"They all asked me what I wanted to be when I was older, for my job,'' Searcy recalled. "Career day would come along and they'd ask me what I wanted to be and I'd tell them I wanted to play in the NFL. They would always say, 'Well, you need a Plan B. What's your Plan B?' And I'd always tell them, 'Plan A and Plan B are the same. I plan on playing football.'"

Tracy Searcy, his mom, remembers well.

"He didn't have a back-up plan. He never had a back-up plan,'' she said with a smile. "I used to tell him myself he needed to have a second idea of what he wanted to do, too. But he always said he didn't have to because he was going to play in the NFL. I guess he was right."

Yes, Searcy was right. The safety is in his fifth NFL season, his first with the Tennessee Titans.

On Sunday at Nissan Stadium, Searcy will line up against his old team, the Buffalo Bills. Searcy spent his first four seasons in Buffalo before signing a four-year deal with the Titans during the offseason.

Searcy smiles when he thinks about his childhood dream. But he doesn't pinch himself.

In his mind, there was never a doubt.