Sports Illustrated
Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: Javier Arenas
At 5-foot-9, they said he was too small to play Division I college football, with numerous schools betting that Alabama made a mistake in offering a scholarship. The next best offer coming from Florida Atlantic.
They all ended up regretting that decision.
Javier Arenas not only proved them wrong but was on the field more than any of his teammates, both as a return specialist and as a starting defensive back – something else he supposedly couldn’t do at this level .
“He is an outstanding competitor,” Nick Saban said. “You talk about a guy who’s a perfectionist, works really hard every day to be the best he can be.”
From 2006-09, Arenas played in 52 games and scored eight touchdowns — seven punts, one interception — to finish one shy of the NCAA record set by Notre Dame’s Allen Rossum (1994-97).
One of the most dynamic players in Alabama history, he returned 125 punts for 1,752 yards, second in NCAA history behind Texas Tech’s Wes Welker (2000-03), and combined with his 90 career kick returns for 2,166 yards (24.1 avg.) was the only college football player to ever amass over 1,500 punt return yards and 2,000 kickoff return yards in his career.
Arenas also notched 154 tackles, including 17.5 for a loss and seven sacks, and six interceptions.
Eventually, opponents started giving him the ultimate compliment when they deliberately started going away and taking their chances with other defenders.
Arenas silenced his critics once again when the Kansas City Chiefs took him in the second round of the 2010 draft, 50th overall.
“Just consistency and being mentally tough,” Arenas said. “Being physically tough has never been a problem for me. Just never taking a play off. In each and every thing that I do, I’m trying to max out at 100 percent.
“If a guy catches a ball and I knock it, that’s not even good enough. I want to have it bounce off his foot and I grab it for a pick. Punt return, not drop any balls. My job is to catch the ball, look it in, and make a play.”
Some of this post originated from "100 Things Crimson tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," published by Triumph Books
