NFL Ccu Alum: Work ethic serves Teal well in NFL
Myrtle Beach Online
December 15, 2007
•Original Myrtle Beach Online article: NFL Ccu Alum: Work ethic serves Teal well in NFL
Read 1 comment »
To some like Jeb Bennett, the sixth-grade son of Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett, Quinton Teal has made it.
In the depths of Bank of America Stadium Dec. 2, Jeb Bennett excitedly jumped on Teal's back when the former Chanticleer emerged wearing a wide smile from the Panthers' locker room.
Teal had just enjoyed his best day as a pro. Roughly 70,000 pairs of eyes, including Jeb's, had witnessed No. 28 register several special teams tackles, including a touchdown-saving effort in a 31-14 win over San Francisco.
Teal, with Jeb clinging to his back, was an arm's length from Panthers stars Steve Smith and Julius Peppers. Jeb was saucer-eyed, as was Cole Watson, the eighth-grade son of Drew Watson, Teal's position coach at Coastal Carolina.
David Bennett and Watson, both on hand, let the NFL rookie know he has made them proud. Teal is one of the first two Chanticleers - Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen is the other - to make an opening day NFL roster.
It was a fine day for the humble, shun-the-spotlight kid from Bennettsville. But as Panthers teammate and friend C.J. Wilson noted, staying in the NFL for an undrafted player is not about making 'one or two plays and then doing nothing.'
The feeling of accomplishment was a fleeting one for Teal.
After practice Wednesday, the stadium was empty, well-wishers were gone and Teal sat alone near his cove in the palatial locker room. He was unnoticed by the media horde that buzzed around former first-round picks and players with seven-figure signing bonuses.
In the mind of Teal, an undrafted free agent who is three weeks from completing his first full season in the NFL, he has not made it yet.
He realizes his standing as an NFL player is a privileged but fragile position.
'You can't relax in this business, it is nothing like what I was used to,' Teal said. 'I just came into camp and worked hard. I wanted to play in the league and they had 90-plus guys here; they only keep 53.
'I just had to come and prove I could play.'
While working to pull himself up from the edge of an NFL 53-man roster onto solid ground there have been wide-eyed, childlike spells, though they have been brief.
'During the first [organized team activities] practice we ran this corner blitz and I ended up on Steve Smith and I was like 'wow this is really happening,'' Teal said. 'And the first preseason game against the Giants I turned around and Eli Manning was standing right behind me.'
Teal has also found himself in the surreal position of trying to defend Brett Favre passes in the nickel and dime packages of which he increasingly finds himself playing.
Teal fights the sense of awe of surroundings by reminding himself he needs to get back to work.
'Everybody is good,' Teal said. 'You have to work hard and get better. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't work you'll lose that talent.'
To make it this far Teal has had to prove he would work, prove he could be an unselfish cog in an NFL machine and, of course, prove he could play.
What has served Teal well is precocious professionalism, a trait Panthers scout Gerald Williams noted to David Bennett during the club's evaluation process.
The trait is in part a product of his environment growing up in Bennettsville, where he rooted for the Panthers as a youth and played at Marlboro County in high school.
In that modest, rural South Carolina town his father runs a construction company and his mother, for whom Teal purchased a new Honda Accord, logs tedious hours at the INA USA bearings plant in nearby Cheraw.
Teal saw them work and saw them offer to take two cousins into the home with he and his brother. Teal now attempts to do his part as he still visits neglected boys of the Waccamaw Youth Center, where he interned as a college student.
These experiences put his crash-course summer camp into perspective. It was a job to take pride in, it wasn't life or death - and, hey, it is a game.
His outlook made digesting football from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. palatable, studying a Yellow Pages-like playbook with fellow long shot Wilson, who the Panthers selected with the 226th overall pick in the April draft.
To Wilson, a college cornerback, Teal showed great unselfishness in camp by helping him learn a new position as safety, Teal's natural position. Teal now counts Wilson among his closest friends on the team and Wilson says of Teal, 'He's the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to be with.'
That Teal has overcome the odds of sticking as an undrafted free agent in the NFL does not come as a surprise to Coastal coaches or faculty.
'He showed a quiet determination,' CCU professor Dr. Sharon Thompson said.
Myrtle Beach Online
December 15, 2007
•Original Myrtle Beach Online article: NFL Ccu Alum: Work ethic serves Teal well in NFL
Read 1 comment »
To some like Jeb Bennett, the sixth-grade son of Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett, Quinton Teal has made it.
In the depths of Bank of America Stadium Dec. 2, Jeb Bennett excitedly jumped on Teal's back when the former Chanticleer emerged wearing a wide smile from the Panthers' locker room.
Teal had just enjoyed his best day as a pro. Roughly 70,000 pairs of eyes, including Jeb's, had witnessed No. 28 register several special teams tackles, including a touchdown-saving effort in a 31-14 win over San Francisco.
Teal, with Jeb clinging to his back, was an arm's length from Panthers stars Steve Smith and Julius Peppers. Jeb was saucer-eyed, as was Cole Watson, the eighth-grade son of Drew Watson, Teal's position coach at Coastal Carolina.
David Bennett and Watson, both on hand, let the NFL rookie know he has made them proud. Teal is one of the first two Chanticleers - Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen is the other - to make an opening day NFL roster.
It was a fine day for the humble, shun-the-spotlight kid from Bennettsville. But as Panthers teammate and friend C.J. Wilson noted, staying in the NFL for an undrafted player is not about making 'one or two plays and then doing nothing.'
The feeling of accomplishment was a fleeting one for Teal.
After practice Wednesday, the stadium was empty, well-wishers were gone and Teal sat alone near his cove in the palatial locker room. He was unnoticed by the media horde that buzzed around former first-round picks and players with seven-figure signing bonuses.
In the mind of Teal, an undrafted free agent who is three weeks from completing his first full season in the NFL, he has not made it yet.
He realizes his standing as an NFL player is a privileged but fragile position.
'You can't relax in this business, it is nothing like what I was used to,' Teal said. 'I just came into camp and worked hard. I wanted to play in the league and they had 90-plus guys here; they only keep 53.
'I just had to come and prove I could play.'
While working to pull himself up from the edge of an NFL 53-man roster onto solid ground there have been wide-eyed, childlike spells, though they have been brief.
'During the first [organized team activities] practice we ran this corner blitz and I ended up on Steve Smith and I was like 'wow this is really happening,'' Teal said. 'And the first preseason game against the Giants I turned around and Eli Manning was standing right behind me.'
Teal has also found himself in the surreal position of trying to defend Brett Favre passes in the nickel and dime packages of which he increasingly finds himself playing.
Teal fights the sense of awe of surroundings by reminding himself he needs to get back to work.
'Everybody is good,' Teal said. 'You have to work hard and get better. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't work you'll lose that talent.'
To make it this far Teal has had to prove he would work, prove he could be an unselfish cog in an NFL machine and, of course, prove he could play.
What has served Teal well is precocious professionalism, a trait Panthers scout Gerald Williams noted to David Bennett during the club's evaluation process.
The trait is in part a product of his environment growing up in Bennettsville, where he rooted for the Panthers as a youth and played at Marlboro County in high school.
In that modest, rural South Carolina town his father runs a construction company and his mother, for whom Teal purchased a new Honda Accord, logs tedious hours at the INA USA bearings plant in nearby Cheraw.
Teal saw them work and saw them offer to take two cousins into the home with he and his brother. Teal now attempts to do his part as he still visits neglected boys of the Waccamaw Youth Center, where he interned as a college student.
These experiences put his crash-course summer camp into perspective. It was a job to take pride in, it wasn't life or death - and, hey, it is a game.
His outlook made digesting football from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. palatable, studying a Yellow Pages-like playbook with fellow long shot Wilson, who the Panthers selected with the 226th overall pick in the April draft.
To Wilson, a college cornerback, Teal showed great unselfishness in camp by helping him learn a new position as safety, Teal's natural position. Teal now counts Wilson among his closest friends on the team and Wilson says of Teal, 'He's the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to be with.'
That Teal has overcome the odds of sticking as an undrafted free agent in the NFL does not come as a surprise to Coastal coaches or faculty.
'He showed a quiet determination,' CCU professor Dr. Sharon Thompson said.
