During his rookie season in 2010, when Albert McClellan was a member of Baltimore's practice squad, he received a call from a family member telling him his mother was being moved to hospice.

Her three-year battle with colon cancer was coming to an end and McClellan was quickly on his way home to Florida to see her. When McClellan walked into his his mother's room, she looked at him with a surprised look on her face.

"Why aren't you at work? What's the point in coming home? Why aren't you getting ready for the game?" McClellan's mother, Constance Barr, asked him. The Ravens had a game in just a couple of days against Tampa Bay. But McClellan knew where he belonged.

"Mama, I'm here, they told me I could come," McClellan replied.

"Nah baby, just go back to work, I'll be all right," Barr said, confidently. "I'll be going home soon."

McClellan knew his mother didn't want him to leave, so he stayed. He remained in Florida for two weeks until his mother died. McClellan described her as strong, a natural athlete, who played volleyball, softball, basketball and track.

She passed on her tough mindset to her son, telling him not to show he was hurt on the football field unless the injury was something major.

When Barr first experienced pain from the cancer, she shrugged it off, maybe to a fault. She didn't want to appear weak. In 2007, she was admitted to a hospital and that's when McClellan's family begin to realize something was wrong. The cancer was advanced at that point and the diagnosis wasn't good. But Barr was determined to fight it as hard as she could.

"Me and my mother had the same personality," McClellan said. "We were always in a competition no matter what we were doing. It could be as small as an argument over what kind of car it is. We both were strong. No matter what it was, we were both going to compete to prove ourselves."

For McClellan, he's had to prove his worth since his high school football playing days. He said he grew up in the shadow of his brother Julius, who was a standout receiver. As a two-star prospect out of Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Fla., McClellan wasn't recruited by many major BCS-level programs. He committed to Marshall in 2005 and had a stellar collegiate career with the Thundering Herd, earning Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2006.

Despite the success at Marshall, McClellan went undrafted in 2010 before signing with the Ravens. Fast forward two years and McClellan has placed himself in an excellent position in the competition to be Baltimore's starting rush linebacker when the team's regular season begins on Sept. 10.

McClellan's versatility stands out in Baltimore's defense. He played defensive end at Marshall but was an inside linebacker a year ago, starting against San Francisco when Ray Lewis was out with a turf toe injury.

This year, he's moved to outside linebacker with Terrell Suggs partially tearing his Achilles tendon and Jarret Johnson leaving for San Diego in free agency.

With Baltimore selecting former Alabama star Courtney Upshaw with the 35th overall pick, it was initially assumed Upshaw would step into a starter's role with Suggs going down. But McClellan's given the coaching staff a lot to think about with the way he's performed through training camp.

"He’s a guy that competes every single day," coach John Harbaugh said. "His work ethic is as good as anybody’s. He doesn’t say much. He just goes out there and does his job, and he is playing at a really high level.”

Lewis, who attended the same high school as McClellan but about a decade earlier, knew of his teammate's accolades as he was coming through Kathleen High. He described McClellan as someone determined to get the job done for his teammates.

"He is going to give you everything he has and that’s what you appreciate about him," Lewis said. "He’s a very humble man, and he plays the game with a certain love and certain passion for it.”

McClellan said his mother taught him the importance of being a role player.

It's one the reasons he took to being a special teams grinder and someone who figures to see significant time in the linebacker rotation this season.

Now that his mom's gone, her memory still lives in McClellan's mind. He remembers her lessons and plays the game the way she'd want him to.

"I know she would want to be watching," McClellan said as his eyes began to water. "I gotta go out here and see her. I credit myself every day for going out and doing this for her. I know she's watching so I go out here and give it my all, every chance I get."

Follow Ravens reporter Jason Butt on Twitter @CBSSportsNFLBAL.