It's Good To Be A Little Cocky
posted by Scott Hood on Monday, August 20, 2007
It’s physically and mentally challenging. It takes talent, a willingness to work on and off the field and a healthy dose of self-discipline to succeed.
Being just a little bit cocky doesn’t hurt either.
Take Brian Maddox, for example.
Maddox was, by all accounts, a fabulous running back at T.L. Anderson High School in Anderson. He rushed for 1,750 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior and played in the Shrine Bowl and the Offense-Defense All-Star Game in Ft. Lauderdale.
He had dozens of college recruiters on his doorstep trying to convince him to play football for their university. The praise, I’m sure, was flowing freely.
When Maddox first stepped onto the South Carolina campus in July, he was absolutely sure of one thing – he wasn’t going to redshirt.
Maddox feels he’s plenty good enough to play. Now.
That’s why Maddox was horrified when the dreaded “r” word came up in an interview a week or so ago. Of course, the topic was relevant because Steve Spurrier had casually mentioned in a post-practice interview that Maddox could, you know, sit out a year to grow and develop.
The response by Maddox a couple of days later was one for the ages: h-e-double hockey sticks no.
Was Maddox being a little bit cocky? You bet.
Dr. Phil would have been proud.
But at this level you must be confident in yourself and your abilities in order to compete. The mentally weak fall by the wayside.
As they say, only the strong survive.
In my opinion, Maddox had proven he’s ready to play this season in the pair of scrimmages over the past two weekends. Maddox has shown the speed, agility, toughness and willingness to take on tacklers that a quality running backs needs in the SEC.
With Bobby Wallace out until at least the third week of the season with a fractured clavicle and Taylor Rank sidelined with an injury, Maddox will likely start the season No. 3 on the running back depth chart behind Cory Boyd and Mike Davis.
That should end all talk of a redshirt.
Maddox is hardly alone in his positive feelings about himself. Most of the players in the last two recruiting classes have a swagger about them that suggests self-confidence.
They didn’t come to South Carolina to lose. They believed Spurrier when he told them he was building a SEC championship contending team.
If you think all of this is something new, forget it. When I spoke with former USC defensive back Rick Sanford recently, he told me he arrived at USC in the fall of 1975 convinced he could compete right away at the major college level. He was a good player, and he knew it.
Maddox is merely the latest example of a player with that attitude.
Where does all this talk of confidence and cocky attitudes lead us? The USC offensive line.
Following Saturday’s scrimmage, Spurrier proclaimed that many of USC’s younger offensive linemen – four of whom are redshirt freshmen – had to learn to compete harder.
His message was clear: some of these linemen simply weren’t tough enough or mean enough to compete consistently at the SEC level.
Granted, the first-team offensive line appears to be in good shape and should play much better coming out of the gate than last season. But the second and third-team lines need a lot of work.
What they need to do is get more cocky.
They must say to themselves that no matter what, they’re going to smack the guy in front of them as hard as they can. Within the rules, of course.
Right now, they’re too nice.
Maybe in time, they’ll learn. But time is not on their side. You need two complete offensive lines to meander through the physically demanding SEC schedule, so some of them will have to play.
So, these offensive linemen Spurrier was talking about have a choice: they can stay the course and be embarrassed in front of 82,000 fans and whoever is watching on TV when the season starts in less than two weeks or they can develop a nasty streak and start fighting back.
My advice to them: get a little cocky.
And please consult with Brian Maddox if you have any questions.
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Playing Division I college football at the SEC level is not easy.
It’s physically and mentally challenging. It takes talent, a willingness to work on and off the field and a healthy dose of self-discipline to succeed.
Being just a little bit cocky doesn’t hurt either.
Take Brian Maddox, for example.
Maddox was, by all accounts, a fabulous running back at T.L. Anderson High School in Anderson. He rushed for 1,750 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior and played in the Shrine Bowl and the Offense-Defense All-Star Game in Ft. Lauderdale.
He had dozens of college recruiters on his doorstep trying to convince him to play football for their university. The praise, I’m sure, was flowing freely.
When Maddox first stepped onto the South Carolina campus in July, he was absolutely sure of one thing – he wasn’t going to redshirt.
Maddox feels he’s plenty good enough to play. Now.
That’s why Maddox was horrified when the dreaded “r” word came up in an interview a week or so ago. Of course, the topic was relevant because Steve Spurrier had casually mentioned in a post-practice interview that Maddox could, you know, sit out a year to grow and develop.
The response by Maddox a couple of days later was one for the ages: h-e-double hockey sticks no.
Was Maddox being a little bit cocky? You bet.
Dr. Phil would have been proud.
But at this level you must be confident in yourself and your abilities in order to compete. The mentally weak fall by the wayside.
As they say, only the strong survive.
In my opinion, Maddox had proven he’s ready to play this season in the pair of scrimmages over the past two weekends. Maddox has shown the speed, agility, toughness and willingness to take on tacklers that a quality running backs needs in the SEC.
With Bobby Wallace out until at least the third week of the season with a fractured clavicle and Taylor Rank sidelined with an injury, Maddox will likely start the season No. 3 on the running back depth chart behind Cory Boyd and Mike Davis.
That should end all talk of a redshirt.
Maddox is hardly alone in his positive feelings about himself. Most of the players in the last two recruiting classes have a swagger about them that suggests self-confidence.
They didn’t come to South Carolina to lose. They believed Spurrier when he told them he was building a SEC championship contending team.
If you think all of this is something new, forget it. When I spoke with former USC defensive back Rick Sanford recently, he told me he arrived at USC in the fall of 1975 convinced he could compete right away at the major college level. He was a good player, and he knew it.
Maddox is merely the latest example of a player with that attitude.
Where does all this talk of confidence and cocky attitudes lead us? The USC offensive line.
Following Saturday’s scrimmage, Spurrier proclaimed that many of USC’s younger offensive linemen – four of whom are redshirt freshmen – had to learn to compete harder.
His message was clear: some of these linemen simply weren’t tough enough or mean enough to compete consistently at the SEC level.
Granted, the first-team offensive line appears to be in good shape and should play much better coming out of the gate than last season. But the second and third-team lines need a lot of work.
What they need to do is get more cocky.
They must say to themselves that no matter what, they’re going to smack the guy in front of them as hard as they can. Within the rules, of course.
Right now, they’re too nice.
Maybe in time, they’ll learn. But time is not on their side. You need two complete offensive lines to meander through the physically demanding SEC schedule, so some of them will have to play.
So, these offensive linemen Spurrier was talking about have a choice: they can stay the course and be embarrassed in front of 82,000 fans and whoever is watching on TV when the season starts in less than two weeks or they can develop a nasty streak and start fighting back.
My advice to them: get a little cocky.
And please consult with Brian Maddox if you have any questions.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.