Through it all, Bucs LB David focuses on family, football 
Bucs linebacker Lavonte David shares a moment with his mother, Lynette, and his father, Edward Nelson, following Monday’s news conference at One Buc Place. David’s mother was overjoyed: “I can leave here in peace. I won’t have to worry at all. He’s a good young man.” CHRIS URSO/STAFF Published: August 11, 2015 TAMPA — The hug.That was worth the journey.The Bucs have made linebacker Lavonte David rich — a five-year, $50.25 million contract extension, more than $25 million guaranteed. The 25-year-old didn’t hit the lottery. He earned his lottery. Monday was the news conference.“First and foremost, all glory to God,” were David’s first words.He becomes one of the highest-paid linebackers in the NFL. He has bigger plans than that. Bragging isn’t part of any plan. That’s not this humble kid from Miami. He wants to be Bucs bedrock, like teammate Gerald McCoy. He wants to make this franchise a winner again.But the hug.That was everything Monday.After the news conference, Lavonte David reached down and squeezed his mother, Lynette. They held their embrace for half a minute. Then she wiped her tears.Monday was wonderful, then and there.“He worked so hard,” Lynette said. “He did it.”Her soft-spoken son, up on stage, said he wanted to buy her a new home, and help his brothers and sisters and his nephews, and any kid out there who might not think there’s a way to their dream.“And my dad, to get him that tool shed he’s always wanted,” David said.He wants to buy his father, Edward, a tool shed. That’s all. A tool shed.“I’ve got five grandchildren. They’ve got their bicycles and their cars and toys,” Edward said. “And then there’s all my tools. Yes, a tool shed.”“For me, no more worries,” said Lynette, who works as a unit manager at a Miami nursing/rehabilitation center. “I can leave here in peace. I won’t have a worry at all. He’s a good young man. He’s going to do the right thing.”Lavonte is the baby of the family. His two brothers and sister were there Monday, Edward, Jerode and Shanterra. So was his girlfriend, Tondrea Haddly. They met at Miami’s Northwestern High School. It took Lavonte asking a few times before Tondrea agreed to go out.“He’s just a respectful person,” Tondrea said. “If you find a guy who treats you like a queen, you hold on.”David has led the Bucs in tackles in each of his three seasons here. He is about the job. When he agreed to terms Sunday night, he passed on any picture taking. He just wanted to get back downstairs to team meetings. It was so Lavonte.His family watched over him in Miami’s troubled Liberty City neighborhood. In high school, Lavonte didn’t have the grades for most Division I programs. The big schools tried to get him to sit out, re-take tests and wait. His mother, worrying over him and idle time in Liberty City, helped point him to community college to keep him studying — and safe.“My responsibility was to him, not to football,” Lynette said.That’s how Lavonte ended up in Fort Scott, Kan., Community College.He’s not in Kansas anymore. He eventually became a star at Nebraska, then for the Bucs. There’s a Pro Bowl out there with his name on it, maybe more than one, especially if the Bucs win and David’s star gets out more. Not that he craves fame or celebrity. It’s like he said as a Bucs rookie:“I never liked a lot of attention. That’s just the way my family is, relaxed, chill, no negativity. ... I’m not a big guy on going out. I just stay off the scene, be off by myself a lot.”Nothing has changed.Monday, Lavonte David was about a house for his mom, a tool shed for his dad. He was about taking care of his family, his world, and kids out there who maybe need a role model.The youngest son hugged his mother, and whispered to her.“He told me he loved me,” Lynette said.link