University of Tennessee Athletics
MAKING THE MOST OF HIS ABILITIES
November 10, 2006 | Football
Nov. 10, 2006
By Austin Ward, UT Sports Information
He's heard the second-guessing.
He seems to begrudgingly admit to at least privately wondering about the decision himself - however briefly.
And it's extremely tempting to project just what kind of career Jonathan Wade could have had at Tennessee if he had left track and field in the dust before his senior season.
After all, he's emerged as one of the best cover-corners in the SEC during his lone season as a one-sport star.
What might have been?
The picture in Wade's mind leaves his thoughts as quickly as it entered.
"It is what it is," he says.
It is pretty good right now, which is exactly why there's a reason to wonder how much better the SEC's best pass defender could have been.
But the projections, the second-guessing and the doubts make no difference to Wade.
It's a futile argument.
It is what it is, because he did what he did.
"Maybe."
Could Wade be better right now if he had ditched track spikes for football cleats earlier?
Did the missed off-season workouts and spring practices set back his gridiron growth?
"Maybe," Wade says simply.
But it also gave him more confidence - the belief that he's "one of the fastest on the track or the football field" - and makes him so dangerous.
It made him an All-America in one sport - both indoor and outdoor for the Vols track team - and it might have helped him become a dark horse candidate for the same honor on the football field.
"Everything happens for a reason," Wade says. "And I believe firmly that God had a plan for my life and it wasn't time for me quit running track yet.
"Here we are, and this season is going the way it's going, maybe people will say that if I had done this earlier, I might have accomplished this or that, but this is the way it is."
And nobody is complaining about what he's doing now. Wade's picked off a career-high three passes and leads the conference with 10 passes broken up. The senior has also piled up career bests in tackles (28), assists (6) and tackles for loss (4). He's forced a fumble and earned Defensive Player of the Week honors from the SEC.
If he could be better - well, that's a scary thought.
"At this point I really can't complain too much," he says. "I've dedicated myself to football, and I'm having fun.
"But the season's not over with yet. We've still got a lot of football left to play."
But track isn't really to blame.
At least not completely.
Even though pointing a finger at track is the easy thing, coach Phillip Fulmer says it's more complicated than that.
"Honestly, I don't think it was track," Fulmer says. "I really don't think it was just track.
"Missing off-season, missing spring practice, that was a big deal. But we've had young men that have done both sports and done very well. I think it was his mindset, his mental maturity, that needed to develop."
The fact that the senior is beginning to sound more like Fulmer - i.e. "We've still got a lot football left to play" - is as sure of a sign as any that the development is coming along nicely.
Wade says and does the right things for UT - he earned the Andy Spiva Award in the spring for his improvement and hard work at practice, and he's been a regular with the media this season - which is all part of the package Fulmer has hoped for since bringing Wade to Rocky Top from Shreveport, La., in 2002.
"He came in here with tools, and he came in here with something that you can't coach - speed," Fulmer says. "He worked hard at it, but it's God-given, most of it, genetics.
"It helped him when he decided not to have track - not that track was a bad thing - but that just for him dividing between the two loyalties was very difficult. There's a difference between being a football player that runs track and a track athlete that's trying to play football. They're two different animals, and he developed much more of a football mentality after he focused on football."
That mentality has paid off in a major way for the No. 13 Vols.
And it might also pay off for Wade come April and the NFL Draft.
His numbers on the field are impressive enough this season, but his potential worth to professional scouts will probably be measured a little differently.
Like, 10.39 in the 100-meter dash or 7.36 over 55 meters.
Not that there's anything wrong with five interceptions over the last 17 games or 92 career tackles from the secondary.
"I really don't pay any attention to the stats," Wade says. "I just go out there and do all that I can do to help the team win. If it comes from making an interception or comes from making sure I've got my leverage and turning a ball-carrier back inside, that's about it."
Fulmer says there's no doubt that Wade could be doing those things at the next level a year from now - but Wade's thinking about the NFL just as much as he's worrying about his second-guessers.
"I've been so focused on trying to be my best week-in and week-out, and I really don't have time to do much else," he says. "It will cross my mind, but I'll wipe it out because I know you can't get caught up in that.
"That's really not my focus. My focus is game-by-game. This week's it the Arkansas game. How will I play in the Arkansas game? Will I play better in the Arkansas game than I did in the LSU game? Will the LSU game be better than South Carolina?
"The NFL comes up from time-to-time, but I do not focus on it. I don't let it become a part of my mind."
He's got no need for projections.
It is what it is.
