A momentous day for Terrence Fede served as a beacon of hope for his little cousin.
It was April of 2014, just six months removed from Audric Estime losing his mother at the age of 10 years old, and Fede’s family — now Estime’s as well — had gathered to watch the NFL draft.
Fede had just finished up four seasons as a defensive lineman at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., while Estime was getting comfortable after moving in with his aunt, uncle and cousins in New York.
The expectation was that Fede would get drafted.
On the third day, the Miami Dolphins selected him with the 234th pick in the seventh round. While Fede and his family celebrated his achievement, Estime — then running through opponents on Pop Warner football fields — saw his own path to the pros.
What followed was a relentless pursuit of that dream. Estime dominated the competition in high school and at Notre Dame before the Broncos drafted him in the fifth round this spring. Now, he has a chance to be a key figure in Denver’s future.
Through it all has been Fede, serving as a voice of reason and a source of inspiration in every little step.
“He made me see the light,” Estime told The Denver Post.
“He’s been in my corner”
Before Estime, raised in Nyack, N.Y., saw the possibility of an NFL career, he faced heartbreak.
In October 2013, Estime’s mother, Bertha Noisette, died at 41 due to complications from sickle cell disease. That left him and his older brother, Khadar, with their aunt Marise (Fede’s mother) and uncle Garick Noisette.
Bertha started Estime on his football path. When he was 4, Bertha, a registered nurse, took him to a park and signed him up for youth football. Estime said his mother was a big football fan and expressed her passion whenever he played.
“She was in the hospital on Friday and found some will to make it to my game on Saturday,” Estime, 20, said. “I remember her being at the top of the hill and rolling down whenever I made a tackle or scored a touchdown.”
The loss of his mother was hard on Estime. But her memory has endured, serving as a source of inspiration on and off the field. “You never know, one day you are here and the next day, you are not,” he said. “You just have to give 100%, and I know she would want me to.”
After his mother’s death, Estime’s family wrapped their arms around him and his brother, including Fede, who was in the middle of his senior season at Marist. Terrence returned to home to attend the funeral. Months later, when he was preparing for the NFL draft back at Nyack, Estime watched him train and attended his pro day, getting an early glimpse of the process.
Josh McCown #15 of the New York Jets tackled by Jordan Phillips #97 and Terrence Fede #78 of the Miami Dolphins during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 22, 2017 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Fede played five seasons in the NFL, including three with the Dolphins. He had brief stints with the Bills and on the Giants practice squad before stepping away from the league in 2019. By then Estime had become a star at Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J.
After Estime’s junior season, in which he rushed for 1,190 yards and 15 touchdowns, the world was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. With gyms closed, Estime and Fede went to a local high school, where they would run up a hill and sprint on the track.
“(Estime) was in front of me like five to 10 yards on the sprints, and I was only a year removed from football,” said Fede, who is also Estime’s godfather.
As a senior, Estime was nearly unstoppable, amassing 1,838 yards and 20 touchdowns as a four-star recruit. “He was a man amongst boys,” said Fede, who offered advice on how a linebacker or defensive end would try to maneuver around Estime in pass protection.
Originally committed to Michigan State, Estime eventually switched allegiances to Notre Dame. Fede was partially behind that as well: He encouraged Estime to pick a school that would benefit him on and off the field. Fede didn’t stop being involved once Estime began playing for the Fighting Irish, either.
He watched all of Estime’s games, whether in the stands or in front of a television. He recorded Estime’s games and occasionally texted him advice during halftime.
“Even though you weren’t supposed to (look at your phone), he would tell me things that he saw from a different angle,” Estime said. “I don’t think Terrence even ever missed a snap of mine. And that’s just amazing because I never missed a snap when he was playing.”
Following Estime’s three-year career at Notre Dame, where he rushed for 1,341 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2023, he declared for the draft, and Fede helped him find an agent.
“He’s been in my corner every step of the way,” Estime said.
“A bull in a china shop”
In the middle of an intense running back competition in Denver, Estime will run over anyone to earn a meaningful role this fall.
During the eighth day of training camp, Estime received a handoff before delivering a vicious stiff-arm on edge rusher Thomas Incoom near the sideline, generating a handful of cheers from the Broncos faithful on the berm. Earlier in camp, he steamrolled past a defender who tried to slow him down in the middle of the field.
“He’s a bull in a china shop. A blind dog in a meat house,” quarterback Jarrett Stidham told The Denver Post. “He just runs as hard as he can. It doesn’t matter if there are four people in front of him. He’s gonna try to run them over.”
The Mark Ingram-like ability to mow down defenders played a part in Estime becoming one of the top running backs in the nation.
Estime had moments in high school when he made opponents look helpless. In 2020, he rushed for 200-plus yards in five different games, including a 309-yard and three-touchdown performance against Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J.
Notre Dame running back Audric Estime, right, is tackled by Wake Forest defensive back Malik Mustapha, left, during the first half of an NCAA college football game in South Bend, Ind., Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Once he got to Notre Dame, many of his best performances were littered with highlights of him powering through would-be tacklers. A 123-yard day against Syracuse in 2022 was punctuated by a stiff-arm that looked more like a right hook. A 116-yard outing against Tennessee State included a 50-yard rumble downfield that saw him burst through several arm tackles before three players finally dragged him down. He also had an 80-yard run against N.C. State that was less about breaking tackles and more about running with conviction around the edge.
“There was a time when we were playing against an opponent and he dragged the entire defense, knocking them off one by one, leading to a touchdown,” said Dan Marangi, Estime’s high school coach at Saint Joseph. “The coaches looked at me on the other sideline like ‘What are we supposed to do?’”
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Estime has been able to manhandle defenders because of his size and strength. Fede told Estime that if he wanted to have a long career in football, he’d need to be in the best shape possible to withstand the league’s rigorous schedule.
Estime has taken that advice to heart. He works out five to six times a week and follows a strict diet that includes consuming plenty of protein, eating between three and four meals a day and meticulously tracking his calories. For breakfast, it’s usually some combination of eggs, bacon and fruit. For lunch and dinner, he’ll eat chicken or steak and vegetables. “I’m (Haitian), so we also eat a lot of beef,” said the 227-pound running back.
“He’s got the biggest arms I think I’ve ever seen on a running back,” said right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who also played college football at Notre Dame.
When Estime got drafted by the Broncos in April, Fede said he expressed more joy than when he heard his name called because of everything his cousin had to overcome to get to that moment.
At the same time, he had to remind Estime that he was only at the start of the marathon.
“He has to show the rest of the world what he has,” Fede said.
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