On a foggy Tuesday morning, 
Instead, the versatile defensive back was not only up early, but at Dimmitt Middle School in the Skyway area of Renton for an assembly to pass out backpacks to 500 incoming sixth-graders.
Why? Why not, said the look that washed across Babineaux’s smiling face as he exchanged five-highs and fist-bumps and posed for pictures after the function.
“I feel it’s necessary. I really do,” Babineaux said of putting school kids ahead of sleep on his only off day. “I love to do things for my hometown in Port Arthur (Texas), but I don’t spend most of my time there. I’ll forever do things in Port Arthur and give back to the kids.
“But why not reach out and touch more?”
The assembly at Dimmitt was the first of three for Babineaux, who also appeared at Denny International Middle School and Aki Kurose Middle School later in the day and passed out another 1,000 backpacks. And he also backed up his words by providing the backpacks. Babineaux’s foundation got a reduced price from Old Navy, but the Seahawks’ defensive back still wrote a check to cover the cost.
Babineaux connected with the students at Dimmitt by tailoring his message during a short speech and a Q&A session that spilled into the hallway as the students were heading back to their classrooms.
“I can relate football to life, and I know what it was to be their age,” he said. “I just kind of took myself and became them.”
The message in his speech? Learning is forever.
“How old are you, 12?” Babineaux asked.
When the chorus of kids responded, “Eleven,” Babineaux said, “OK, sorry.”
He then added, “Eleven-years old. I’m 28, and guess what? I still learn to this day. I know, you never would have thought, huh? Just when I thought I had the whole thing of life down and I felt like there was nothing else to learn, that’s the day when you see your old friends and they’re more successful because they continued to learn.
“So learning is forever. And you’ve got to find it exciting to learn something new every day. I learn something new every day. Right now, you are sixth-grade students. In order to go to the seventh grade, you must continue to learn. So find it intriguing, find it beneficial that you learn something new every day.”
But Babineaux was just hitting his stride. When he got to mingle with the students during the Q&A, Babineaux was engaging, entertaining and, yes, educational.
When one girl asked what his biggest competition was, Babineaux didn’t hesitate before offering, “Believe it or not, it’s myself. It’s true, and I’ll tell you why. In order to really take my game to the next level I must have confidence. We talk about self-confidence, don’t we? I have to be confident when I get ready to go out there and play Randy Moss or Larry Fitzgerald or Andre Johnson. Those guys, they’re good. They are. But my confidence – and my preparation, of course – is going to help determine my success. So that’s my biggest competition. My biggest competition is myself.”
When another girl asked what he liked about football, Babineaux again turned teacher and provided a life-lesson message.
“Football, and getting ready for the game on Sunday, is like taking a test,” he said. “You study, study, study and you take that test and you’re just so confident and you know all the answers. Then comes the following day and you see that good grade. It’s rewarding for you, because you know that the time you put in to study for that test and you went in a nailed that test. It’s like, ‘Wow. What’s next? Bring it on. I’m ready.’
“So that’s what it is for me about football. All week long I study, study, study my opponent and then on Sunday it’s my big test. And it feels good to have success. So I love embracing and living in the moment.”
Even on a foggy Tuesday morning, when he could have put sleep ahead of students, but didn’t.
