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Top NFL Draft prospect KC Concepcion opened up about growing up with a stuttering problem in a letter to general managers.
Concepcion, a former Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver, opened his letter and acknowledged his strain issues. The 21-year-old spoke of being made fun of at school because of his stutter.
“The other kids at school, they would notice how I would get stuck on certain words. Or that it would take me a second to answer the teacher, or to tell them my name,” Concepcion wrote in The Players Tribune.
“And look — kids are mean sometimes. Simple as that. They’d point at me, or make faces, or raise their eyebrows, and then it’d be, ‘What’s wrong with you?!??!'”
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Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver KC Concepcion runs for a touchdown against the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo., Nov. 8, 2025. (Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
“Or, ‘why can’t you talk normally? Are you stupid or something????’ Death in my face. While cracking up laughing. Not with meor even sore me…. On me. Man…that was tough.
“But that’s how it was for me as a little kid. Every day. Monday through Friday at school. There were so many afternoons when I’d come home from school just totally down. I’d cry my eyes out to my mom, seriously.”
Concepcion wrote that his mother would do everything she could to boost his confidence. The Rochester, New York, native said he looked forward to weekends because it meant he could be himself and get to play football.
As the team’s quarterback, however, he said he would have trouble getting the words out when trying to call players. Concepcion said that during elementary school he was in speech classes to try to help, but nothing seemed to work.
Concepcion said one summer after the school year ended, his stuttering was gone, but when he returned to school, the stuttering returned and hasn’t gone away since. He said no one at school looked out for him when he was made fun of because of his stutter.
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Texas A&M wideout KC Concepcion during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 28, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“I’d love to tell you that I had a bunch of teachers that looked out for me or other adults at school that would help me deal with all the teasing, but that wasn’t really the case. There was also no one that I knew or looked up to that was dealing with anything like that. So I pretty much just figured things out on my own,” Concepcion said.
“And then how I would deal with my situation is a lot of times… I basically just wouldn’t talk. Especially around people I didn’t know. And when I had to speak up, I learned to clap back. I had those comebacks ready, man! Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. But it was like…. At least I’m doing something!”
The criticism Concepcion faced for his stuttering continued at the NFL Scouting Combine in March, and he took to social media to fire back at critics. More than 80 million people around the world, including about 3 million Americans, deal with stuttering, according to The Stuttering Foundation.
Concepcion had a message for children dealing with tribal issues.
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Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko hugs Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver KC Concepcion (7) before a game against the Miami Hurricanes during the first round of the CFP at Kyle Field on Dec. 20, 2025. (Maria Lysaker/Imagn Images)
“So to any kid out there who’s carrying something heavy right now — a stutter, something that makes you feel different, anything that’s ever made anyone look at you sideways … just know this: My success … it’s your successtoo,” Concepcion wrote.
“I want you to come on this journey with me. Because you and me? We’re not weird. There’s nothing wrong with us. Whatever makes you different—that’s not what’s holding you back. It’s your thing. Own it. Be you, fully. Without apology.”
With the Aggies last season, Concepcion caught 61 passes for 919 yards and nine touchdowns, leading the SEC in touchdowns. He was named to the All-American team for the first time in his collegiate career last season.
