Troy Cornerback Thrives On Short Memory

Drew Champlin - Dothan Eagle/Drew Champlin - Dothan Eagle
Published: November 15, 2007
Updated: November 15, 2007

TROY — Just like the quarterback on offense, the cornerback on defense is the most visible player.

Everybody sees when you throw a touchdown. Everyone also sees when you lose a key fumble or throw that interception.

On defense, Troy’s Elbert Mack is tied for the national lead with seven interceptions. He got his seventh on Western Kentucky’s opening drive last week in a game that Troy held on to win 21-17.

Mack, a senior, was dejected after the game. On the last drive, he was beaten in man coverage on a 48-yard pass play and was beaten on a long play earlier in the game on a play where the wide receiver went in motion prior to the snap and sprinted across the field to catch the pass.

“It was a rough game,” Mack said. “They shouldn’t have been playing with us. I thought we were better than them all around and we had a chance to put them away early, but we allowed them to stick around and get some confidence and made it harder on ourselves.”

Mack is tied for the national lead with Tavious Polo of Florida Atlantic, but Polo hasn’t had an interception since Sept. 29.

However, he still has three games left to Mack’s two. FAU and Troy square off on Dec. 1, but Troy’ next game is next Tuesday against Middle Tennessee.

Mack learned early on when playing cornerback to have a short memory.

That’s why, when WKU tried that same wide receiver throwback play that beat Mack earlier on the last drive, he was ready.

Mack had the receiver blanketed. The pass was incomplete. Later on the drive, Shawn Todd sacked WKU quarterback K.J. Black on fourth down to seal the game.

The week before at Georgia, Mack was beaten on coverage, but he responded with an interception in the end zone.

“When you play corner, you also have to have thick skin,” Mack said. “You’re going to get beat some times, but it’s how you react to it and how you stand up for the next play. If you dwell on it, they’re going to go deep on you again and get another big play.”

Defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell noted that the biggest play may have been earlier in the fourth quarter. WKU running back Stephen Willis broke off an 86-yard run to the Troy 3, but he was run down by Mack and Sherrod Martin.

WKU was then held to a field goal instead of what would have been a game-tying touchdown.

“It’s easy to point out the bad things,” Rowell said. “With guys like him who compete, it’s real important to him and he makes a big play and puts it behind him.”

Mack said he wasn’t thinking about taking the national interceptions lead, but it would be nice.

“Everybody makes jokes about it, but to me I’m just playing football,” Mack said. “If I get a chance to make a play on the ball, I’m going to do it.”

All-star invites: Linebacker Marcus Richardson was invited to the Hula Bowl, which will be Jan. 12, 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Cornerback Leodis McKelvin was invited to the Jan. 26 Senior Bowl in Mobile.

Troy gets quarterback commitment: Chris Todd, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound quarterback who played this season at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, said he will sign with Troy and enroll in the spring.

Todd was at Texas Tech for two seasons (one redshirt) and threw for 241 yards and a score in 2006 as a backup. He threw for 10,776 yards in high school in Elizabethtown, Ky.

His statistics went down this year as Hutchinson did not run the spread offense, as Troy does, but he will compete with returnees Jamie Hampton, Tanner Jones, Levi Brown and Jonathan Chandler for the starting quarterback job in 2008.

“I love the spread offense,” Todd said Wednesday. “We ran it in high school and ran it at Texas Tech. It’s a good offense for a quarterback to be in. With transferring (to Troy), it will be a smaller learning curve (since Troy also runs the spread offense).”