Jimmy Graham opens up about his childhood. (YouTube/White House)

Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham was not always a 6-foot-7, 270-pound man capable of outrageous physical feats. Before he was a man -- before he was a football player, even -- Graham was just a boy.

That boy grew up in difficult circumstances. He never knew his birth father, and his mother never paid him much mind. The only person he could count on was his stepfather, who Graham said taught him to be a man, showing him how to do everything from tie his shoes to put down the toilet seat. "Growing up, unfortunately around my house, 'love' wasn't a word that was used very much," Graham said, speaking at the White House Foster Care Youth Champions of Change event. "But I truly loved him and I believe that he truly loved me."

But that love apparently did not last long. Graham relayed a story about how his mother would collect $98 a month from his birth father, but since Graham's mother left him with his stepfather for six months, his stepfather wanted that money because he was the one taking care of Graham. When his mother wouldn't relent, "One afternoon, he puts me in the car and he drives me to social services, and he drops me off and tells my mother to come pick me up. So at the age of 9, I was shown my worth from the one man that I loved, which was $98. At the time, I tried to pretend like it wasn't him, or there was different circumstances, but truly, he gave me up for $98 a month."

Graham's mother did eventually pick him up, but again, it didn't take. "About a year after living with my mother, I fell asleep in the car, and I woke up in a group home," Graham said. The home was used for both orphans and as "second chance" housing for young drug offenders placed there by the court.

Early in his time at the home, the children there were all taken to the movies in a van. Graham, at 11 years old, was beaten by all the other kids in the van. He called his mother than night to tell her what had happened, and she simply hung up.

A short time later, Graham's mother randomly showed up to take him home, but he said he took care of himself for the next two years because she was never around. In eighth grade, that changed.

Graham extensively praised his mentor, Becky Vinson, who he met at "house church," which he said he went to at first because it had free food and pretty girls. Vinson asked him one night if he had anything to pray about, and Graham replied, "I just want to pray that my mom doesn't put me back in that home." Graham said Vinson took him in and showed him love, and about a year later he moved in with her. He then started doing much better in school (his grades gradually rose from F's to A's) while also excelling in athletics, eventually landing at the University of Miami, from which he graduated with a double major in business management and marketing.

Graham told the foster kids on hand at the event that everything is going to get easier, and told the mentors how much it means to those kids to have someone in their lives that believes in them. "I'm still that scared young boy, but I'm scared in different ways. I'm scared to fail, really. That's what motivates me in life, and that's what motivates me to be the person that I am," Graham said. "I'm very humbled to be here and share my story with all these champions today."

Go ahead and watch Graham's full speech below, courtesy of the White House. He comes on at around the 28 minute mark.