There aren’t many things more difficult than winning an SEC game.
Winning as a road underdog in the SEC is even harder. SEC fan bases are absolutely nuts, they are tenacious, and they can be straight-up mean.
I’m no stranger to hecklers and I enjoy some of the smart-ass comments that fans directed to me, but sometimes they can go a little overboard.
I never heard anything too derogatory aimed at me, but I did hear some pretty nasty things said to my teammates. We try to block it out and focus on the game, but we have ears and we can hear some trash-talking. While the majority of the fans in the SEC are classy, witty, and say things that make us laugh, there’s always “that guy” in the stands.
Every now and then, I would take a gander into the stands to just get a glimpse and see if I knew anyone. When a player looks into the stands at an away game, the fans immediately jump on your case.
Most of the time it gave me a little chuckle, but sometimes “that guy” was cursing and saying all sorts of ridiculous things. The surrounding fans would looked at him and covered their kids’ ears to block out the profanity-laced tirade. It was sometimes funny because the other fans looked as if they had seen this show before and knew it was coming.
Playing for Coach Spurrier, I developed some thick skin. So when people talked (and still talk) about me and my “issues,” I just laugh and keep moving. Some people like to think that I was the only person that played college football that enjoyed a drink. That seemed to be the theme of the trash talking directed to me.
There’s no denying the passion that these fans have, and if a player takes what they say personal then they shouldn’t be out on the field. I actually loved playing away and hearing the fans get all rowdy.
I love feeling the energy and the passion. It was palpable. There was no better feeling in the world than going into a hostile environment and silencing the crowd. There’s also not a better, more passionate, more rambunctious, fan base than the SEC. That’s a guarantee.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
