Kadarron Anderson agreed to terms with the Saints shortly after the 2012 NFL Draft. Despite going undrafted out of Furman University, Anderson was determined to pursue his dream of making an NFL roster. Not hearing his name called was just a minor set-back considering the path he has taken to reach his dream.
Anderson was born as the youngest of five siblings in Rock Hill, S.C. in 1989. He grew up with one brother, Demarco, and three sisters.
His mother suffered from a drug addiction and when he was just six years old Anderson and his siblings were all sent to different foster homes. One sister stayed in Greenwood, one moved to Colombia and his last sister was located an hour away.
Kadarron and Demarco were taken to a number of foster homes and eventually ended up 90 miles away from home at Connie Maxwell Children's Home in Greenwood, S.C. when he was eight years old.
"When I was really young, it was tough because we were all split up," said Anderson. "I was the youngest of five children so I was kind of a mama's boy. At least I wasn't by myself. There were a lot of things I didn't understand at that point."
Anderson was only able to see his siblings a couple times a year and very rarely saw his mother until high school.
Despite moving to different foster homes when he was younger, Kadarron remained at Connie Maxwell Children's Home until he graduated from Emerald High School.
While in high school, Anderson played basketball, soccer and ran track along with playing football. While playing football, Anderson played almost every position except for his current one, linebacker. Anderson saw action at free safety, wide receiver, punt returner, kick returner and quarterback while at Emerald. He was a three-time All-Lakeland and all-region selection and two-time coaches all-state recipient.
"I had some emotional problems growing up so I used sports as an outlet to take my mind off of everything," said Anderson. "I was basically doing anything that would keep my mind going forward and try to not to reminisce on the past too much."
Despite receiving offers from multiple schools including a few Conference-USA teams, Anderson decided to play college football at Furman where he majored in Business Administration. He started for three years at middle linebacker for the Paladins and recorded 372 tackles including 21 for a loss in his 44-game career. He was a three-time All-Southern Conference selection after leading the team in tackles in each of his three years as a starter.
"Furman has a great reputation for academics," said Anderson. "I knew that I couldn't bank everything on football. Getting a good degree will help me out later in life."
Anderson said that his mom has been clean for about ten years and through football, the family has come together. All three of his sisters currently reside in South Carolina and he says they are pretty close now.
Since graduating, Kadarron said he has turned his focus to competing for a spot on an NFL roster, a dream he has had since before he even played organized sports.
"It is definitely still a long process and nothing is guaranteed right now," said Anderson. "But to being able to have this opportunity of a lifetime is a dream come true."
