azdad1978
Championship!!!!
A question of character
Troubled past caused NFL clubs to take a pass on Cards' Dockett
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 3, 2004 12:00 AM
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]PARADOX DOCKETT
Darnell Dockett, an immense talent, was far from a finished product in high school at Burtonsville, Md. Even as a senior at Paint Branch High he seemed to do things just to test the patience of adults.
Late in one game, Paint Branch was about to score, and coach Bob Windsor called a running play for the tailback. Dockett, playing as a blocking back, convinced the quarterback to change the play and hand it to him. Dockett fumbled, the opponent recovered and marched down the field to win the game in the closing minutes.
"I got them all together, and he (the quarterback) told me the real story," said Windsor, who then confronted Dockett.
"Darnell said, 'Oh, no, I didn't do that,' with a little smirk on his face. He could be a butthead."
Dockett also could be sweet. He worked with special education kids, and they lit up whenever he was around. He played basketball with them and discussed football strategy.
- Kent Somers
If Darnell Dockett promised, if he swore that trouble no longer seemed as much a part of him as the tattoos that cover his body, if he tried to convince everyone that a horrific childhood hadn't hardened his heart, how many would believe him?
Dockett knows the answer, so he doesn't try.
If people don't want to look past the body art, the braided hair and the bad decisions, then his words aren't going to change their opinions.
"I let people do their thing," Dockett said. "I'm not here to make anybody happy or anybody like me."
At 6 feet 3, 292 pounds, Dockett is quick and ferocious. A defensive tackle, he set a Florida State record for tackles for loss. He had the talent to be taken in the first round of the NFL draft in April.
On draft day, Dockett vowed to be the defensive equivalent of Anquan Boldin, the Cardinals receiver from Florida State who won NFL Rookie of the Year honors last season. Boldin is glad to have him.
"Darnell is a guy who you love to play with and hate to play against," Boldin said Wednesday. "If he's on your team, you love him because he makes a lot of plays. If he's on the opposite team, you hate him because he makes plays and he lets you know he's going to be there on every down."
But there was a reason he lasted until the third round, where he was selected by the Cardinals: character, and his alleged lack of it.
There was the theft charge while at Florida State that caused him to be suspended for the Sugar Bowl his junior year.
There were allegations by Steve Spurrier, then the coach at Florida, that Dockett intentionally injured a Gators running back by twisting his leg in a pile.
And there was his childhood. How could anyone overcome that?
At 13, Dockett lived in the Atlanta area with his mother. He came home one day and found his mother shot to death.
He moved to Burtonsville, Md., to live with his uncle and aunt, Kevin and Toni Dockett. Dockett's father moved in, too, but he was ill with pancreatic cancer and died a few months later.
It was an almost unbearable load for a 13-year-old who hadn't received much direction in the first place. Dockett credits his uncle and aunt for straightening him out, saying it took him only a few weeks to realize how fortunate he was to have them.
'Bad' kid
According to his uncle, the process was not nearly that smooth.
"He was a troubled kid, as you would expect," Kevin Dockett said. "He really didn't have respect for others. He was bad. He was just bad."
There were never problems with the law, but Darnell's "smart mouth" and other behavior problems made Kevin a regular visitor at school.
"I stayed on his ass like white on rice," said Kevin, who runs a successful dump truck business.
The trips became so frequent that Kevin took drastic action.
"I would take him to the garage and beat his ass," Kevin said. "Ask him about 'Hickory' . . . a paddle that I had."
Hickory and Darnell Dockett became more than passing acquaintances.
Dockett's behavior gradually improved.
Kevin was asked whether football helped.
"Yeah, between that and me beating his ass," he said, aware the punishment isn't politically correct. "I'm just keeping it real with you."
Kevin signed up Darnell for football, although Darnell didn't like the game at first. Because of his large size, he played with older kids who knew the game better. Darnell wanted to quit. His uncle wouldn't let him.
Dockett said if he had stayed in Atlanta, he could well have ended up in jail - or worse.
"I look back and everybody I grew up with, none of them have anything going for themselves," Darnell said. "They're either locked up or on a corner. I have friends who have 10-, 15-year (sentences). I could have been that way, and I'm really thankful."
Love the pain
By the time Dockett entered Paint Branch High in Burtonsville, he was built like a man but acted like a kid. And he still didn't know much about football.
The first time he got in a three-point stance "it was like he was sitting on a commode," said Bob Windsor, one of his coaches.
But Dockett loved the game, especially the violence of it.
"If I wasn't going to do anything else, I was going to hit you," Dockett said. "Regardless of whether it was late, regardless of whether it was my own man, I was going to hit you."
He carries the same mentality into the NFL.
"When you play the type of position I'm playing, you have to be violent," he said. "Every play is designed for someone to knock the (expletive) out of you. You have to grow to love the pain, to think, 'This dude is going to hit me. It might hurt, but I'm not going to show it.' "
As a senior, Dockett was one of the more highly recruited players in the country, yet Windsor, a tight end with the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1960s, couldn't recommend him to Spurrier, a former 49ers teammate.
"He could be a good guy or a bad guy," Windsor said. "He likes to be a bad guy. He thinks that's his role in life. He's not a bad kid, and most of what he did was playful, stupid stuff."
For all the problems Dockett has caused, the person he's hurt the most is himself. At Florida State, the theft charge stemmed from paying $100 for about $1,000 worth of merchandise, a discount given by some friendly clerks.
Dockett eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days of community service, fined $295, and given a year of probation.
"You look at every little thing they say I've done, and it could have happened to anybody," Dockett said. "Getting a discount in a store? I got labeled . . . and I learned from the experience."
Straight up
Dockett returned to play well his senior year, but he knew NFL teams would have questions at the NFL combine in February.
Those 15-minute interviews can become choreographed dances with the truth. Players are coached by agents and provide stock answers. Team officials try to cut through the facade.
Dockett didn't dance.
"I told people from the get-go that I wasn't going to sugarcoat anything," Dockett said. "I wasn't going to say, 'Oh, I didn't do this. I didn't do that.' Everything I did I was going to admit to."
No team was willing to risk a high pick on Dockett, not with a price tag that includes bonuses of more than $1 million. The Cardinals had Dockett rated among their top 32 players.
"We are well aware of the problems he had in the past," said Rod Graves, vice president of football operations, "and we are also confident those problems are behind him."
The Cardinals' defensive scheme seems ideally suited for Dockett. He'll play the "under" tackle, a position that calls for a player to make penetration and be disruptive. Dockett will compete for a starting job with Kenny King and Wendell Bryant, two unproven players.
Few people question Dockett's ability, but the questions about his character linger.
Dockett knows any words of reassurance from him ring hollow.
As he told interviewers at the combine, he has to prove himself.
"They asked me: 'Are you going to get into trouble anymore?' " Dockett said. "I said, 'Nobody knows what's going to happen to me in the future, but all I can tell you is that I'm a good football player and I'm a good-hearted person. I care about people. Either you believe it or you don't.' "
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Troubled past caused NFL clubs to take a pass on Cards' Dockett
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 3, 2004 12:00 AM
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]PARADOX DOCKETT
Darnell Dockett, an immense talent, was far from a finished product in high school at Burtonsville, Md. Even as a senior at Paint Branch High he seemed to do things just to test the patience of adults.
Late in one game, Paint Branch was about to score, and coach Bob Windsor called a running play for the tailback. Dockett, playing as a blocking back, convinced the quarterback to change the play and hand it to him. Dockett fumbled, the opponent recovered and marched down the field to win the game in the closing minutes.
"I got them all together, and he (the quarterback) told me the real story," said Windsor, who then confronted Dockett.
"Darnell said, 'Oh, no, I didn't do that,' with a little smirk on his face. He could be a butthead."
Dockett also could be sweet. He worked with special education kids, and they lit up whenever he was around. He played basketball with them and discussed football strategy.
- Kent Somers
If Darnell Dockett promised, if he swore that trouble no longer seemed as much a part of him as the tattoos that cover his body, if he tried to convince everyone that a horrific childhood hadn't hardened his heart, how many would believe him?
Dockett knows the answer, so he doesn't try.
If people don't want to look past the body art, the braided hair and the bad decisions, then his words aren't going to change their opinions.
"I let people do their thing," Dockett said. "I'm not here to make anybody happy or anybody like me."
At 6 feet 3, 292 pounds, Dockett is quick and ferocious. A defensive tackle, he set a Florida State record for tackles for loss. He had the talent to be taken in the first round of the NFL draft in April.
On draft day, Dockett vowed to be the defensive equivalent of Anquan Boldin, the Cardinals receiver from Florida State who won NFL Rookie of the Year honors last season. Boldin is glad to have him.
"Darnell is a guy who you love to play with and hate to play against," Boldin said Wednesday. "If he's on your team, you love him because he makes a lot of plays. If he's on the opposite team, you hate him because he makes plays and he lets you know he's going to be there on every down."
But there was a reason he lasted until the third round, where he was selected by the Cardinals: character, and his alleged lack of it.
There was the theft charge while at Florida State that caused him to be suspended for the Sugar Bowl his junior year.
There were allegations by Steve Spurrier, then the coach at Florida, that Dockett intentionally injured a Gators running back by twisting his leg in a pile.
And there was his childhood. How could anyone overcome that?
At 13, Dockett lived in the Atlanta area with his mother. He came home one day and found his mother shot to death.
He moved to Burtonsville, Md., to live with his uncle and aunt, Kevin and Toni Dockett. Dockett's father moved in, too, but he was ill with pancreatic cancer and died a few months later.
It was an almost unbearable load for a 13-year-old who hadn't received much direction in the first place. Dockett credits his uncle and aunt for straightening him out, saying it took him only a few weeks to realize how fortunate he was to have them.
'Bad' kid
According to his uncle, the process was not nearly that smooth.
"He was a troubled kid, as you would expect," Kevin Dockett said. "He really didn't have respect for others. He was bad. He was just bad."
There were never problems with the law, but Darnell's "smart mouth" and other behavior problems made Kevin a regular visitor at school.
"I stayed on his ass like white on rice," said Kevin, who runs a successful dump truck business.
The trips became so frequent that Kevin took drastic action.
"I would take him to the garage and beat his ass," Kevin said. "Ask him about 'Hickory' . . . a paddle that I had."
Hickory and Darnell Dockett became more than passing acquaintances.
Dockett's behavior gradually improved.
Kevin was asked whether football helped.
"Yeah, between that and me beating his ass," he said, aware the punishment isn't politically correct. "I'm just keeping it real with you."
Kevin signed up Darnell for football, although Darnell didn't like the game at first. Because of his large size, he played with older kids who knew the game better. Darnell wanted to quit. His uncle wouldn't let him.
Dockett said if he had stayed in Atlanta, he could well have ended up in jail - or worse.
"I look back and everybody I grew up with, none of them have anything going for themselves," Darnell said. "They're either locked up or on a corner. I have friends who have 10-, 15-year (sentences). I could have been that way, and I'm really thankful."
Love the pain
By the time Dockett entered Paint Branch High in Burtonsville, he was built like a man but acted like a kid. And he still didn't know much about football.
The first time he got in a three-point stance "it was like he was sitting on a commode," said Bob Windsor, one of his coaches.
But Dockett loved the game, especially the violence of it.
"If I wasn't going to do anything else, I was going to hit you," Dockett said. "Regardless of whether it was late, regardless of whether it was my own man, I was going to hit you."
He carries the same mentality into the NFL.
"When you play the type of position I'm playing, you have to be violent," he said. "Every play is designed for someone to knock the (expletive) out of you. You have to grow to love the pain, to think, 'This dude is going to hit me. It might hurt, but I'm not going to show it.' "
As a senior, Dockett was one of the more highly recruited players in the country, yet Windsor, a tight end with the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1960s, couldn't recommend him to Spurrier, a former 49ers teammate.
"He could be a good guy or a bad guy," Windsor said. "He likes to be a bad guy. He thinks that's his role in life. He's not a bad kid, and most of what he did was playful, stupid stuff."
For all the problems Dockett has caused, the person he's hurt the most is himself. At Florida State, the theft charge stemmed from paying $100 for about $1,000 worth of merchandise, a discount given by some friendly clerks.
Dockett eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days of community service, fined $295, and given a year of probation.
"You look at every little thing they say I've done, and it could have happened to anybody," Dockett said. "Getting a discount in a store? I got labeled . . . and I learned from the experience."
Straight up
Dockett returned to play well his senior year, but he knew NFL teams would have questions at the NFL combine in February.
Those 15-minute interviews can become choreographed dances with the truth. Players are coached by agents and provide stock answers. Team officials try to cut through the facade.
Dockett didn't dance.
"I told people from the get-go that I wasn't going to sugarcoat anything," Dockett said. "I wasn't going to say, 'Oh, I didn't do this. I didn't do that.' Everything I did I was going to admit to."
No team was willing to risk a high pick on Dockett, not with a price tag that includes bonuses of more than $1 million. The Cardinals had Dockett rated among their top 32 players.
"We are well aware of the problems he had in the past," said Rod Graves, vice president of football operations, "and we are also confident those problems are behind him."
The Cardinals' defensive scheme seems ideally suited for Dockett. He'll play the "under" tackle, a position that calls for a player to make penetration and be disruptive. Dockett will compete for a starting job with Kenny King and Wendell Bryant, two unproven players.
Few people question Dockett's ability, but the questions about his character linger.
Dockett knows any words of reassurance from him ring hollow.
As he told interviewers at the combine, he has to prove himself.
"They asked me: 'Are you going to get into trouble anymore?' " Dockett said. "I said, 'Nobody knows what's going to happen to me in the future, but all I can tell you is that I'm a good football player and I'm a good-hearted person. I care about people. Either you believe it or you don't.' "
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