The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Spotlight: The Education Of Matt McCants
9/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 21, 2011
"Matt is one of the class guys on this football team. He's one of our good leaders, and I couldn't be any prouder of him. When you bring youngsters in, you want them to mature as human beings as well as football players, and he's done that."
-- UAB head football coach Neil Callaway
By Tyson Mathews | UAB Athletic Media Relations
For part of his senior season at Williamson High School in Mobile, Ala., Matt McCants was a second-string offensive lineman stuck behind a freshman on the depth chart. Not exactly the type of player that gets college recruiters excited.
The whole football thing was new to McCants, who spent his first three years at Williamson's football games in a different capacity -- as a tuba player in the marching band.
"Back in Mobile, that was a big thing," McCants said. "Sometimes high school bands are just as big as the football games."
Still, the 6-foot-7, 295-pound McCants wanted to give football a shot. The offensive coordinator at Williamson kept telling him he would make a great offensive tackle. The only problem was, his mother wasn't too keen on the idea.
"I'm an only child, and she's one of those mothers that's very protective," he said. "She just didn't want to see anything happen to me."
Eventually Birtha McCants agreed to a deal with her son. If he could make straight-A's at school, she would let him play.
That was all it took. McCants held up his end in the classroom and stepped onto the football field for spring practice at the end of his junior year. It was the first time he had played organized football since a park league as an 8-year-old, when coincidentally he was a left tackle and wore No. 71.
Tuba Player Turned Lineman
Even with his size and athleticism, the sport didn't come quite as naturally as McCants had hoped. He had to learn blocking techniques and get used to the collisions a lineman encounters on every play. He also faced a setback with a broken arm that spring that left him questioning his future in his new sport.
"I almost gave it up because it was so hard to me," he said.
But McCants persisted, recovering from that broken arm and working with his offensive line coach to make strides. He took the field for Williamson for the first time that fall, though he saw limited action through the first several games.
A season-ending injury to Williamson's center forced the team to shuffle its offensive line and opened up a spot at tackle for McCants, who jumped in and went on to earn honorable mention all-region honors.
Despite the fact he had started for less than a season on his high school team, McCants says he received a "surprising" amount of recruiting attention. One of those coaches who showed interest was Neil Callaway, who had just taken over the program at UAB.
"Any time there's a transition in coaching staffs, there's a lot of uncertainty," Callaway said." There wasn't really a good recruiting base to build from, so you're just kind of searching everywhere. We saw some film on Matt in high school and liked his athleticism. We were at a point where we needed to sign people, and we signed him."
Callaway couldn't have known, and McCants says he certainly had no idea, he would develop into an all-conference lineman and a potential NFL draft pick. He just wanted to go some place where he could improve himself both on the football field and away from it.
"The biggest thing about going to college is being better after you leave than when you first came," McCants said. "I just felt so comfortable with UAB because it was in-state and Coach Callaway promised me when I sat down with him that he was going to make me a better man."
Moving on to Birmingham
McCants may not have started immediately for his high school team, but he was thrown right into the fire at UAB. Without much depth, the Blazers needed offensive line help, and McCants was there to play a big part. He started his first game as a true freshman in 2007, a 55-18 loss at Michigan State.
It wasn't an easy transition for McCants, who didn't expect to play right away. He had to get adjusted not only to Division I football but also to college classwork and university life.
 McCants didn't play football until his senior year of high school.  |
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"He came in as a true freshman, started, and played a lot," Callaway said. "It probably wasn't fair to him, but we had no choice because we didn't have anybody else. He had some growing pains. He had to learn how to be a college student. He had to grow up and learn what it was to be responsible and accountable for the things you need to do."
McCants was making strides on the field with his size and athleticism carrying him through as he learned to play at the collegiate level. He was also able to compete early despite his lack of experience because of his outstanding footwork, which he credits partially to his days in the band.
At the same time, though, he was falling behind in the classroom. The criminal justice major admits he wasn't as mature as he is now and that he didn't take his classes as seriously as he should. He wound up suspended academically for the 2008 season.
He spent the year going through physical conditioning drills at practice and sitting in the stands at games while working to get his grades back in shape to play. It was during that time he says the "light bulb" came on for him.
He was watching a YouTube video of a motivational speaker who was talking about success and failure. He says he began to be driven by the fear of letting his parents down and letting his team down.
"Life is about getting the big picture," McCants said. "I think once you get it, you'll be fine. I was lucky enough to get it."
After regaining his eligibility for the 2009 season, McCants jumped right back into the lineup, where he has blocked for the most explosive offenses in school history over the past two seasons.
This year, he is one of five seniors on one of the most experienced offensive lines in the country. In total, the group owns a combined 128 starts.
As the left tackle, McCants is responsible for protecting UAB's quarterbacks from what they cannot see, the pass rush coming from their blindside. Last season, he and his offensive line mates yielded just 12 sacks, the fewest in Conference USA, and gave UAB quarterbacks a pocket to throw for more than 3,000 yards.
Quarterback Bryan Ellis came to UAB in the same recruiting class with McCants and has seen his development as a player.
"We've been here together for a long time, and we've been through a lot of stuff together," Ellis said. "I have 100 percent faith in Matt. He's made himself into a great football player. He's looking for a big year, and I truly believe Matt can play this game for a long time."
From the Field to the Stage
Performing on the field, whether in the marching band or on the offensive line, is now almost second-nature to McCants. Performing on the stage was a new challenge.
He was in search of an elective course to round out his class schedule last fall. Nothing too strenuous. It was football season after all, and a good chunk of his time would be devoted to the UAB football program.
 McCants (back) with his fellow cast members from the spring production of "We Three" at UAB Theatre. |
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The Blazers' out-going, fun-loving left tackle thought a beginning theatre class might fit his personality. It was in that class that he discovered acting was more work than he thought. It was also there that his professor, Dennis McLernon, pegged him for his first on-stage role.
McLernon would be directing a play in the spring called "We Three" by Paul Shoulberg. One of the script's characters, "Big Keith," called for an African-American actor with a big build and the ability to portray what McCants calls "a tough, gritty guy."
"There was no one in the theatre department that fit that description," he said as he laughed.
McCants was the logical choice, and he went to work with McLernon on becoming an actor. He spent his time studying his lines, practicing them for hours and getting accustomed to being on stage.
He applied the same lessons he learned on the football field to his work as an actor and found a number of parallels in what it takes to be successful in each area.
"You have speaking lines and you have a big audience that's right there, and it can be really nerve-racking if you're not prepared," McCants said. "In football, you're used to working hard and putting in the hours, and that's the same attitude I took to the theatre department. I wasn't a good actor (at the beginning). I practiced every day, just trying to be the best."
One person not surprised by his ability to make the transition to the stage is his quarterback, who says McCants' personality is one of his best characteristics and a major hit in the locker room.
"Matt is the goofiest person I've probably ever met," Ellis said. "He has an awesome personality. He's always smiling, always joking. Every team function we have, Matt's always the emcee."
McCants enjoyed his acting experience so much that he changed his minor to theatre. He's taking three final theatre classes this semester as he finishes up his undergraduate degree. Once suspended academically, McCants is now on schedule to graduate later this year on Dec. 17.
"Matt is one of the class guys on this football team," Callaway said. "He's one of our good leaders, and I couldn't be any prouder of him. When you bring youngsters in, you want them to mature as human beings as well as football players, and he's done that."
What the Future Holds
McCants will complete his college eligibility this year and likely have a chance to play professionally. Various online rankings of 2012 NFL draft prospects have him listed in or near the top 10 among offensive tackles.
"I do have aspirations to play in the NFL," McCants said. "I feel like that will come if I push myself to the maximum I can push myself. That's the key, just working hard, staying focused and most importantly keeping God first. God's going to do his will, and I just try to go out and maximize my potential every day."
While it is McCants' goal to continue his playing career, the UAB senior also has ambitions away from the football field, as evidenced by his previous experiences as a tuba player and actor.
He hasn't ruled out a return to the stage, though he has placed his acting career on hold as he focuses on graduation and his final season of college football.
Another of his passions is helping kids. Involved with his church and in various reading days with UAB student-athletes at local elementary schools, he says one day he wants to be able to open a community center to help troubled youth.
"That's actually what I want to do is help kids," McCants said, "especially at-risk kids, juveniles who may have gone through a little trouble and they're in the system, but really all they need is a positive role model."
So McCants enters his senior season on track to accomplish his goal of leaving UAB better than he was when he arrived. He is within reach of his college degree. He's looking forward to a promising future in football. And he has aspirations for greater accomplishments in life.
Not bad for a high school tuba player from Mobile.
