RICHMOND, Va. -- The unwritten rule was basic, one that a household of 23 kids sharing two rooms and three beds had to adhere to when it came to sleeping arrangements: first come, first served. Kapri Bibbs knew if he wanted a spot on the bed, he had to be on it when it was time to sleep. And if he went to the bathroom at night, there was a good chance someone would grab the opening and he’d be back on the floor, one with no carpeting and more dirt than wood.

“Sometimes you’re laying there with nine kids and a twin bed,” said Bibbs, a Washington Redskins running back. “We had people laying down like sardines. One person would lay their head down that way and the other person would lay their head down [the other way] and you’d have to sleep on someone’s feet and use their feet as a pillow.”

Rats and mice roamed the floors of his Chicago house, as did spiders and other insects. What was supposed to be similar to a basement, he said, was really a dirt hole that flooded, bringing unwelcome critters. There were days with one meal -- Malt-O-Meal was a go-to -- and days when he witnessed shootings.

“I’m not saying it was completely a bad thing coming from those circumstances,” Bibbs said. “Those are all amazing things I learned in my life by adversity and even getting to where I am now, just showing me how far you can come with faith and working hard.”

It was also his normal.

"I wasn't a role-model kid. Something just clicked once I saw how serious it was and how bad I loved football and how I wanted to succeed in life. I had to change everything. I had to do something different."

Kapri Bibbs

“At the time, it didn’t really seem like something I should really be depressed about,” Bibbs said. “I had my family. Every single day was full of excitement because I was with all these other kids. We roamed the hood, we roamed the streets and it was all of us vs. anyone else out there and we would always win.”

That also gave Bibbs a great deal of confidence, which was boosted by success in football. He was a high school star in Chicago, once rushing for 520 yards in a game -- third-most in Illinois state history -- and seven touchdowns in a game. In one season at Colorado State, Bibbs rushed for 1,741 yards and 30 touchdowns despite starting only six games. He rushed for 312 yards in one game and followed it a week later with 291 yards and six touchdowns.

But it’s been tough for Bibbs to find a permanent home in the NFL. He spent most of two seasons on Denver’s practice squad, with one regular-season game in 2015. He made it to the Broncos’ active roster again in November 2016 and took a screen pass 69 yards for a score. But three games later, he suffered a season-ending high ankle sprain. Last season, he was cut by San Francisco and later was signed to the Redskins’ practice squad. He spent three weeks on the active roster, finishing with 21 carries for 79 yards and 14 catches for 128 yards.

He’s in a tight competition for perhaps the final running back spot. Redskins running backs coach Randy Jordan said Bibbs’ background has led to determination.

One day in practice, Bibbs messed up in pass protection; he had his man lined up, but the defender got past him.

“He couldn’t turn the page,” Jordan said. “He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Coach, put me back in; put me back in.' He wanted to rectify that, and he got in and made a tremendous play on a choice route.

“When you come from a background where you don’t have a whole lot and had to fight for everything you got, you develop a shell in terms of having the mentality like, ‘Hey, man, I have to grind through this. When things get tough, this is the way we have to roll.’”

For Bibbs, it’s about doing more than just making a roster.

“I want to be one of the best that’s ever played this game,” he said. “I’m still young and I’ve got more than enough in the tank. My IQ for the game is on a whole other level. It’s time for me to show the world what I’ve got.”

Things remain difficult for members of Bibbs' family. He said a cousin was shot and killed earlier this month. Bibbs could not attend the funeral because he was in training camp in Richmond. When he was younger, Bibbs said he witnessed a man get shot in the neck by a shotgun, the force sending the man flying through the air.

“That city needs help all the way around,” he said about Chicago. “Man, if I could tell you how many times I’ve seen shootings and stuff happen. I hate to say it, but I’m almost numb to it now, growing up seeing that stuff ever since I was a little kid. That was just something that was normal in Chicago and you couldn’t hide it from anybody. It was different in Chicago than a lot of other hoods, a lot of other ghettos, because no one in the hood was ever wealthy. Everyone was dirt poor. Everyone was Section 8. If someone did pop with something, someone else wanted it. That’s how a lot of problems started.”

At about age 16, Bibbs started worrying about the path he was traveling. His football talent was evident, but so were his issues in the classroom. Bibbs had help, from football coaches to his mother and grandmother. But he needed to change; he said his GPA went from a 1.7 to a 3.2.

“I wasn’t handling my business or staying out of trouble,” he said. “I wasn’t a role-model kid. Something just clicked once I saw how serious it was and how bad I loved football and how I wanted to succeed in life. I had to change everything. I had to do something different.”

His mother, Stacey Griffin, helped provide a blueprint for how to emerge. She went to school and earned degrees -- she’s now working on a doctorate in psychology -- and eventually became a multistate real estate broker who also owns her own construction company. She did well enough to move her kids to a five-bedroom house out of danger. The messages she shared over the phone are similar to the ones Bibbs expressed during an interview after practice.

“It’s just opportunities,” Griffin said. “There are a lot of good kids that come from hard times or from the ghetto, especially being African-American. We usually start at the bottom. You’re witnessing resilience and him being able to stay focused and ignore the noise, the negativity that is said about you and your culture. One of his gifts is that he knew how to find the right people.”

Bibbs’ family stayed in the house with 23 people until Kapri was around 10 or 11 years old. After that it was a year in foster care. Then his grandmother gained custody. Eventually they moved into a one-bedroom apartment with, he said, 14 or 15 kids -- all of whom slept in the living room.

“We just tried to find our way around the system so we didn’t have to be in it,” he said.

His mother occasionally talks to students, and her message often centers on letting them know what they can accomplish despite their surroundings. That’s also the impetus for Bibbs’ foundation -- “Keep Letting Them Believe.” He runs a camp in the summer and buys materials for underprivileged schools.

“You still thrived, you still survived,” Griffin said. “What is it now with Kapri that he’d be afraid of? He’s not afraid of failure, not afraid of throwing yourself on the line, not afraid to try and go for it. What they consider to be, ‘Wow, 23 kids; wow, this economic depression,’ he had laughter and food and people. We had a lot of smiles and a lot of good times.”

Bibbs understands what he went through; he also chooses to focus more on lessons learned.

“I grew up faster because I knew the value of money. I knew the value of family,” he said. “I knew the value of wealth and between being wealthy and being rich. Our family wasn’t wealthy, but we were rich in morals, rich in family. My family overshadowed everything. I wouldn’t have the way I was raised any other way.”