Jacob Hester

Deus Vult

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http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20 061017/sports0202/610170307/1001/sports&GID=T48cTX1AimBoVyyU 4TtC6BnFbhIsbFzjScmzhLbojSw%3D


LSU's Hester receives ribbing
October 17, 2006

By Glenn Guilbeau
gguilbeau@gannett.com

BATON ROUGE -- White men can't play tailback, according to some jokesters on the LSU football team. Yet Jacob Hester, who is white, appears to have a stronghold on the position as he has started LSU's last two games at the position.

"They call me and Shawn the cracker backs when we go in there," Hester said Monday.


That's Shawn Jordan, who is white and LSU's fullback when Hester, who also plays fullback, is at tailback.

LSU's other tailbacks -- Charles Scott, Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard -- are all black. Hester is the first white tailback at LSU since Sammy Martin in 1987.

"You know white guys can't play tailback," Hester said laughing. "That's what they say."

Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher kids Hester, too.

"Jimbo always calls me Craig James because that's the last one he says he can remember," Hester said.

James was a star tailback at SMU in the 1980s.

"They call me Billy Cannon, too," Hester said.

Cannon won the Heisman Trophy at LSU in 1959.

"I've always been classified as a fullback, even though I played tailback," said Hester, who gained 868 yards at Evangel Christian in Shreveport in 2003. "I had the fastest 40 on the team at one time."

Hester is second on the team in rushing with 227 yards on 53 carries and has caught 20 passes for 133 yards. He leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring with 48 points on eight touchdowns -- six rushing and two receiving. Scott leads LSU in rushing with 270 yards on 44 carries.

Hester has led LSU in carries in each of the last two weeks. Broussard, who was expected to be the starter this season if he could recover from a knee injury, has recovered from the knee but he did not carry the ball against Kentucky.

"That's a decision we made as a staff," LSU coach Les Miles said Monday. "We play the guys that give us the best opportunity for victory. That's not saying we're not going to get Alley carries the rest of the way."

Broussard is third on the team in rushing with 135 yards on 44 carries. Justin Vincent, who started LSU's first four games at tailback, has 97 yards on 34 carries.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Not much praise in that article is there?
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Its a shame the way these guys are being treated! "Cracker" back! What a bunch of crap! Since Hester is starting over their black butts, I guess he could now call them "tar baby" backs, but somehow I doubt he'd get the same joking coverage.

Ha freakin Ha
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Man this kind of stuff ticks me off more than anything!
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What a double standard and nobody gives a crap. No defense of Hester on the part of the writer, other than letting his stats speak for him. Nothing like "yeah he's white and he's the best back at LSU, maybe in the SEC." Never again can a white man excelling in sports be allowed praise equal to that of the black dummies around him. "Just take the crap white kid," thats what they are basically saying. Get your carries, but don't expect us to say you are good. Sand in the face every day! Lead the conference in scoring and still get called racists epithets at practice and in the game. Piece of crap coaches do the same dang thang! They basically say yeah blackletes, go ahead and make fun of the "white freak" he's a deadgum circus sideshow so get your kicks out of him while you can, hey, I'll even join in with you. So go tell Billy Craig the cracker back that he's lucky we are actually giving the best runner a chance to start on our team, unlike 99% of the teams in the NCAA.
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Edited by: Colonel_Reb
 

Don Wassall

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I heard Cris Collinsworth being interviewed by Dan Patrick on ESPN radio last week and he was talking about all the jokes that were made about him being a white receiver and how it was always being talked about in the locker room -- and this was back in the 1980s! I'll bet black quarterbacks are never made the butt of jokes, that would be "insensitive." Remember the national morality play that went on for months after Rush Limbaugh made his accurate observations about black QBs. But Whitey gets it from everywhere -- the fans, the media, opponents, and even his own teammates.
 

white is right

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That must have been during the end of his run with Bungles err Bengals. When he first became a Bengal having white star recievers was the norm not the exception.
 

whiteCB

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I wonder if the LSU teammates like to "rib" QB JaMarcus Russell and call him Doug Williams. haha No wait that would be racist. This stupid double standard is so hard to get around. Hester should speak up if he was a man a say while I know my teammates like me and are just kidding there really is a problem that white guys aren't allowed to play HB. And of course Hester won't and when he gets moved back to FB either next year or in the NFL he'll still be a bitch and not say a word. Just another waste of talent. You know if these guys like Hillis, Leonard, and Hester are such tough guys on the field why do they act like such pussies off of it. They never go and bitch to the coaches like a black guy would. What a shame.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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compare the locally-run feel-good treatment in the above article about Hester's treatment and the "humorous racism" that his stereotype-breaking skills bring about with the horrifying victimization that is protrayed in the nationally run story about UCLA's black kicker... a guy who once abandoned a severely injured woman when he wrecked his car after driving drunk. somehow he only got probation... poor guy!
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it's amazing that he overcame all the oppression...
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UCLA kicker battles stereotypes
Posted: Oct.17, 2006, 10:45 am EDT
By Alan Abrahamson
NBCSports.com
LOS ANGELES -- When Justin Medlock trots onto the field, his gold UCLA helmet snug, the pressure is always on. But, he says, that's a good pressure. A fun pressure.

It's a pressure he can control -- unlike some of the other pressures in his life.

Out on the field, he said, thousands of fans screaming, the game sometimes depending on the swing of his leg, on the physics of tracing an arc with authority, there's a trick to dealing with all that pressure. Be smooth. Relax and be smooth. It's like swinging a golf club. Smooth.

Justin Medlock is a field goal kicker, one of the best in the United States, a college senior good enough to entertain realistic ambitions about kicking next year for a living, in the NFL. With UCLA playing this week at Notre Dame (Coverage on NBC begins at 2:30 p.m. ET), it is no secret in South Bend -- or elsewhere -- that Medlock's leg changes game plans.

Moreover, with UCLA down to a backup quarterback, sophomore Patrick Cowan, making only his second college start in the aftermath of a knee injury starter Ben Olson sustained against Arizona two weeks ago, Medlock's import to the UCLA offense figures to be even more emphatic.

Medlock has been named to the watch list for the Lou Groza award, given after the season to the nation's top kicker. The UCLA coaches consider him all but a sure thing for tries up to 50 yards. In his college career, he has made six field goals of more than 50 yards, more than any other UCLA kicker, including 51-yarders this year against Rice and Washington. In each of those games, he kicked four field goals.

In last Saturday's 30-20 UCLA loss at Oregon, Medlock made two field goals, the second a 48-yarder. Since pushing a 46-yarder wide left in the first quarter of UCLA's first game, a 31-10 blowout of Utah, Medlock hasn't missed; he has made 14 field goals in a row. He has made his last 100 extra-point attempts.

If he makes it in the NFL, Medlock would become only the seventh African-American kicker in league history. Though it might strain credulity in this day and age, with African-Americans having excelled at virtually every other position on the field and in the NFL's coaching ranks, it remains a fact: In the history of the NFL there have been only six black placekickers.

Medlock's entrée into the NFL will doubtless be marked, moreover, by questions about his character from scouts, draft gurus and others who don't know him well -- questions he brought on himself in the aftermath of a drunk-driving accident last spring just a few miles from the UCLA campus.

It is an axiom in football that the game is about taking the personal responsibility required to respond to adversity. Coaches thus like to say that football turns young men into men. For instance, the other team completes a long pass play, or sets up on a fourth-and-goal, or even scores. How do you answer?

"I'm the first one to be sorry about it," Medlock said about the accident, which took place last December, on Interstate 405, which as it winds through the west side of Los Angeles is called the San Diego Freeway.

The California Highway Patrol said a 1998 Toyota pickup truck driven by Medlock hit a call box on the freeway about 3 a.m. last Dec. 10. CHP officers found the truck with only a passenger inside, Hannah Jun, a member of the UCLA golf team. Medlock was later found walking on a street in Inglewood, Calif., about a mile and a half away.

Authorities said Jun's injuries included a fractured vertebra in her neck. She has recovered, and she and Medlock remain good friends. She declined a request for an interview.

"I had a mistake. One bad night. That's what happened," Medlock said, adding, "I accepted the consequences.

"I know people are going to have their doubts. I can't really say. Hopefully, they won't think I'm the bad person they heard about."

UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said, "Justin is a good young man who made a very serious mistake. I know that he was very sorry for any pain or embarrassment the accident caused to anyone involved, and I know he felt he let his teammates down.

"This season, he has done a fine job as one of our senior leaders and he appears much more focused and mature than in the past."

By all accounts -- mother, sister, friends, coaches, high school teachers, college professors -- Justin Medlock is the farthest thing from a bad guy.

His life has been shaped by the early death of his father and, as well, by a ferocious but quiet will to succeed, in class and on the football field.

It was in high school, at Mission San Jose High in Fremont, Calif., southeast of Oakland, that it became apparent Medlock, all-league as a sophomore and senior in soccer, had talent kicking the football, too. As a senior, he made four of six field goals; the only misses were from 47 and 50 yards. Eighteen of 20 kickoffs went for touchbacks; one punt traveled 73 yards.

It was also while Justin Medlock was in high school that his father, Robert, died, after a fight with cancer.

The son remembers the father weakening in the hospital and his mother, Tamara, calling, saying, get over here -- and not wanting to go, because there was a football game upcoming and he wanted to practice.

In the end, he went to the hospital -- and everything changed. "I looked at him and said, 'I'm being selfish over here, not going to the hospital. Somebody needs me more and I'm worrying about a game.' From that point on, I was just, you know, it's a giving attitude. My dad said you give and you take, you give and you receive -- the more you give the more you'll get out of life."

After his father's death, Justin became like a son to a Mission San Jose history teacher, Roxanne Ponsi. An auto accident would later claim Ponsi's son-in-law, leaving three children.

"Since then, Justin has stepped in and become a role model for them in so many ways," Ponsi wrote in a letter detailing Medlock's character. "He has helped them with sports and homework. He has been there as an older brother, giving them advice and encouragement. No one has asked him to do any of this ..."

She said in an interview, "He works harder than any kid I've ever seen. He's just amazing."

Before Medlock arrived at UCLA, he said, he heard the whispers. A black kicker?

Motivation, he said: "It doesn't matter whether you're black or white, Mexican, Asian, anything. It's like -- it doesn't matter. I'm out here and I can kick the ball and that's what it's about. It's not about what color you are."

Incredibly, in the NFL, it has -- over the years -- mattered. It may -- at least as far as kickers go -- still matter.

"The placekicker shortage probably resulted from the racist thinking that was once common in the NFL," said John Hoberman, a University of Texas professor whose books include 1997's Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race.

"It is likely that the racial mindset of the 1950s and 1960s categorized kicking as a skill position rather than as one of the 'athletic' ones that were regarded as better suited to black athletes," Hoberman said. "The center position, which requires 'thinking,' was also reserved for white players for many years.

"Once this pattern was established, the Law of the Clique set in. The -- white -- guys who hung out with the -- white -- guys who knew how to kick, and who knew the coaches who taught kicking, simply perpetuated the racial exclusivity of this little guild, just as some American labor unions used to do on a much larger scale."

Medlock said, "I don't think there's really a racial barrier. Look at Tiger Woods ... he used to go to the golf course and they wouldn't even let him on the golf course. So I think, for me, I don't think it's any harder than for anybody else."

Besides, he said, "You can't sit there and complain about it." All you can do, he said, is kick the ball, and kick it well: "You have to have that attitude that you're confident but not cocky. You're determined. And so you have to have the mind-set that you're serious about this."

When UCLA gets in field goal range -- which for him means once the ball is past midfield -- Medlock's helmet is on.

"The thing I tell myself before every time and go and kick in a game -- I look up, I look down, I look back up, I see my target, I'm ready. I tell myself, 'Be smooth.' It's not like, 'Make it.' It's not about that. It's like, 'Just be smooth.' And you know if you're smooth you know you're going to hit it right. And you know you're going to make it."

It's like golf, he said. Every Thursday, Medlock heads to Rancho Park, a municipal course a few miles from the UCLA campus, where he hits maybe 60, maybe 120 range balls. "I hit till I get that nice smooth stroke," he said, adding, "It's like I'm carrying that over to my kicking."

Everything, it seemed, was going smoothly for Medlock until last Dec. 10, a week after UCLA's loss to USC. Prosecutors originally charged Medlock with felony driving under the influence. The Los Angeles County D.A.'s office made the announcement while the Bruins were beating Northwestern in the Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas; Medlock, who scored 89 points last season, didn't play.

A day after the accident, he had been suspended indefinitely.

In court, Medlock was represented by Milton Grimes -- well known in Los Angeles as police-beating victim Rodney King's attorney, a lawyer who gained further national acclaim as a legal analyst during O.J. Simpson's murder trial in the mid-1990s.

The felony case was dropped to a misdemeanor. Medlock pleaded guilty April 10 and was sentenced to three years of probation; ordered to pay fines and court costs of $1,220 and to attend an alcohol-education program.

Medlock was also ordered to do five days work on a California Dept. of Transportation road crew.

Medlock made his most recent appearance in court last Tuesday. A counselor said Medlock has completed most of the education program and called his attitude "consistently positive." The road work was done over the summer, according to court records.

A UCLA communication studies professor, John Kochian, in a letter written to court officials, called Medlock an individual of "concern and compassion," a "young man of obvious maturity, seriousness and strong personal character," blessed with a "calm and understanding demeanor."

Medlock had been a student in one of Kochian's classes and the professor said, "At no time did he ever request or expect special consideration or treatment as a result of his student-athlete status. As a matter of fact, he showed a particular disdain for individuals who are afforded special resources and privileges."

In July, Medlock was reinstated to the football team. "The first month after all the -- you know, the problems from back then, it was hard," Medlock said one recent afternoon at Spalding Field, UCLA's practice facility. "It was embarrassing to come around here. I think I embarrassed myself, embarrassed my family."

Because of the publicity the accident drew, he said, He said, "It was the only time I ever -- the only time I never wanted to be an athlete. I wished I had never played football. I would talk to my sister," an emergency room doctor in San Francisco, "for a couple weeks after and I was like, should I even play? Why go back and get booed by fans? What's the point, you know?"

Medlock drew a deep breath. He said, "And then I was talking to myself -- it's like, I love this game too much. Why would I quit? You know? I'm not a quitter. I wouldn't want anyone else to quit. I would want somebody to bounce back. These people out here," he said, sweeping an arm around the UCLA practice field, "they needed me.

"And I needed them."
Medlock,%20JustinMug.jpg

the poor and oppressed justin medlock
 

whiteCB

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So is Hester starting at HB again this week? Will he ever get over 15 carries in a game? I don't think that's too much to ask for.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Hester is listed as the starter for this week's tilt in Knoxville. Vincent and Broussard are behind him. I agree, whiteCB, that 15 carries isn't too much to ask, but that would be like pulling teeth for most Caste System/Big Lie trained coaches. I'm afraid Les Miles is no different. There's always room for hope though!
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lumsdenpower

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Maybe i'm crazy but i think that Jacob Hester have more chance to be a consistent runner in NFL than Brian Leonard..Edited by: lumsdenpower
 

Deus Vult

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http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20 061122/SPORTS0202/611220328/1001/SPORTS


Ex-Evangel star Hester may be LSU's most valuable player

November 22, 2006

By Glenn Guilbeau
guilbeau@gannett.com

BATON ROUGE -- How valuable is LSU tailback/fullback/special teams star Jacob Hester?

He was in on 47 of the Tigers' 67 offensive plays in the 23-20, overtime win over Ole Miss on Saturday. Hester, a junior from Evangel Christian in Shreveport, led LSU with 42 yards on 12 carries and caught an 8-yard pass.


Hester leads LSU in rushing on the season with 355 yards on 73 carries and is fourth on the team in receiving with 205 yards on 30 catches.

Coach Les Miles chose to give the ball to the reliable Hester on all five of the Tigers' plays in overtime after Ole Miss failed to score on the first possession of overtime.

Hester also made a tackle on one of the several special teams on which he plays.

Against Alabama on Nov. 11, Hester played 44 of 55 snaps.

"He really plays a lot of football on offense," Miles said, "but he really gives us a lot of special teams snaps and really enjoys and thrives in special teams."
 

C Darwin

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This is from Hester's Bio page on the LSU Football website.

Consummate team player who wears a variety of hats... Brings a great attitude and work ethic to the field everyday ... Can play both tailback and fullback, while also serving on special teams ... Has tremendous ability out of the backfield ... A throwback player who gets the most out of his ability ... Runs with a purpose ... Tremendous blocker as well ... Ranks among LSU's all-time leaders in receptions by a running back with 48, which includes 35 in 2006 ... Has 30 special teams tackles for his career ... Played in 37 games with 14 starts ... Has 677 career rushing yards and eight touchdowns ... Has 48 career receptions for 353 yards and six scores.

Can any of us pick out the euphemisms?

Link
 

jared

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Ah well. At least he got tons of carries out of the backfield last year. We all got to bear witness to a white running back leading the charge for an elite SEC team. Hopefully, with the recent departure of Alley Broussard, he'll continue to receive a number of carries this season as well.
 

backrow

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<ul>[*]Consummate team player [/list]
<ul>[*]Brings a great attitude and work ethic [/list]
<ul>[*]Can play both tailback and fullback, while also serving on special teams[/list]
<ul>[*]A throwback player who gets the most out of his ability [/list]

lol, what a typical caste way of describing a white runningback... throwback, will play blocker/special teams without complaining, workhorse, limited athletic ability that he gets most of...
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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not to split hairs with Jared, but Hester didNOTget a ton of carries last season... he averaged just a hair more than 7 carries a game. not exactly the normal standard for a featured back.


LSU spread the ball around a LOT in the backfield last season, with five backs averaging at least 3 &amp; 1/2 carries a game.


while Hester did lead the team in rushing and rushing TDs, he wasn't exactly their featured back. hopefully he will emerge as such this year.


he is very versatile though, like a Peyton Hillis or a Brian Leonard. he finished fourth on the team in every important receiving category, in addition to being the required blocker and special teams demon.


here's hoping Jacob will get to showcase his tailback talents more fully this fall.
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whiteCB

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I wish Hester would be the featured back becuase I believe he could be a 1300+ yard guy in a season if given the chance. Although when in conference play I could see all the coal black SEC opposing defenses bringing their "A" game just so whitey won't run for a 100 yards on them. I could just imagine all the trash talking Hester would endure on pile ons and such.
 
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