altavista, went through growing pains as a freshman at the University of Virginia before upping his game his next three collegiate seasons.
Fellow Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, who has suffered his own season-ending injuries in the past, told reporters last week he’s been impressed with the way Thornhill is reading the field, reacting to opposing offenses and bursting toward the ball.
“I think Juan is coming into his own, once again,” Mathieu said. “ … I think, for him, it was all about taking his time. He was coming off a really big injury that really affects defensive backs in reacting and things like that. I think the more games he’s played in, the more plays he’s made, his confidence is just continuing to grow.”
Scharnus isn’t surprised by Thornhill’s return to the gridiron. He’s watched Thornhill set his mind to accomplish many things over the years. More often than not, the coach noted, “they get done.”
That was obvious at Altavista, too. In a weight lifting session one day, Thornhill eyed 275 pounds as a power clean. “You can’t get that,” Scharnus said, more in a goading tone than out of disbelief.
Thornhill stared at his coach, grabbed the bar and ripped off a rep.
“It popped up like air,” Scharnus recalled of the lift. The coach wasn’t surprised years later when Thornhill started to turn heads at UVa.
By the time he started to shine in his sophomore season, there was talk the NFL might be in his future.
Scharnus, like other area residents - especially those in Altavista - will be watching Sunday night. He’ll feel a sense of pride when he sees Thornhill, No. 22, take the field. It’s not just the athletic ability that impresses Scharnus.
“That was given to him,” the coach said. “I’ve told him since he left Altavista how proud I am of him. Not just on the field, but how he’s led his life, how be became a good student. It’s not just about being an athlete. He’s done it all.”
On Sunday, in the biggest game of his life, Thornhill will face Tom Brady’s offense.
He’ll experience the glamour of the moment, the thrill of playing on sports’ most impressive stage. And he’ll remember how he got to this point: the past, the struggles, the promises he made to himself.
“It definitely means a lot to me,” Thornhill said, “just being able to step out there, to play in the Super Bowl. This is like your childhood dream to go out there and play in one of the biggest games ever; so I’m really excited.”
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