TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

This week, you travel to Miami (OH) for the first of two consecutive weeks on the road. On offense, obviously, a loud crowd can cause a lot of confusion and wreak havoc, but is that as big a factor on defense?
I think I can speak for a lot of the defensive players, as well, when I say generally a loud crowd actually pumps you up and motivates you a little bit. The crazier the crowd, the crazier the players can get, so it’s actually kind of fun, whether you’re on the road or at home. It doesn’t bother me too much.

This year, your secondary handcuffed Bowling Green’s Omar Jacobs, an NFL prospect, by holding him to less than 200 passing yards and corralling two interceptions, both firsts in his career. How confident is the defense that they can make big plays against any offense?
Well, I would say we’re pretty confident, but not cocky. It’s very easy to confuse the two. We definitely do a lot of pregame work in terms of preparation, watching film, going over and over different sets and formations at practice, which allows us to be a little more confident in terms of going into the game. Even on the field, a lot of times, you’ve got to be confident in the decisions you make. They might not always be right, but you can still make the play or make a big play by being confident with the things you’re doing.

The pass defense is tops in the Mid-American Conference, and the whole defensive unit has held powerhouse offenses like Bowling Green and Toledo to far fewer yards than they average. What do you attribute your consistent strides on the defensive side of the ball to?
I would have to say its competitiveness. Again, guys like Bowling Green, matching up against Omar Jacobs and knowing that you’re going against (Charles) Sharon or a big-time quarterback like Toledo’s (Bruce Grabowski) and checking (Steve) Odom, it’s one of those things that I don’t like any receiver to get the best of me. At the same time, I think my teammates take a lot of time helping me to prepare with doing the extra little things that matter, outside of practice. Coming in around at 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon, sometimes on a Wednesday, you’ll find me on the field doing a little extra work with a couple of the receivers on our team just to prepare for the game that week, going through every route in their package that we’ve seen thus far, making sure that my timing and judgment are on point. In terms of making big plays in the game, I kind of look at it as my way of thanking my teammates.

You’ve played both cornerback and safety at UB. What is the biggest difference between the two positions?
It’s a big difference, in terms of your form, your technique, what your reads have to be first, of taking on blocks, your strengths, your weaknesses. For me, it was transforming from being a hitter and an aggressive type player to being more patient, watching things open up. Coming down on blocks was a lot different. It’s a different type of feel when you’re trying to fight off tight ends to make the play compared to fighting off a receiver, whose technique might be to get inside you and hold your jersey a little bit. Two-gap, I think playing corner you do a lot more two-gapping instead of coming down and filling. Your ball skills are a lot different playing corner. You really have to develop a different set of ball skills compared to safety, where my challenge was being a bit under-sized, but still managing to come up tough and make big plays. In any aspect, though, you could put me at safety, corner—if I had to play linebacker, I would still love it all the same.

You are four behind school record-holder Mark Graham (2000-03) in career passes defended with 33. What is the key to being able to get a pass away from a receiver while not drawing a flag?
You have to make sure you don’t put your hand on him before the ball gets there. That’s key. A lot of times, you’ll find in college football, there’s certain things you can do and you’ll get away with it, but you really have to be careful watching the hand on the backside and come in to strip first. The thing is, in any pass situation, it’s a competition between you and him. My main security is first to make sure he doesn’t catch it. If I’m not close enough to knock down the ball with my hand or to intercept the pass, I’m going to make contact. If I make a big enough impact, then the ball should pop out. Sometimes, I actually like starting off that way compared to knocking the ball down, because if you punch him hard that first time, I think he’ll think about it the second time the ball is in the air. He’s more aware of taking a fair catch without making too much contact.

There are a lot of exciting plays you can make on defense, from taking a runner down in the backfield to knocking away a bomb from a receiver to recovering a fumble. What is your favorite play to make?
I kind of consider myself a bit of a finesse player. I can get down on the ground when it’s time to, but it’s always knocking that ball away. There’s nothing better than doing that. It’s the opportunity of having the chance to make a pick or that big play. A solid tackle or a solid hit is just as important as knocking the ball away; both are two big momentum changes for your defense and the offense as they're getting ready to take the field. But for me, I love getting my hands on the ball.

In high school, you played with Philip Jacques at Brother Rice in Detroit and the team went on to win a Michigan state championship. What was it like being able to end your high school career as a state champion?
The feeling was amazing. It was knowing that the hard work that you did in the offseason paid off. Waking up at 6 o’clock in the morning and working out with your team and just holding that big trophy up at the end and celebrating with your teammates and knowing that’s what all the hard work got you. That felt fantastic. It’s something that you’ll always remember. You’ll never forget that moment.

This was one of the most eventful summers in the history of UB Athletics, with the findings of the Corrigan Report, the hiring of athletic director Warde Manuel and the renewed commitment of UB to the MAC. As an athlete, are you excited to see President Simpson say that he wants UB to compete at the Division I-A level?
I can say that I’m excited, but I’m not surprised, knowing that UB is a school that’s on the rise in terms of athletics. We have the excitement that our men’s basketball team has been bringing. We have the some phenomenal wrestlers as well as the men’s soccer team’s been doing an excellent job this year. I can’t see UB or President Simpson’s expectations for us as athletes as being anything other than on the D-I level.

You’ve volunteered for both Habitat for Humanity and the African-American Museum in Detroit. What got you involved in working with charitable organizations?
I’m a people person. I love helping people out in any kind of way. My joy is just seeing smiles on other people’s faces. There’s nothing greater than that. Also, it’s nice being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.

What has been your favorite moment as a student-athlete at the University at Buffalo?
I would have to say I have two. One being, as bad as it might seem, you wake up at 6 in the morning, you don’t feel like doing it. You can’t even say you wake up at 6, you wake up at 5:15 and you’re there working out with your teammates. But at the end of the workout, when all the sweat and everything comes together, the feeling and the camaraderie that goes along with it, it’s something in my last year here that I know I’m going to miss. There’s nothing greater than that. It’s seeing guys come and when it’s time for them to max and you see a month ago, a guy who was benching 250 and now he has 275 on the bar and everyone is circled around him cheering him on. That’s just a great feeling.

At the same time, it’s supporting other athletic events. It’s going to the basketball games with your team or going to the soccer game. I can recall my first wrestling meet. We had wrestling at my high school but I never went. I actually met a couple wrestlers on the team through the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and I decided to go. It was actually quite fun and entertaining. Those things would be my favorite moments here at UB.