There were times Florida Atlantic linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair had trouble focusing on football.
His mind would often drift, thinking of his younger brothers Abdul-Lateef and Abdur-Rahmaan back home in Tampa. He wondered if they were eating, if they were safe.
He doesn’t have those thoughts anymore, because Al-Shaair moved them to his Boca Raton apartment last summer.
At 20, he serves as the father figure of the household.
“It’s better because I know what they’re doing every day,” Al-Shaair said. “Back home, I had no clue what they were getting into or who could be messing with them.