DB Arnold used Bama benching as motivation

• Stephen Holder, ESPNFeb 29, 2024, 03:56 PM ET Close Stephen signed up with ESPN in 2022, covering the Indianapolis Colts and NFL at large. Stephen finished top place in column writing in the 2015 Indiana Associated Press Media Editors competition, and he is a previous top-10 winner in explanatory journalism in the Associated Press Sports Editors nationwide contest. He has narrated the NFL because 2005, covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2005-2013 and the Colts given that 2013. He has previously worked for the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and The Athletic.INDIANAPOLIS– If you’re questioning

where the approaching NFL profession of previous Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold might wind up, the projected first-round choice has some ideas.Specifically, he’s believing Canton, Ohio. As in the Hall of Fame.Speaking Thursday

at the NFL scouting integrate, Arnold stated that Alabama’s decision to bench him in 2022 in favor of colleague Eli Ricks had a huge impact on the trajectory of his career.Editor’s Picks “I got benched and I’ve been telling all the NFL groups that right there, it altered whatever for me,” Arnold stated. “I kind of like to say I had my Michael Jordan minute. I compose it down every day. Eli Ricks, that’s my sibling. But when I got benched and changed [by] him, it inspired me.

“I compose it down every day and say I decline to ever let that occur again. And that’s what’s going to lead me and take me to getting that gold coat, which is the Hall of Fame. The gold jacket, and I ain’t speaking about the one you might buy.”

The exchange was the most unforgettable minute from a press conference filled with snappy actions from the affable but confident Arnold. The third-ranked cornerback by ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper, and the predicted 15th overall choice in Kiper’s newest mock draft, Arnold regularly exhibited the self-assurance that made him a first-team Associated Press All-American. He stated his confidence is an essential part of his game and it’s a quality he learned from his grandfather.

“My grandad was a roofing contractor,” Arnold stated. “So, with that being said, I like to associate roofing to football. My grandad always informed me on the roofing system, no one’s coming to conserve you. You know that if you lose confidence in yourself, you’re going to slip and fall. It’s the very same way with playing corner and being a human. If you do not have that kind of confidence to come in and take over a room and have that presence, no one else is going to have that confidence in you.”

Arnold, who had five interceptions and 12 pass breakups last season, said there is a great basis for that confidence. One example, he stated, was the way in which he completed in practices with former Alabama star Jameson Williams, the 2022 12th general choice. Arnold and Williams were briefly both scout-team players during Arnold’s redshirt freshman season in 2021, but they participated in unforgettable matches in that time.

“When I was securing him and sort of hanging with him, he ran by me a couple of times,” Arnold stated. “But when I was guarding him and hanging with him, I said I can hang with anyone. And we learnt later [Williams] was the very best receiver in college football.”