Success isn’t a straight line — and Shavon Revel Jr. knows that better than most.
Revel, the East Carolina cornerback who ranks No. 32 on The Athletic’s most recent 2025 NFL Draft board, is on the doorstep of a pro career with the scouting combine underway. And it’s largely due to his impressive combination of size (6 foot 2, 188 pounds) and speed (projected 4.3-second 40-yard dash).
The combine is where an athletic marvel like Revel should shine. Instead of showing off his talent for NFL teams, though, he will be a spectator when defensive backs work out at Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend, as he continues to work his way back from the torn ACL and partial meniscus tear he suffered in September.
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But adversity is nothing new for Revel, who sees this latest hurdle as just the next chapter in his journey.
“There were a lot of points where I could’ve given up,” Revel told The Athletic. “But I can’t give up on the sport I love.”
Then a quarterback and cornerback at Reynolds High in Winston-Salem, N.C., Revel had his sophomore season come to an abrupt — and nearly tragic — end.
After practice one night, Revel was in a car with his two brothers when his father, Shavon Revel Sr. (who also goes by Keith), suffered a severe coughing fit and briefly blacked out behind the wheel. The car collided with a cement wall underneath an overpass.
“We didn’t know what happened,” Revel Sr. said. “All I know is when I looked in the back seat, it looked like there was a hole in (Shavon Jr.’s) head.”
All four members of the family survived the crash, but Shavon Revel Jr. suffered a fractured skull, which required surgery, as well as a bruised jaw and neck, and a broken nose that needed 28 stitches. Just like that, his football season was over.
It took nearly six months of rehab for Revel to return to a normal physical routine, but he made it back onto the football field in time for his junior season — the key year for college recruiting. Several Division I programs showed interest in him, only for a broken collarbone suffered midway through the season to sideline him again.
By that point, Revel also was fighting an uphill academic battle. He admits now that he was probably too football-focused in high school — all he wanted to do was lift, practice and play ball — and his grades suffered because of that singular focus.
“I wasn’t the best student my freshman and sophomore year,” said Revel, who transferred to Reagan High, also in Winston-Salem, for his senior season. “I did really well my junior and senior years, but it wasn’t enough to pull up my GPA.
“I take accountability for that.”
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Between his injuries and issues in the classroom, Revel saw the interest in him from recruiters dry up. As his prep career ended, he had no Division I offers on the table, so Revel signed with Louisburg College — a small, two-year junior college in rural North Carolina. His plan was to get his grades in order, then transfer up to an FBS school.
But the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of Revel’s first season at Louisburg in 2020. He had no additional game tape to send to schools, no real chance to prove he belonged on a bigger stage.
To stay busy and make money, Revel joined his father and started working in 2021 at an Amazon warehouse in Kernersville, N.C.
His once-promising football career was stuck — and that hold started to feel like it might be permanent.
“I just needed to get him on the field in front of some coaches.”
That was Shavon Revel Sr.’s mindset as the pandemic robbed his son of his freshman year at Louisburg. A seven-on-seven coach who knew Revel Jr. had the talent to make it, Revel Sr. signed up the frustrated cornerback for several prospect camps. One, in June 2021, took the Revels to Greenville, N.C.
Fresh off a 10-hour shift that ran from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., father and son made the drive to East Carolina’s campus, with the hope that someone would take notice of Revel Jr.’s skills — but no real expectations that the camp would lead to anything. Revel Sr. found a spot in the bleachers and watched as his son started working through drills.
“When I saw him run his 40-yard dash, the coach pretty much chased him down,” Revel Sr. said. “I knew it was good news.”
Revel Jr. ran a 4.40-second 40 and complemented it with an 11-foot broad jump and 39-inch vertical. He also completed positional drills as both a safety and cornerback. As Revel Sr. can attest, it didn’t take the East Carolina coaches long to realize they had something.
Eventually, they promised Revel Jr. a scholarship — if he improved his grades during his second year at Louisburg. Revel lived up to his side of the bargain, raised his GPA and enrolled at East Carolina for the 2022 season, hoping to make an impact right away.
Instead, he ran into more obstacles. Revel broke his hand during fall camp, which left him playing catch-up throughout that first season with the Pirates — most of his snaps in ’22 came on special teams. That same year, his oldest sister, Shaqueria Carson, died after suffering from kidney failure.
Revel wound up playing in nine games during his debut East Carolina season, making eight tackles.
Shavon Revel Jr. had 54 tackles and 13 passes defended during a breakout 2023 season. (Photo courtesy of East Carolina University)
But then, finally, the stars aligned for Revel in 2023. He earned a starting corner spot during camp, then went on to lead the Pirates with 13 passes defended and two blocked field goals. He also picked off a pass, which he returned 57 yards for a touchdown. Just two years after chasing down a shot in the FBS, Revel had NFL scouts taking notice of his rise.
Several big-time college programs started poking around Revel, too, hoping to convince him to transfer ahead of the 2024 season. He heard from schools such as Alabama, Texas, LSU and Penn State, all of which were ready to pounce with big name, image and likeness packages well into six figures. No one would have blamed Revel had he jumped into the transfer portal and tried to capitalize on his ’23 success.
However, Revel approached the situation — stressful as it was — with his own perspective.
“Of course, (transferring) popped in my head because I was being offered a lot of money,” Revel said. “But looking at my mom and dad and the way they worked for everything they got, I decided to stay at ECU. I just didn’t agree with kids being handed that kind of money. I wanted to earn it.”
Revel declined those lucrative NIL offers and returned to East Carolina for his senior season, determined to further elevate his draft stock.
Just a few weeks into the 2024 season, though, Revel suffered a non-contact knee injury during practice — an ACL tear that required reconstructive surgery. As fate would have it, NFL scouts had been out to East Carolina’s practice that day the injury occurred and expressed to Revel their excitement about his development.
SHAVON REVEL TO THE HOUSE!!#AmericanWay x @ECUPiratesFB pic.twitter.com/4Ciygq8se0
— The American (@American_Conf) September 14, 2024
Revel flew to Dallas for the surgery, which was performed by Dr. Daniel Cooper, head physician of the Cowboys. Now, five months removed from his procedure, Revel is progressing through pre-draft training in Prosper, Texas, and feels like he’s in a good place. He will not be able to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine but expects to be fully recovered before the regular season opens in September. (Cooper reportedly sent NFL teams a letter this week, confirming that Revel is “on schedule for full return to play this summer.”)
“My dad always taught us to be tough,” Revel said. “A lot of people have it worse than us.”
When NFL teams sit down to interview prospects, they always want to find out what adversities they’ve had to overcome and how they’ve responded to those trying moments. Revel has picked himself up off the mat more than a few times and has remained undeterred — a mindset that should serve him well as he gets ready for the next level.
“The one thing you will never get with Shavon,” Revel Sr. said, “is a quitter. You have my solemn word on that.”
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NFL combine.
(Top photo courtesy of East Carolina University)
