FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — In the control room of the Atlanta Falcons Ticketmaster Studio, Aliya and Aundell Terrell Sr. leaned forward in their chairs and grabbed a couple of tissues as they watched a video screen relaying the actions happening a floor below.

"Just to prepare," Aliya said to her husband with a small smile.

Their son, Atlanta Falcons starting cornerback A.J. Terrell, walked into the quiet studio. He was there under the guise of recording promotional material to help earn Pro Bowl votes for himself and his teammates. Instead, his younger brother, Avieon—a top cornerback at Clemson—emerged from behind a large video wall.

As he approached his older brother, his parents fell silent in the control room, watching one son sneak up behind the other.

"No one deserves this more than you. The work that you're doing on and off the field is being recognized," Avieon said. "I just wanted to tell you that you are the Atlanta Falcons' Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination."

Looking on proudly, Aliya said the emotion she felt in that moment came from a place of pride.

"We understood where A.J. came from," she said. "The grind, the hustle."

Audell: "The journey."

For Terrell, to be nominated for one of the league's most prestigious awards that honors a player's commitment to philanthropy, as well as their excellence on the field, felt like a long time coming.

"I put in so much work this offseason. I'm talking about stressed out in good ways," Terrell said. "But it paid off, and this is what it's all about right here."

Terrell's journey to becoming the Falcons' nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award began the moment he was drafted to his hometown team five years ago.

As a kid, Terrell attended Westlake High School in South Fulton — just a 25-minute drive west of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where he now spends his Sundays as a professional. Terrell took his talents to Clemson for his college career, but it didn't take long for him to return home as the Falcons' first-round draft pick—No. 16 overall—in 2020. From that moment, Terrell made giving back to his community a defining part of his NFL career.

The wheels of change began turning that year, when he founded the A.J. Terrell Jr. Foundation, an organization committed to advancing Atlanta's future by investing in its greatest asset—its youth.

The signature program of the foundation is the A.J. Terrell Jr. Academy, a school-based leadership and academic coaching program that serves high school student athletes in under-resourced communities. Trained academic athletic coaches are placed directly into schools to work one-on-one with students on academic progress, time management, college planning and life skills.

The foundation also holds an event called the Crownucopia, which served more than 200 women and children living at My Sister's House in Atlanta in 2024. Customized care packages were distributed with premium hair care, skin care and personal care items tailored to natural hair textures and diverse skin needs—an often-overlooked need.

The A.J. Terrell Jr. Foundation had been growing significantly as Terrell's professional career took off, too, but it went into hyperdrive in 2025. That's because Terrell saw a need arise that he was perfectly inclined to fill.

For much of the last decade, Grady Jarrett was the heart and soul of the Atlanta community. As one of the most respected defensive tackles in the league, a longtime mainstay in the Falcons' defense and a kid from Conyers, Georgia, Jarrett was a cornerstone in Atlanta.

The way Jarrett carried himself in the city he called home nearly his entire life resonated with Terrell — a hometown guy himself. As close friends and teammates, the impact Jarrett had in the community was noticed by no one more than Terrell.

When Jarrett was released by the Falcons in early 2025 and signed with the Chicago Bears, there was a Jarrett-sized hole in the hearts of Atlanta. Terrell immediately knew what he had to do, and that was to take up the mantle of his friend and continue the tradition of an Atlanta-raised superstar leading the charge of taking care of the broader Atlanta community.

Terrell and his team got to work.

"I saw Grady get it," Terrell said. "I know how much of an impact he was, and to be the Walter Payton Man of the Year for the whole state of Georgia, for the city. I saw how much he did for where he was from, where he grew up. I feel like this year, I did that a lot. I still think I need to do more, so I plan on getting more of these for sure."

The Academy had already supported over 600 student-athletes across two high schools since its inception in 2023, enabling 90% of participants to maintain academic eligibility, helped students achieve an average 25% GPA improvement over baseline, delivered over 400 hours of academic coaching, mentorship and workshops, hosted leadership sessions with professional athletes, coaches, and educators, connected students with college tours, NIL readiness tools, and financial literacy education.

By 2025, though, the Academy rapidly expanded to impact close to 1,000 student athletes and a third high school in the Atlanta area. That expansion also included additional programming:

• Team Excel: A digital platform that gamifies student performance, tracking GPA, attendance and goal completion
• The Student Emergency Fund: A rapid-response support system for students facing personal, academic, or financial crises
• A revised program framework: With clearer expectations, better training and stronger accountability at the school level

This year, Crownucopia will serve up to 245 residents from My Sister's House and the care package will evolve to include separate, age-appropriate care packages and bulk donations for men's products as well as hair styling, barber services and natural hair care education.

The A.J. Terrell Jr. Foundation also hosted the "Roller Ball" this fall — a celebrity skating experience at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to raise funds for the A.J. Terrell Jr. Academy. With this fundraising effort, it allows the Academy to double it's already growing number of students by more than 800 by 2026.

And this summer, the A.J. Terrell Foundation supported youth through the CAMP HBCYouth's field days. Terrell, himself, invested more than $50,000 in growing this partnership to provide extracurricular activities in the summer to those who couldn't afford it otherwise.

Since his foundation's inception, Terrell has personally contributed over $1 million towards its programs and events.

Not only would Terrell do all of this over again, every single time, but he plans to do even more in the future.

Atlanta is his home, after all, and he wants to take care of it.

"This is an honor and a responsibility of mine," Terrell said, "to give back in any way that I can. It's something I take pride in and something that has always been in my heart, to give back to the places all around that shaped me."