Nov. 2, 2009
He endured a rough initiation into the game he now so loves. But he got over it, grew, found a second home on the field and now romps and frolics as one of the most-dynamic members of the 'Cats' defense. Share his story here as junior linebacker Quentin Davie chats with NUsports.com Special Contributor Skip Myslenski. . .
ON THE RECORD...With Quentin Davie
I was kind of forced into playing football.
Well, I don't want to say forced. But I needed to start playing football when I turned seven. That's what everybody did around my area. So I started playing football.
A guy on my team, he was way over the weight limit. I was the tallest one. But he was fat.
I think we were in the 95-pound division and he was like 120, 130.
My coach thought I should go against him everyday in practice and just get hit by him. One day I didn't go to practice.
I quit.
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I just didn't like the contact.
My mom was mad.
I came back a year later and it took off from there.
The difference was that it just clicked in my mind that if I want to play this game that I needed to actually get hit and hit people.
I used to love to pretend I was a running back and I played running back. But I guess the transition just happened.
Marshall Faulk. That's the one I remember being most. And Jerome Bettis. That was one I liked too. Jerome Bettis.
I ended up liking hitting, playing defense. When I played running back, I just ran and scored touchdowns so I could get back on defense.
I played quarterback and linebacker (in high school). But I was destined to be a linebacker. I just love running around the field and hitting guys.
I never got any offers for offense except for one, which was to play quarterback for Air Force.
Naw. Naw. I knew what my future was. It was at linebacker.
I was 200 pounds when I got here. OK. One-ninety-ninety. On my official bio I'm 199.
I remember it like it was yesterday. (Former linebacker) Prince (Kwateng) went down with an injury and I had to step in that week against Michigan. I was as nervous as you can be as a freshman out there playing against Michigan. I was nervous the whole week.
I went into the game and made a couple plays. It was a pretty good first start for me.
From there, I just got better and got used to the game. We played Michigan State for my second start. We went up there and didn't play as well as we needed to play, but we still got the win.
It's a whole focus thing. You can't focus on the crowd. You need to focus on what you're doing. As a freshman, that's hard to do. There's so much going on, you're not used to all those fans and that you're actually getting into the game, starting, playing, being relied on by all the 10 guys around.
Now I can just sit back and take a deep breath and analyze everything around me.
That day as a freshman when I started, everything was crazy.
I was thinking of one thing I need to do. I need to do this, I need to do this, I need to do this. If I did it, then I needed to do something else, but I couldn't do it. I had a one-track mind.
Now, as kind of a veteran, you just sit back and analyze everything. It's almost like you're playing on instincts. It's like part of you.
One thing Coach (Pat) Fitz(gerald) tells us is, "Don't rush your read. Rush your reaction." As a freshman, you rush both.
This was a great summer for us strength-and-conditioning wise. Lilj (strength and conditioning director Larry Lilja) had a great plan put together and we followed it to the T. Then, since I was taking only one class, I had more time to add extra stuff onto that.
That really helped me stack up.
Before the season was out, (defensive end) Corey (Wootton) and I planned on going hard in the weight room. Then he had an injury (in the Alamo Bowl) and we weren't able to work out much. But toward the end of the summer, he was ready to go full go.
A day would be like, waking up, we would have conditioning outside with Coach Lilj. We would do our hundreds, I'd say 13 100s, something like that. We got timed. Then we would go into the weight room.
We would do our whole lift thing. Then after our lift, Corey and I would stay around and do a lot of triceps busters and bicep busters and core work.
I didn't start the Gun Club. Lilj started the Gun Club a long time ago. It's on the wall in the weight room.
You can measure your guns after you work out if you want to. If you make it in your weight range, you get put on the board.
There're a lot of guys in the Gun Club.
It's by weight classification. I think (defensive end) Corbin (Bryant) is the leader in the 250-pounds-and-up, something like that. I'm in the 220 (division) or something. I'm not sure of the weight.
I think Woody (superback Mark Woodsum) is the leader in our group.
It's just a friendly competition.
We count on each other. That's what we built over the summer, that's what we built up through all the various things we do off the field. We count on each other.
Friday night, we go through our little walk through, then we go to the hotel and have a team movie.
I've got to admit, I never watch the team movie. I just don't do it.
Some kind of superstition, I guess. I just put on my head phones, listen to music, go to sleep. I'm in the team movie. I just go to sleep in the back.
I put my iPod on shuffle and listen to anything that comes up.
That night in my room, I just lie around and eat my snack. I never eat it downstairs. Coach Hank (defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz) comes to talk to us, then I lay down and watch TV until I fall asleep.
Pizza and cookies. The cookies are the best ever. Chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. Pepperoni pizza. It's good.
Saturday morning, I don't eat anything much. I just get a lot of fruit and maybe some ham, something like that.
When I get to the stadium, the only thing I do actually is go over to (running back) Stephen Simmons and give him a handshake and walk back to my locker.
I think it's a St. Louis (the hometown of both) thing. He started it last year. We don't say anything to each other. We just give a handshake and walk back to the locker.
One thing I do before we walk out, as a kid I learned if you look good, you play good. So basically I make sure everything is tight. My jersey's in right. If I have any wristbands on, that they're looking good.
Players have routines just to get into that state where they're comfortable and know, "All right, I'm doing this routine, so it's time for me to play now." It gets you into that comfortable phase, relaxed enough so you're not too up.
The thing I like about linebacker is I don't have to rely on anyone to get me the ball, which I'd have to do if I was playing offense. I can just go out and run around for 60 minutes and just be crazy.
Obviously, you have to play mentally. But once you get that down, you can just run around and hit people legally. That's the thing I like about it. And I get to do what the D linemen do as well as what my secondary does. It's a combination of those two things.
I play Will (weakside). I switched from Sam (strong side) to Will this year.
As the Will linebacker, my job is to play in the box now. At Sam my previous two years, I was outside the box playing a lot of receivers out in space.
I'm one of those guys who sees the pull and everything like that. So I have to go hit the lineman most every play.
It's a pretty hard transition from being outside to being inside. One thing you have to think of the most is getting your pads down and getting a base under you.
The contact is coming a lot quicker and sometimes you don't even see the running back coming through the hole.
He's always right behind the lineman. You have to seek him out and find him.
I'm pretty comfortable doing it right now. In high school, I played the Mike (middle) linebacker. I just ran everywhere. So I think I have the instincts to play in the box.
I'm happier inside because I'm closer to the action. Most of the time I don't have to rally to the action.
Against Minnesota, when I came around and hit a running back on a sweep play. I saw him the whole time. He got the toss, I just shuffled, then I burst it and he came up the field and I got him under the chin.
Actually, when you see the running back running the opposite way and you're pursuing him and he's not looking at you, you're just licking your chops waiting to get to him. You know you've got a chance to knock him out and get a big hit.
It feels good and as soon as you do it and they hit the ground and go back, you know it. You just jump up and it's adrenalin rush all over.
That hit right there sparked us in the fourth quarter, got all of us hyped. That's what we need, hits like that.
I actually hope for opportunities to get big hits. That's one thing that gives momentum to our defense. So anytime it presents itself, I hope to get a big hit like that.
Any call when I'm rushing and going to get the quarterback, I love that call anytime.
Yeah, I get my fair share of jokes off out there around the team. I use original jokes, of-the-moment jokes.
My favorite comedian at this time is Jamie Foxx. He's one of the greatest stand ups I've ever seen.
I've probably taken a little bit of his stuff from him, but I don't do his routine.
Marshall (Thomas, the defensive tackle) is pretty funny. But I think I take the crown.
We don't argue about it.
I think the second-funniest guy on the team is (cornerback) Michael Bolden. He's pretty funny too.
It depends on your quickness and the amount of people you have laughing around you. If you say a joke and no one laughs, you automatically go down two notches.
Naw, we don't talk about it. We just go after each other.
I would have to say Michael Bolden, we get into it a lot. And (linebacker) Ben Johnson. Ben and I go at it all the time.
About everything. And I tell Ben he never has an original joke. He always steals somebody else's. Now he's starting to say all my jokes, trying to be funny.
All the time, all the time I think back to when I was young. I can't believe I didn't love this game.
I love this game so much now, I can't picture myself quitting and not playing.
I was young and didn't know any better.
If I had a son, I would just tell him how great this game is. I would give him his choice to play or not play. But I would let him know I made a mistake not to play.
First of all, the brotherhood around you. The same guys off the field, you get to go on the field and work as a unit.
Secondly, you just get to go and kill somebody.
It's legal. You get to go and hit people, knock them on the ground, do something all of us want to do when we get mad in our day.
One thing I can think of, a saying all my coaches have used, if you go into a dark alley, the guys who are on the football field with you, you wouldn't have to look back. You'd know they're back there backing you up. So everywhere you go, somebody has your back.
You never think you're alone. It's a brotherhood that's so great.
It's just like having a sibling, actually.
When I graduate, I'm thinking I want to go into something involving sports.
If you're not in any sport and you're young, you should consider it. It's so great, the camaraderie and the things you learn from it.
I couldn't imagine life without football.
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