Maclin would rather be an Eagle

DR. JEFF PARRES has known Jeremy Maclin since the Eagles' 2009, first-round pick was 9 years old. You could say Parres approves of the pick; in fact, he likes him so much that "he's a son now."

Maclin has lived full time with the Parres family, in suburban St. Louis, since his sophomore year in high school, intermittently for several years before that, starting when Parres was his youth football coach.

"Jeremy's never known his father, and his mom has had some difficulties in life, off and on," Parres said outside the NovaCare auditorium yesterday, after Maclin and second-round running back LeSean McCoy finished their introductory press conferences. "Little league football, weeknights, I would take Jeremy home after practice. There were times that there was no one at home and the doors would be locked, and he would have to climb through the window to get in, wouldn't have dinner. Those were the tough times. I think it made him very mature; he's kind of seen both sides of some things."

Missouri receivers coach Andy Hill stressed yesterday that Maclin "didn't lose contact with his mother," and that it was Maclin more than the Parres family that made the decision.

"The living situation for him was not the best. He decided he needed to move out," Hill said. "He's really loyal to the people who have helped him."

"There wasn't really any one discussion," Parres said, in which Parres and his wife, Cindy, decided to add Maclin to their family, which already included two sons. "I look back on that and I think, 'How could you not?' Fortunately, we've got the means to do it. When you run across somebody's life who isn't as all tucked-in and perfect as yours is, I don't know how you could turn your back on it."

Maclin said both his adopted family and his real family helped make him who he is; he also credited God.

"I feel like I've gone through a lot of stuff in my life, throughout my childhood growing up," he said. "I feel like there's not much that can really faze me. That's why I feel I'm fine with anything that's thrown out there against me. Unfortunately, it did happen, but fortunately, I'm here in the great city of Philadelphia with a team who contends every year, and that's what I want to be a part of."