'Size is nothing' for biggest threats

CLEMSON -- In a sport featuring 300-pound giants, the biggest threats will be the smallest players Sunday at the Music City Bowl

Clemson's 195-pound star C.J. Spiller can break Don McCauley's single-season ACC touchdown record (21) with two more scores.

Tigers receiver Jacoby Ford is a game-breaking threat who has even less mass.

Kentucky's do-it-all star, 188-pound Randall Cobb, tied Heisman winner Mark Ingram with an SEC-best 18 touchdowns despite weighing 24 pounds less than the Alabama star.

All three have track backgrounds. All three have run against fleet-footed track athletes.

Yet, not every speedy track star can double as a football standout, despite football offering a far greater financial incentive for participation.

The answer to why this trio of speedy athletes is starring in Nashville rests not just in their feet, but also in their heads.

"Weight is just three digits," Spiller said. "I'm not afraid of anything.

"Of course there are always going to be guys bigger and faster than you. But it's always about the mind and heart, size is nothing. Look at (185-pound San Diego running back) Darren Sproles, he's putting up big numbers. (Tennessee Titans running back) Chris Johnson is not a very big guy, and he's about to be on pace to break the single-season rushing record."

Faith also plays a role in Spiller's no-fear attitude.

On his eye black Spiller writes "VCC," an acronym for his hometown Victory Christian Center.

"My faith plays a big role in anything I do," Spiller said. "Fear is when you're not prepared to go out and battle."

Joel Fish is a sports psychologist who works with the Clemson men's basketball team and pro teams, including the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. While Fish says Spiller must have an "unusual" competitiveness, he will dispute the idea that someone, even Spiller, is without fear.

"Fear is not a dirty word," Fish said. "Fear doesn't have to be a monster. Any athlete that tells you -- and I've dealt with professional athletes -- that they never get nervous, they never get scared, isn't telling the truth.

"Now, some get scared more than others, I'm not painting everyone with the same brush. The key to me is not what you are feeling, but do you have a plan for how you to deal with the feeling."

For Fish, it's the coping with and funneling of anxious energy that is just as important in understanding Spiller as evaluating his 40-yard dash time.

"I've really come to believe it takes a one in 1,000 talent to play at the college level, and it takes a very unusual personality to deal with all the pressures and expectations," Fish said. "Just because you are big and strong physically, doesn't mean you are big and strong mentally."

Dabo Swinney is a believer in the importance of understanding the mental side of football. He meets once a week with Clemson sports psychologist Milt Lowder, what he calls his "moment with Milt." He also has Lowder meet with the staff and players.

To Swinney, Spiller and Ford's capacity for confronting physical risk is some innate trait he struggles to define.

Swinney himself is an undersized former athlete who walked on at Alabama, and who tried out for his seventh grade junior high football team "at 90 pounds" believing he was the "biggest guy" in drills.

"I guess that goes back to how guys are wired, what their DNA is, I don't know," Swinney said. "For a guy like (180-pound freshman running back) Andre Ellington, he has probably always been the smallest guy. He probably developed that toughness somewhere growing up. Same thing for C.J.

"I'm the baby of three boys, I had to learn to compete early… I was one of those guys who wasn't going be the biggest guy, wasn't going to be the fastest. But I could be the toughest. I learned that."

They are qualities Swinney attempts to identify in prospects, locating the next Ford, the next Spiller.

"I've been around guys that are big and have all the tools, but they aren't tough," Swinney said. "Why isn't this guy tough? What is he made of? And then you see this little guy that isn't afraid of anything.

"It makes you wonder, it's interesting."

Reach Travis Sawchik at tsawchik@postandcourier.com and check out his Clemson blog at www.postandcourier.om/blogs/tiger_tracks.