Game 4 Player to Watch: Tyre McCants
GAME DAY CENTRAL
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, SEPT. 21, 2017 – No matter what the task entails,
Tyre McCants wants to make it happen for 3-0 USF football.
USF's junior receiver gained national attention with his crushing blocks in the season opener at San Jose State that sprung
D'Ernest Johnson's electric 50-yard touchdown run. McCants followed that up with a 65-yard, go-ahead touchdown in game 2 and a 13-yard scoring catch last week against Illinois. McCants is averaging a team-best 26.2 yards per reception heading into Thursday's conference clash with Temple (2-1).
"I just want to go out and make plays to help the team be successful," McCants said. "Whether it's running, blocking, catching, whatever it is to help the team, that's what I want to do."
McCants' team-first approach turned the sturdy, slot receiver into a Twitter sensation after clearing the path for Johnson's sprint to the end zone with two blocks that got even more play in the team meeting room. Each week, head coach
Charlie Strong shows the Bulls an "effort tape" of a player going to the extra mile on the field. McCants was an easy choise for the San Jose State game.
"It was just two unbelievable blocks by him," Strong said. "I told D'Ernest when he scored, I said, 'You go over and thank Tyre because he's the one that really sprung you and got you going.'"
McCants was a popular Bull on the sidelines against Stony Brook because of what he did with his soft hands and laser focus. With the game tied at 17 in the fourth quarter, McCants sprinted upfield and snagged a deep pass from
Quinton Flowers with a defender in his face to put USF ahead for good in the 31-17 home win back on Sept. 2.
"Coach called the play and I just looked at my read, and when Q threw the ball I thought to myself, 'I have to make a play, I have to give my best effort,'" McCants said. "He trusted me to go get it, and that is all I could do for him was go get it. Fortunately, I stayed on my feet and made a play."
Heading into Thursday, McCants is averaging nearly 19 yards per catch in his USF career that keeps getting better with time. No matter what eye-catching play he makes next, McCants' teammates know he'll keep leading by example..
"He just wants to be consistent and do the right things," said senior receiver
Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Football Means Family for McCants
USF fans are happy to have
Tyre McCants on their team and they can actually thank his mom, of all people, for getting him into football.
Back when he was 4 or 5, Tonja McCants was showing him the basics of the game years after she was a safety and receiver for Niceville (Fla.) High School's flag football team.
"She was mad back then because they wouldn't let girls play real football," McCants said. "When I was younger, she would go out in the front yard to run routes, throw the ball with me and all that. Just having that interaction with her made me want to do it for real."
Playing football also was a tradition for other members of McCants' family and his father went on to play at the highest level. Terrence Anthony was a part of Florida State's "Fab Four" receiving corps before suiting up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1990-91.
"Everybody in my family played football," McCants said. "That had a big impact on me when I was younger."
Another thing that shaped McCants as a person and football player was his hometown. Born in Pensacola, McCants moved to Niceville, Fla., in middle school and loved every bit of growing up in the close-knit city with a population of less than 15,000.
"It's a military area, so I grew up with a lot of discipline," McCants said. "It was a small area and I called everyone in my neighborhood family."
McCants makes a point of telling people all about Niceville when they ask and he's determined to bring more attention to the city's football talent with his play.
"A lot of people, they don't know where Niceville is, they've never heard of it," he said. "It makes me feel good. I can help put it on the map, I can help other kids in my area."
Like Niceville, McCants said he feels right at home at USF because of the family environment the program promotes and embraces.
"Coming here and getting close with all the guys, I feel like I can call any of the guys from my freshman year up to now," he said. "Coming from a small area in Niceville, from day 1 being invited into a family was reassuring."
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
USF finished the 2016 season ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll with a school-record 11 wins following the program's fifth-ever bowl victory in the Birmingham Bowl. The Bulls' 11-2 record marked the fifth-best winning percentage in FBS football in 2016 and one of just 11 teams to reach 11 wins. USF set nearly 40 team and individual records in 2016, including team records for total yards (6,650), rushing yards (3,714), touchdowns (77) and scoring (569). Junior quarterback Quinton Flowers was named the American Conference Offensive Player of the Year and led a school-record 10 players named to the all-conference team, six of which, including Flowers, will return in 2017.
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