FRISCO — It’s called sacrifice.
William and Tashona Booker understood the moment they agreed to take their oldest son, Tyler, from their home in New Haven, Conn., to Oradell, N.J., to play high school football at state power Bergen Catholic.
It didn’t matter that Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells was from Oradell. This was about Tyler and his quest to play big-time football.
On Friday afternoon, when the Cowboys’ first-round pick was introduced to the media at The Star, a nice ovation was given to William and Tashona. The family made this happen for Tyler.
Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner, knows all about family. His son was seated to his right on the stage as they talked about all the positives coming from Tyler, the projected starting right guard for the Cowboys from Alabama.
To get here, Booker needed a buy-in from family to move from Connecticut to New Jersey to Florida.
Toward the end of his ninth-grade year, William decided Tyler would play football at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
“If you trust me, it’s going to pay off,” William said to his son. “If you trust me and mommy, I promise you, it’s going to pay off and here we are.”
The sacrifices parents make for their children are hard to describe.
The actions dictate so much.
William said the family wanted to support Tyler’s younger brother, Mason, as well. As Tyler was morphing into a Division I football prospect who would play football games nationally, Mason was also playing football.
During Tyler’s journey at IMG, William said Mason had a football scrimmage in New Jersey and Tyler a varsity football game in Ohio the same weekend. The family caught the scrimmage then drove eight hours to Ohio for the football game.
“Team no sleep,” William joked.
That’s what families do. Sacrifice. It wasn’t lost on Tyler.
“They told me, keep working and everything will happen,” he said. “Thank you for keeping me on track.”
At first, Tyler had issues adjusting to life in Florida. It’s one thing to be nearly two hours away from family, even with his dad finding a job and moving from New Haven to Oradell.
But it’s another thing when the son is living in Florida. Of course, you can drive to Florida, but it’s not the same.
“We try to go through all the different factors if a person would be successful living at a place like IMG because living in a boarding school for a lot of families is a big step and it’s very different,” said Kyle Brey, the director of football at IMG. “And Tyler was somebody, from a young age, he was identified as an interest in the program and we reciprocated that because it looks like a huge upside.”
IMG discovered Tyler after he posed for a picture with an assistant coach from IMG while attending a football camp in Florida.
The process began with an interview, the measurables and, of course, the desire to play high-end football for a national power.
Booker was originally a defensive tackle, paired with JC Latham. It was quickly discovered both players would better be served as offensive linemen.
Latham graduated from IMG, went to Alabama and was a 2024 first-round pick by the Tennessee Titans at tackle. Booker graduated, went to Alabama and was the No. 12 pick by the Cowboys on Thursday night at guard.
“It was tough, but it molded me to who I am today,” Booker said of IMG. “I feel like as a man nobody grows in comfort. You have to be in situations where you’re uncomfortable. That’s how you grow as a man when you have to figure some stuff out and how bad do I really love football. You can ask my parents, they told me keep on working and everything will happen.”
On Friday afternoon with his agent, little brother, sister, girlfriend and mom and dad watching from the side of the stage, Tyler praised them all.
The sacrifice of moving away at 14 years old for a boarding school to achieve your dreams of becoming a professional football player was met.
During the middle of all the sacrifices, William Booker recalled telling a friend his feelings about his son.
“I never told my boy, but in the midst of our conversations [with my friend], I broke down and he didn’t catch it,” William Booker said. “My boy, man, my son is leaving. I’m not going to be able to see him every day. Being in Florida, I can’t get to him like that. I had to tighten him up. This is a sacrifice he didn’t get to IMG if we didn’t make sacrifices to go to New Jersey. So we understood that.”
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
