Sept. 8, 2005
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Catching up with defensive backs coach Curt Mallory
interview by Ben Taylor, Illinois Sports Information
Fans of Illinois football know the basics of the 2005 team - how Coach Ron Zook molded his squad during training camp, the running backs are a great strength of the team and punter Steve Weatherford is one of the best in the nation. But not many of the Illini faithful know much about the personas of the Illinois players and coaches. To help give fans a glimpse of what goes on inside the lockerroom, senior fullback Jason Davis and senior defensive back James Cooper sat down and talked about everything from the best and worst dressed on the team, to running back E.B. Halsey's future career as a politician.
JD: There are a lot of personalities on the team. When you have 150 people in the locker room, you've got 180 personalities because you've got a couple of people who change from day to day. You've definitely got to have your head on your shoulders and not be sensitive. We've got a lot of jokesters. If you come in the locker room one day and someone thinks your outfit's not hitting right, or your shirt's not matching your pants or your pants are a little too tight, they're going to come after you. You've got to be quick-witted to come back with those jokes.
Mentioned as one of the funniest guys on the team by his teammates, Davis said he looks for a different style of humor in others:
JD: To me, the funniest guy on the team is Russ Weil. I think the funniest people are the people who don't try to be funny. He's a guy that if you tell him something at 4:01, he'll forget it by 4:05. He can't remember anything. Xavier Fulton, too. He's a quiet guy, but when he says something, you're taken back because you don't expect it. You can have fun in that locker room. If you're having a bad day, you can come in and somebody's going to cheer you up.
After finishing his dinner, Cooper, who is known as the second-funniest guy on the team, joins Davis and chimes in on a team fashion report.
JC: Not a day goes by that you don't have to watch what you do because if somebody gets you one day, they might be coming after you again the next day. And it's not going to be one-on-one, it's going to be tag team. I made the mistake one day of making fun of Arthur Boyd for having some platinum FUBU shorts on. Two days later I wore some FUBU shorts. Mine weren't platinum, but they pointed it out like 'Hey, how are you going to talk about Arthur if you've got the FUBUs on?' so I had to go to the store.
Most people might equate football players with love for shopping, but as Davis and Cooper point out, that's not the case at all. While both enjoy doing their own shopping, many times and accomplice is needed to make sure they're making a wise purchase.
JC: You've always got to make sure you call somebody in advance before you buy something
JD: I call Coop before I buy something
JC: You gotta get it OK'd
JD: I call Coop and make sure that it's OK.
When it came to their teammate's fashion sense, first on the firing line were the Mendenhall brothers, Walter and Rashard. Apparently Rashard's choice of footwear isn't up to Illini football locker room standards.
JD: The Mendenhall brothers haven't figured this out yet - Rashard hasn't - Walter has, he's been here a year.
JC: Grown men don't wear K-Swiss. It's not fit for a football locker room.
JD: Not for a football locker room. Take that out on the tennis court and get your Andre Agassi on. And even he wore Nikes.
Next, the pair began thinking of their teammates who would be most likely to succeed after their football careers are over.
JD: I say E.B. (Halsey) because he makes connections with everybody he meets. I think E.B. could probably be the mayor of Champaign if it weren't for Dee Brown.
JC: He's real political. For the defense I think Broz (Brian Brosnan).
JD: He's real smart. And he's a walk-on, so he's got that work ethic. To stay for four or five years, you can't question his heart.
JC: He's going to grad school after graduating in four years.
JD: If somebody walks on and they stay the whole duration and maintain a high GPA, you can't knock that. That's focus.
As far as practical jokes go, Davis and Cooper said the team doesn't pull them much.
JD: We just get after each other. You can't put the Icy Hot in the helmets any more, that's old. We used to put Icy Hot in the helmets right before you got out of meetings, so when they rushed to throw them on, they'd get Icy Hot on their heads.
JC: In camp I was going to do Icy Hot on the toilet seats, but I never got around to it.
JD: That would've been disastrous.
With 105 players in the locker room, it would be understandable if some of them didn't get along. But Davis and Cooper said there's a time for competition and a time to hang out, and it's well defined.
JD: After the springtime and the summertime, we're good. But it gets ugly in the spring. You're competing against dudes every day, tempers are gonna flare. But after we get past the spring and the summer time, we're good. It's your family.
JC: I think it's mostly on the practice fields.
JD: We never take it back to the room. Once you get done, it's done.
When asked if the team had any "Odd Couple" friends, Davis and Cooper also said the most unlikely pairing on the team is actually a couple of blood relatives - the Mendenhalls.
JC: Rashard and Walter Mendenhall have to be the oddest brothers I've ever seen in my life. They're the only brothers I've never seen fight each other. They always apologize and it's always nice. And I've just never understood that. One time Rashard missed a meal and Walter didn't let him know. And Rashard didn't even get mad at him!
JD: Me and Frank Payne have been roommates since we were freshmen. We're like ebony and ivory. And we're both black. You figure it out. And I sure ain't ivory.
Despite his lack of fashion sense in the eyes of his players, Davis and Cooper said Coach Zook is one of the easiest coaches to talk to they've ever played for.
JD: Let me tell you something about Coach Zook. Me and Coop could be talking right now and we see him through that glass window. Right when he leaves, he'd be right over your shoulder, like 'What's up brother?' I'm like, man, I just saw you! You were right in my peripheral and now you're right there. He'll sneak up on you. I've never been around a coach like him. He's got an assistant coach's mentality, but he's the head guy.
JC: He's real cool. It's usually real easy to talk to the staff and the GAs, but it's real easy to talk to him, too, because he's around so much. He's always around and in our conversations.
The duo of Davis and Cooper said the key to their humor lies in the facts.
JD: We tell the truth.
JC: Honesty is real funny. We say things that other people don't wanna say.
JD: Things people are scared to say. Sometimes it's so funny you can't even get it out.
Finally, the pair wants to set the record straight about the determination of the 2005 Illini football squad.
JC: This year we've got tons of fight, drive, it's all there. We're ready to play. We want to win and it's time to do that.
JD: You've got to understand that football's almost the only athletic program that's not enjoying success. How do you walk with your head up when the basketball team's doing their thing, the soccer team's ranked, the track team's winning the conference, baseball is winning. This coaching staff gave us a reason to hold our head high. Is it going to be easy? No. You don't go from the basement to the penthouse in one day. But we're going to play hard. We're going to fight. We want to win. This is what we want to do and it's going to show.
