Michigan defensive end Eyabi Okie wears a thin, black bracelet with a picture of his late grandmother on his wrist. A subtle reminder as he goes through daily life that he had people in his corner through the worst of times and the best.

Even if she's not with him in physical form, the reminder that's tucked within his football glove is proof that stories of redemption can take place when you listen to those who care about you.

Okie's travels through college football have been well-documented and he will be the first to tell you that mistakes were made but, ultimately, every misguided judgment along the way was a lesson.

A lesson he'll never forget.

One of the biggest lessons he had to learn was to listen to his grandma, someone that single-handedly saved his football career from fizzling out before it even started.

"The biggest thing, honestly, is my grandma," Okie told reporters this week. "My grandma, throughout this process, no one wants to see their—I consider my grandma my mom. No one wants to see their son go through their ups and downs. My grandma, she never turned her back on me. Really helped me kind of stay grounded. It gets me emotional because she's not here. She's literally the reason why I made a whole 360. When you sit right there and you see a woman that's like, hey, you can do anything, do it for me. You're really bought in at that point."

Time with grandparents is never long enough. The fragility of life was shown to Okie, who was served a wake-up call after his grandmother started to become ill and take a turn for the worst.

A subtle reminder that things can be taken away in an instant.

"When my grandma started getting sick. My grandma, she was one of the strongest people I know. Beat COVID twice. When she really started getting sick and I really started seeing her health regress. I'm just like, woah, her time is really limited. I have to really maximize every single thing that she's said to me. Every single thing that I do. That's why I wear this bracelet everywhere I go with a picture of her inside. Every single time I am having a bad day or if things might not be going my way, I look at it and my grandma is right here. How would I react? I do exactly how my grandma would do it."

Coming to the realization that you have to change your ways is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. The reality hits hard, like unexpected news.

For Okie, he had two options. Fold or move forward.

With the love and support of his grandma, he moved forward.

While not everything is going to be sunny from here on out, even Okie admits to having bad days. He knows tomorrow isn't guaranteed and playing the game he loves isn't handed to anyone, it's earned.

With his grandmother by his side at all times, he knows he simply can't lose.

"Sometimes, you can be mad. We're all human so you're not going to be happy all the time and you're not going to be mad all the time," Okie said. "It's the way that you handle things. That health part of my grandma, that really changed a lot of things. Brought me to a different perspective. OK, everything isn't a guarantee. Right now, this is a luxury playing football at the next level. Especially at a Power Five. A lot of people don't get this opportunity. My grandma was really stressing, 'You have a chance to be good.' Be straight. Make sure your siblings are taken care of. You have to take this serious. Just keep on stressing. I've taken care of you, I've grown up, too."