ASHBURN, Va. -- The last in a series of profiles, designed to let you know another side to different Washington Redskins players. Today: Defensive lineman Frank Kearse.

Age: 26

College: Alabama A&M

How acquired: Signed as a free agent in the offseason.

Person you most admire: My mentor, Edwin Bailey. He played for [11 years] with the Seattle Seahawks and also coached me in high school, and we’ve been close ever since. A great influence on the field and off the field, always telling me positive stuff and how to avoid the potholes of life, always helping me as a person and as a man.

Biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome: Adversity. Nothing in particular, just adversity and being able to transition and not stop. Most people when they hit adversity, they stop and get in the dumps. I like to thrive on it, focusing on one play at a time, one snap. If you take notes in the meeting room, take one note at a time. Don’t worry about how many notes you take, just take that one note. When you simplify like that, you look up and you’re like, 'man I took all these notes' and it doesn’t seem like you’ve been sitting at the table an extra hour a day. An extra hour a day, seven days a week ... You’ve stole seven hours.

Favorite football memory: It was my first start in the NFL, my rookie year. We’re playing Atlanta at home in Carolina and I got a sack on the third play of the game. It was awesome. It was awesome. The week before I was on the practice squad. I just got activated and I was like 'man hard work does pay off.' I couldn’t stop smiling.

Go to meal: I really, really like seafood gumbo. I’m from Savannah, Georgia, and my mom makes it. She’s probably making it right now. I won’t get any. But I really like seafood gumbo.

What he likes to do off the field: I like fishing in the offseason, preferably salt water, and I also like listening to music, any genre of music. Everything from Taylor Swift to Yo Gotti to Young Jeezy to Jason Aldean. It doesn’t matter. I listen to everything.

What you dreamed of being as a kid: To tell you the truth, I wanted to be a football player. Wait, I take that back. I wanted to be the next Frank Thomas. I swear I thought I was going to be him, being on first base eating sunflower seeds. Then a baseball hit me in the face and I had a black eye for a month, so I needed to find a sport with a facemask. I was about 9. I took a year out from baseball and tried out for football when I was 11 and I freaking quit. I was like 'what are they running around for?' I had to get in shape. The next year I came out and I was in way better shape. In football you have to be in shape, and when I first started out I was nowhere near football shape.

What you want to do when you’re older: I want to coach. I want to start out coaching at my hometown high school in Savannah, and then after that move up.