Redemption Song...
Greg Burghardt
Derrick Vickers hasn’t had many things go his way since coming to CMU in 1999.
There’s a void somewhere that needs filling and he knows it. He wants to be CMU’s No. 1 quarterback again and in his heart he feels he deserves it.
And having a stepbrother (Buffalo Bills running back Willis McGahee) just selected in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft only makes the 22-year-old Miami native want to work harder for it.
“It pushes me to work harder because I want to get up there and join him one day,” Vickers said.
As the tatoo on his left forearm reads, “I fear no man but God” — he fears no one right now.
Start from the beginning
As the story goes and as fans know, Vickers became the heartthrob of the school when he led CMU to victory against an 8-1 Western Michigan team in 2000.
He was just a freshman then, still a teenager, making his first-ever start as quarterback. But he got the job done like a veteran, finishing the game 16-of-28 with 228 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Fast forward to last season
Last season ended a disappointing 4-8, after a promising start of three straight wins. What’s worse for Vickers is he was pulled from his starting position in the Chippewas final game against Western, as the team lost 35-10 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium for the first time in 30 years.
“I wanted that game real bad,” he said. “I was on the sidelines, blood rushing, hands itching and just wanted to get in there.”
Vickers, who started every game before then, was replaced by redshirt freshman Kent Smith, who was starting his first collegiate game. He went 3-for-16 and threw an interception before being pulled late in the third quarter.
Fast forward to present day
While football Head Coach Mike DeBord won’t admit going with Smith that day was the wrong choice, he still doesn't know if Vickers is the man for the job this season. In fact, he said junior Jeff Perry has been turning heads during practice and is the front runner for the starting spot right now.
“Jeff Perry had performed the best (in practice) so he obviously is the front runner,” he said.
DeBord said Perry is 100 percent; and past injuries with his shoulder and knee are now gone. Smith also is improving and junior Grant Arnoldink had an injury that slowed him down, DeBord said.
He said academic problems kept Vickers from getting reps in practice.
“I was slacking in my academics and had some things going on in my family that I had to tend to, but I got back on track toward the end, and now I got everything straight and I’m not going to have that problem anymore,” Vickers said.
Rewind back to last season
DeBord had his reasons for benching Vickers at the end of last season.
“We weren’t winning,” DeBord said. “I made my decision on what was happening in games and it was the right decision. I don’t have any doubts.”
DeBord said he made the decision to start Smith during practice just a few days before the game.
“I went with Smith, the reason being I thought our quarterback play was not getting better, and for that game I had to make a decision and I thought it was the right decision at the time,” DeBord said.
Vickers said he understands DeBord’s reasoning and he takes a lot of responsibility for not performing at the level he should have been, but felt really bad losing the spot.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Jeff Woodruff watched his team lose to the Chippewas 47-21 in CMU’s lone win during last season’s second half.
“Obviously against us, and from the films we saw, he looked liked like a good player,” Woodruff said. “He’s very capable of being a good quarterback.”
DeBord doesn’t have all the answers for what went wrong last season and he won’t place the blame on anyone, but knows this — Vickers performance declined after game four against Indiana.
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“I don’t think it was an attitude problem,” DeBord said. “He got hit really hard in the Indiana game. No one will ever know if that affected him, but we were 3-0 and things were going good. Then his play went downhill and we struggled on offense.”
Vickers said his hyper-extended knee is in the past. The reason they were losing is because they weren’t finishing games, he said.
“We have to start focusing on finishing,” he said. “When you start something, finish it out.”
Fast forward to present day, again
Vickers is working out four days a week, Monday through Thursday, with strength and conditioning Coach Greg Halberg. He’ll report for training camp Aug. 5, and this time it’s about one thing — redemption. It’s all he ever had.
“I got real high spirits,” Vickers said. “It’s my last year, my last chance to make something happen, so I’m going out and giving it everything I got. Whatever ounce of energy I got in my body, they’re going to get it out of me.
“I just want it back so bad. I just want it where my name is next to the No. 1 spot again,” he said.
Vickers is willing to do anything to get that starting spot, and his teammates know they can count on him for anything, he said. He’s doing everything he possibly can right now, from watching film to getting in extra workouts.
“Come training camp, I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to put the coaches in a position where it’s going to be very hard for them not to give me the starting position,” he said.
Only time will tell who will be calling the signals for the Chippewas when they head to Ann Arbor in August to kickoff the season against the Wolverines.
Vickers said whoever the starting quarterback might be, one thing is certain — “It will be a great quarterback.”
