Sweetwater’s Terrell hoping for another good season

PRO POWER

By Jason Sheehan
Reporter-News Staff Writer
August 24, 2003

As David Terrell battles to retain his spot as the starting free safety for the Washington Redskins this season, he realizes he never would have the chance if not for his high school coaches.

Terrell entered his sophomore year at Sweetwater High School with every intention to shed his shoulder pads and cleats in favor of baggy shorts and high tops. Luckily for Terrell, his coaches would not let him concentrate solely on basketball.

“I wanted to quit (football) my sophomore year and just go straight basketball,” Terrell said.

He said he now is in debt to his coaches for talking him out of quitting football because he grew to be just 6-foot, a height not suited for professional basketball.

One of the coaches Terrell mentioned as an inspiration to his football career is David Mayes, the secondary coach at Sweetwater. Mayes said he just stressed the importance of not quitting anything in life.

“We just encouraged him not to close the door and continue to compete,” Mayes said.

By the end of his junior year, Terrell began to show his dominance on the gridiron.

“He was the most dynamic run stopper,” Mayes said. “He just had that knack that he could get to the line of scrimmage cat-quick. He was sort of another linebacker.”

When his high school career ended in 1993, Terrell moved on to the University of Texas El Paso. There Terrell garnered all-conference honors in Western Athletic Conference as a junior.

He was ruled ineligible before the start of his senior season when he failed to enroll in the required number of classes.

“I was a class short,” Terrell said. But, “It was my fault. I took the blame.”

Missing his senior season dampened his prospects for a career in the NFL and Terrell had to sweat it out on draft day. He thought his dream came true when his agent called and told him the Dallas Cowboys were going to draft him.

Then the Redskins caught wind of the rumor and moved up in the draft to steal Terrell from the Cowboys in the seventh round.

While he could have played for his hometown team, Terrell was just excited to be in the elite group as a professional football player.

“I was jumping for joy,’’ Terrell said. “I just wanted to get drafted.”

His stint as a Redskin was interrupted after training camp of his first year. He was brought back in 1999 and spent the entire season on the team’s practice squad.

Finally the Redskins signed him as a free agent in 2000. That year, Terrell was limited to mostly special team duty, although he played cornerback in five games.

For the past two seasons, Terrell has started at free safety, although this season, he is in a fight for his job with Ifeanyi Ohalete and Andre Lott.

Terell said the competition is nothing new.

“I think I’ll start. That’s all I’m thinking about right now,” Terrell said. “All four years I’ve been in this league, I’ve had to prove myself. I take every practice like a game situation. I know I can’t make mistakes because the next guy is gaining ground.”

While he believes he will come out on top this season, Terrell said he is prepared for life after football. After this season, Terrell will be an unrestricted free agent, meaning he could resign with the Redskins or sign with another team. He also faces the prospect of being out of football entirely if teams decide not to offer him a contract.

“I’d love to stay (with Washington),” Terrell said. However, “This is a cutthroat business. You could be here today and gone tomorrow.”

Terrell said he already has a plan if he is forced back into the working world. He said he is about 18 credit hours from his criminal justice degree and would like to add a teaching certificate to his resume.

Terrell also said he would like to get into coaching high school football. When asked about his dream coaching job, Terrell replied:

“I would love to go back to Sweetwater and bring it back to the powerhouse it was,” Terrell said.

He just hopes he has a few more years of playing on Sundays before coaching on Friday nights.

Contact staff writer Jason Sheehan at sheehanj@reporternews.com or 676-6784.