After starting all 26 games across 2009 and 2010, Sherman told Branton that he expected to be drafted in the first round. They went to Las Vegas, stayed at a suite in the Rio. That first day, the phone never rang. Sherman never left the room. The Seahawks called him in the fifth.

There were 153 players selected ahead of him. He does not know all of them. But the 31 defensive backs? Their names — their names he remembers.

• • •

Since 2011, Sherman has 20 interceptions, most in the N.F.L. The first 10 balls are on display at his parents’ home, where they have lived for the last three years. The living room is crammed with jerseys and plaques and photographs and newspaper clippings. Open the front door, and there, on the floor, is a photo collage from his Stanford graduation.

Only three people could have predicted Sherman’s N.F.L. success, Donerson said, but one of them disagrees. Kevin said he figured Sherman would linger for a few years, have a marginal career.

“I never could have guessed this,” Kevin said. “I never would have guessed this.”

Last spring Sherman returned to Dominguez, driving his stock-issued Dodge Challenger with the cones and footballs in the trunk, to emphasize the importance of education. He told players how the average N.F.L. career lasts three and a half seasons; it was up to them, he said, to prepare for the rest of their lives.

Sherman has yet to reach that three-and-a-half-year threshold. In his three seasons, he has exchanged Twitter barbs with Darrelle Revis; barked at Tom Brady; mocked Roddy White; won an appeal to avoid a four-game suspension after a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs; burnished his credentials as one of the best cover cornerbacks in the league; and, now, this kerfuffle.

“He doesn’t want to be your friend or anything like that,” said Kris Richard, Seattle’s secondary coach. “He wants to go out there and have a fantastic time with his teammates and dominate.”

Sherman has been visualizing exactly that. Next Sunday afternoon, he will board a team bus for MetLife Stadium, always sitting in the same seat, beside Earl Thomas. Here he begins his transformation: scoundrel to some, beacon to others and a voice, striving to be heard above the din, to all.