Dominique Easley: not from the South
Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:09 am
Cribbed from Scout, I think. I found it quoted at another message board.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013 ... asley.htmlHOOVER, Ala. -- Sometimes it takes a special force to play inside on the defensive line in the Southeastern Conference. Florida’s special force this year is senior defensive tackle Dominique Easley. Easley, to put it mildly, walks to the beat of a different drummer. That can be a good or a bad thing, but any way you slice it, he is one of the more unique individuals in all of college football.
He is a solid 285 pounds in a body that he says he has sculpted this offseason because, “I am trying to get a beach body… I think it is coming in pretty good.” That’s just the kind of interview moments you get from senior defensive tackle Dominique Easley, one of Florida’s hopefuls for a big year in order for the team to have a big year.
Easley came to Florida different than most. Coming from Staten Island, New York, there are things he has had to get used to coming to the south and all the different things that come from living outside the big city. Upon learning his quarterback Jeff Driskel likes to hunt hogs, Easley shook his head thinking about all the things he has come into contact with after his move to this region of the country.
“I don’t deal with that type of stuff. I am a city dude,” he said of the hog hunting. “The first time I ever saw cows is when I visited Gainesville. I’m not touching animals, I don’t like flying bugs, mosquitoes, raccoons, all that type of stuff. Keep that in the South.”
Easley is an introspective kind of guy. One that isn’t socially active or aware. And he knows it.
“I am a different type of person,” Easley told the media gathered for SEC media Day 2013 in Hoover, Alabama on Tuesday. “I don’t pay attention to the world. I try and keep to a minimum of life. I just like the personal stuff… a lot of stuff that people wouldn’t find exciting.”
And without being so socially active, he still finds a way to let everyone know he is there. In the midst of games, you can see Easley dancing at the line of scrimmage in attempt to distract his opponent, but more so just to have fun.
“You ever wake up and you just want to dance? Y’all never do that?,” he asked. “You just wake up in a happy mood. You come to a realization of life that it won’t last that long, so you take advantage of every second of life.”
“I grew up how I had to grow up, but I will always be that funny, outgoing person … life s too short to be serious all the time.”
That’s why he can even break down in a strut with something he doesn’t even care for like the song “Rocky Top” sung by the fans at Tennessee games. He was asked what his least favorite school song was…
“Rocky Top,” he said. “Not because it’s Tennessee but just because it’s Rocky Top. But sometimes I even start dancing to that because I have no other choice.”
Easley can’t explain his moods at times. A guy that wants to rip heads off on the football field when the ball is snapped is the same guy that will be the dancing teddy bear after the game. He was asked how he can do the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde routine. He just doesn’t know…
“Sometimes when I get back to being a happy guy, I ask myself that,” he said.
Tuesday, Easley was asked a lot of questions about current news issues in sports, some associated with his Gator program and some not. In most instances, he had the same type of answer. He just doesn’t get into news and sports too much. Instead he has his three favorite cartoons that he gets into.
“I don’t really watch the news, I am a Fairly Odd Parents, Sponge Bob, and Jimmy Neutron kind of guy,” he said.
He scoffed when asked if he was bothered by the recent turmoil surrounding former Florida head coach Urban Meyer and the recruiting infractions his current school accused Florida of.
“I’m a happy dude man… You can’t see that?” he asked rhetorically with a smile.
He doesn’t find it necessary to get others to follow his antics on the field, because, “A lot of people can’t move like me.”
But not his young son, who the monster defender says is a chip off the old block.
“He already has that down pat,” Easley said of the dancing. “It’s in his blood.”
As mentioned, there is also a serious side. Florida wants desperately to get over the hump and play for an SEC title in 2013. To that end, Easley says he and others have taken in what happened a year ago and will act on that to change things.
“We learned from mistakes, life is about experience,” he said. “We will take that experience that we lost and try to win.”
Sounds like a guy that has his head on straight… or not.
Not a joke: Dominique Easley was asked a question about Bear Bryant & didn't recognize the name. He asked if it was some kind of cartoon.