When thinking
of Jamaica, you might imagine jetting to a resort to get
away for a while, basking in the sun and swimming in the
crystal clear water or relaxing by tossing back a few Red
Stripes while listening to Bob Marley and the Whalers’ "No
Woman No Cry" as it blares from taxi cabs and bars. As a
diehard college football fan, I happen to think of Atari
Bigby, safety for the University of Central Florida Golden
Knights. He was born in Jamaica, but seeing one good hit
from Bigby and you’d think he was raised on a farm in
Nebraska.
Atari Bigby
isn't known for interceptions or broken up pass plays, but
more for his knack for knocking receivers coming across
the middle into the opposite bleachers. The bewildered
looks on their faces as they right themselves leads you to
believe that they are wondering why they are even at a
football game to begin with. Atari is not even a mean
guy; very mild mannered actually, but as soon as you put a
helmet on him and show him the football field, he'll
promptly lay you out.
At 5’11” and
215 lbs., he's deceptively quick which comes in very handy
when he is asked to provide run support for the
linebackers and defensive line. Once a cornerback, he was
moved to strong safety in 2002 and became an All-Mac
performer. He was named to the 2003 preseason Bronko
Nagurski Watch List and is listed as a preseason All-Mac
selection.
In judging
players in the secondary, most people automatically turn
to the interception stat to see how many times a certain
player has made the big play, but that can be misleading.
You won't see a lot of interceptions in Atari's stat
sheet, even though it wouldn’t be very unusual for the
safety position. What you will see is the fact that in
2002 he had 104 tackles (58 solo) which ranked him 15th
overall in the Mac. Those numbers, among other things,
earned him a spot on the first team All-Mac defensive
squad. In 2003, Bigby recorded 122 tackles (80 solo) and
it seems likely that he’ll surpass that in 2004.
Adding
support to the assumption that Bigby will continue to
improve is the new coaching staff that has been hired to
help him. George O’Leary, the very successful former
Georgia Tech coach has brought with him, Defensive
Coordinator Lance Thompson, who will have the privilege of
coaching this talented young man. Recently I had the
opportunity to speak with him and despite only having been
at UCF since January, he was able to give me a good read
on Atari Bigby.
DraftBoardInsider.com: What kind of a person is
Atari?
Lance
Thompson: I tell you what, he's a special guy.
We just took over the program here in January. We were
watching tapes and he was definitely the most visible
player on defense as far as being physical and playing
with toughness. When I got a chance to sit down and visit
with the kid he's a real quality guy. He's married with a
couple of children and very, very disciplined in
his life. He's very responsible and does all the things
you ask him to do as far as being a good leader in your
program. He was a straight A student in the spring
semester and made the Dean's list.
DBI:
Tell me a little bit about his no fear attitude.
I mean the rest of the defense seems to feed off of him.
LT:
He will light you up! Atari is very physical;
he's one of those kids that always seem to be in the right
place at the right time. He made a lot of great plays
this spring. We're really expecting big things from him
this fall. We're going to try to utilize him as best we
can; we definitely think he's one of our big play makers.
DBI:
What drives him to be such a punishing hitter?
LT:
You know, I think you could probably give a lot
of credit to the way he was coached in High School with
Nigel Dunn. His kids always play the game real physical
and they play it fast. It's kind of like the saying "If
the pup don't bite when he's a pup he's not going to bite
when he's a dog." It's the way he was taught. I imagine
if you were to look at Atari as a young player, he'd knock
the hell out of you then too.
DBI:
How fast is Atari? I know he can cover sideline
to sideline, but he seems pretty quick for a safety.
LT:
He was timed at a 4.5, and to be honest with you,
he plays an honest 4.5, because of his instincts and
pre-snap reads. He's always where he needs to be.
DBI:
Did he toy at all with entering the draft last
year?
LT:
To be honest with you by the time I got here all
of that was done. I think he thought about it. I think
this year he understands with the staff we've got,
especially with coach O’Leary, he can be the best safety
in the league and rank right up there with higher caliber
players and he can improve his stock.
DBI:
Is he healthy, any nagging injuries, etc?
LT:
He's healthy, no problems.
DBI:
I’ve got to ask you about the hair. Is the hair
going to stay? I mean it would almost be Sampsonian if he
cut it, right?
LT:
No I think that's just a cultural thing. He's
very aware of that, but he's always trying to put out a
positive image. He's a very conscientious kid, and that's
just part of it. I mean that's just who he is, and there
isn't anything phony about it.
DBI:
Some including us have him ranked just behind
Donté Nicholson of OU. Is this a fair assessment?
LT:
He's as good a safety as I've seen in a long
time. He's definitely a quality safety, and very
deserving of the pre-season rankings.
DBI:
One more question coach. If Atari had to work on
anything what would it be? Does he have a weakness?
LT: Not
much, but from last year I think he needs to work on his
tackling. Not that he can't tackle obviously, but
sometimes when you go to lay the big hit, it's shoot or
miss. He just needs to wrap up, and not give up the big
play as the result of a big hit where the guy doesn't go
down.
Atari Bigby
has matured and become a very good football player and
that growth will continue in 2004. Becoming that hard
hitter over the middle is a long way from his days in
elementary school where he withstood teasing about his
name (and for the record, his grandmother, who came up
with the name, insists he wasn't named for the popular
videogame of the 1970s and 80s). "In elementary school, I
didn't like the name" recalls Bigby, "but as I grew older
and realized that no one else had it, I liked it." Besides
says Bigby, "when you have an unusual name, it looks
better on the back of your jersey. And my first name and
last name are unusual."
Yes, the names
are unusual, and so is the hard-hitting style of play that
Atari Bigby brings to a football field. One of my
favorite things about watching football is when a wide
receiver or running back sprints calmly across the field
with no idea what's about to unload on him and suddenly
BANG. Ronnie Lott and others have given us several years
of that in the NFL; I have no doubt that Atari Bigby is
going to give us more of that on Sunday afternoons in the
years to come.
