Justin K. Aller/Getty Images JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It was just the other day that Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner gifted his mother a new house, this on the heels of Conner giving his father a new truck ahead of Father’s Day.
Today, Conner’s teammate—23-year-old wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster—revealed that he has purchased a new house for his entire family—a six-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Yorba Linda, Calif., approximately 45 minutes southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
You can see the house—which features a pool and spacious backyard—and learn the entire backstory via a 19-minute video titled Buying My Family a House, which Smith-Schuster posted to his YouTube channel on Monday.
May 25, 2020
The video begins with Smith-Schuster recounting the story of how he grew up in a house with 23 people, so he never had his own space.
“I didn’t get my own bed until I got to college; I didn’t get my own room until I got to the NFL,” Smith-Schuster says. “And now that I’m able to live my dream, play in the NFL, I think it’s everyone’s dream, you know, to take care of their family at some point in their life—especially their parents. For me, myself, I’m buying my parents a house. This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid.”
Then Smith-Schuster FaceTime’s his parents and tells them he bought them their second-choice house, in Chino, Calif., before coming clean: “I’m just playing, I got you guys the other house, in Yorba Linda,” evoking laughter—and then tears from mom.
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June 19, 2020
Fast-forward to mid-June and the video shows Smith-Schuster flying from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles by way of Chicago, wearing a face mask the whole way. While his parents already know about the purchase, his siblings don’t, so Smith-Schuster decided to make the cross-country trip to surprise them.
En route from the airport to Yorba Linda, Smith-Schuster and his crew make a pit stop—at an In-N-Out Burger. Just saying.
Then it’s on to the house, where one of his siblings doesn’t quite believe that her big brother has actually made the purchase.
“It’s not a joke,” Smith-Schuster insists, before the entire family goes inside to check out the spacious interior. Then it’s out to the backyard to see the in-ground pool—and everyone goes for a swim, which evokes memories of Smith-Schuster’s draft-day party, which also took place in southern California.
“As of right now, I’m 23 years old and dreams have come true,” Smith-Schuster says, reminding us that it was little more than three years ago that he was drafted into the NFL by the Pittsburgh Steelers. And now he has a place to stay whenever he returns to Los Angeles to visit his mom, dad, and very appreciative siblings.
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