After being knocked off his feet running through a bag drill, Jamal, a 15-year-old from one of San Francisco's most dangerous neighborhoods, had to pay a visit to Marshawn Lynch's "Work station" for a set of pushups.

Moments earlier as Jamal ran the gauntlet, which included former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson, an animated Lynch barked encouragement, then helped the teenager before sending him off for his pushups. The two then shared a quiet conversation for a minute or two off to the side while the noise and chaos generated by hundreds of teenagers continued on around them.

It was a scene similar to one that played out throughout Saturday's ninth annual Fam 1st Family Youth Football Camp; one that might have been entirely unremarkable if not for the electronic monitoring device strapped to Jamal's ankle.

"That two-minute interaction might change his life," said San Francisco Police Department officer Yossef Azim, who is based out of the city's Tenderloin Station.

Azim, along with Ernest Logoleo, a juvenile probation officer in San Francisco, arranged with Lynch for three of their most serious juvenile offenders, one of whom had recently been shot, to attend Lynch's camp so long as they were able to adhere to a program leading up to the weekend. Jamal, Jason and Ari all met those goals, and as a result they found themselves on the field at Oakland Tech High School being mentored by an NFL superstar.

"These are kids already in our justice system," Azim said. "This is literally going to change lives. He's making them see a whole new way of looking at life. He's really reaching a group and affecting them in a way no one else could."

This is Lynch in his element. This, more than touchdowns, championships or Pro Bowls, will be Lynch's legacy if he has it his way.

Lynch's words don't tell you that—in case you hadn't heard, he isn't much for interviews, including when it came to this story, for which he politely declined to comment—but rather his actions speak loud and clear on this Oakland Tech field or on any given day in Oakland or the Bay Area.

He always comes back and donates his time and money to the kids in Oakland.

On this particular Saturday, Lynch celebrated with a kid who just won a one-on-one blocking drill more than he ever has after scoring a touchdown in five seasons with the Seahawks. Lynch isn't interested in posing for a picture with the mother of a camper, but moments earlier he did pull that woman's daughter off the field to give her a new pair of cleats, one of the more than 400 pairs he gave away to kids who looked like they could use new shoes.

Officially the Fam 1st Family Foundation, which was co-founded in 2011 by Lynch and his cousin Josh Johnson, a quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, aims to "improve the lives of children by mentoring them on the importance of education, literacy and self-esteem," but more than anything, to so many in this area, Lynch and this camp represent hope.

"When you look at him, you see it's possible to make it out," said Seahawks rookie safety Ryan Murphy, who is cousins with Lynch and who participated in the Fam 1st camp back when he attended Oakland Tech. "When he comes back home, he's genuine, he's real. For kids looking up to him, for me looking up to him, we see it's possible to get out of Oakland and do something positive."

And as Officer Azim notes in relation to the three parolees he and Logoleo brought along, that message isn't just about football. Life lessons, from a very literal example of picking yourself back up after you get knocked down, to the importance of not being defined by your mistakes—Lynch has hardly been a saint his entire life—are as big a part of this event as any drill or on-field coaching.