Darnell Dockett of the Arizona Cardinals is dedicating this Sunday’s Falcons home game to his slain mother.

According to the AP, Dockett, an Atlanta native, returned to his Decatur, Ga., home that day to find his mother shot to death in the head, a crime that never has been solved. He went to live with his father, who died a few months later of pancreatic cancer. An uncle is credited with saving him, helping him avoid a life of drugs and crime on the street.

Every time I go into that city, even when I was in college (for Florida State) at Georgia Tech, when I went to Atlanta it was a big thing for me to do well in those games. … That’s where my life really started, there’s so much tragedy there.”

Docket pays tribute to his mother with a tattoo over his heart.

Dockett also wants his fifth-grade teacher there, because she said he would amount to nothing, although his Twitter message used a much stronger word than “nothing.”

“To go back and show people that things are possible. Good things are out there,” Dockett said Wednesday.

“You shouldn’t count somebody out. It’s a big game for me and I hope that I can get in touch with them, even though I know they won’t come because I think their ego will kick in. It would be much more than a privilege just to show them what I’ve done with my life and to look at them and see what thieve done with theirs and it’s probably nothing.”

Dockett also plans to revisit family and friends during is homecoming.

His funniest tweet about his Atlanta homecoming? The one about his 6th grade teacher, who he had a crush on back in the day:

Dockett’s tweets are hilarious but he got himself in a little trouble with the NFL when he sent a Twitter message 20 minutes before kickoff of last Sunday’s game at St. Louis. FYI…the league prohibits “tweets” within 90 minutes of kickoff.

It was a one-word message. “Amen.”

As a fellow ATLien, I wish him the best during Sunday’s game. Seriously…he may play for the other team, but he’s still a homie. The Falcons are just gonna have to come correct this weekend. Home game… tail gating! Whoo-hooo!!! Who’s with me?