azdad1978
Championship!!!!
You must be registered for see images
Written by Chrissy Mauck
Cardinals cornerback Antrel Rolle didn’t exactly stay in the family business. His father, Alexander Senior, is a police chief, and his two older brothers are both police officers. Both his mother and older sister work as school counselors, but none of them were complaining about the baby of the family becoming the eighth overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.
They understood they were watching a childhood dream come true for the youngest in the family. Antrel’s love of the game started at age four when he went to watch his older brother, Antuan’s football games. His father had to keep a close eye on Antrel who would try to run out on the field and be part of the action. He knew then his son possessed a competitive nature.
“This is what I love to do,” Rolle said. “This is the only thing I’ve ever had a passion to do so I am living out my childhood dream right now.”
The support of his parents, who only missed one of his games due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, is what drove Rolle throughout his career.
“They’ve always been in my corner. I never had to look up and wonder if they were there. It didn’t matter if the game was in Washington or in my backyard in Miami. They were always there. They’ve been the reason why I push so hard and I drive so hard.”
The expectations set for a top ten pick in the NFL are enormous, but even so, Rolle claimed his own expectations are higher. He plans on making the Pro Bowl his rookie year. He predicts the Cards will win the division and promised to get things, “rocking in Arizona.”
He certainly doesn’t lack confidence either. When asked to give a scouting report on himself, “Monstrous,” he stated. “Very competitive. Loves to compete on each and every down. Brings his A+ game each and every day. Practice like I play, practice even sometimes better than I play, never take a play off.”
You must be registered for see images
That confidence was tested in the team’s first mini camp when not accustomed to playing off-press coverage, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald often got the best of the rookie. Four years at the University of Miami equipped the rookie corner with an unacceptable mindset to losing or getting beat. Instead of tucking his tail, Rolle kept at it and made marked improvement over the course of the five practices. He vowed to spend the next few weeks before returning to Arizona for the rookie workouts improving on the new technique.
“I strive for perfection each day and I’m not going to stop until I get it done,” Rolle promised.
Rolle returned last Monday for the start of rookie on-field work and each day, he spent extra time after each practice working on his back pedal, catching balls, and defining his technique. He’s looking forward to the challenge next Wednesday when he can test his improvement against Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.
“I’m anxious,” Rolle admitted. “They put it on me kind of bad and took advantage of my weakness. It’s up to me to work on those as much as possible so they don’t have anything to take advantage of. That’s what I’m out here working on and it’s going real good. I’ve seen a lot of progress in myself and my teammates. I have goals I want to accomplish and each day I’m just trying to move closer to those goals.”
Even though he didn’t become an officer of the law or school counselor, Rolle will be patrolling the backfield for the Cardinals while advising quarterbacks not to throw in his direction.
http://azcardinals.com/news/news_details.html?iid=2861
