Blue Bolt
08-14-2007, 02:28 PM
CFX Profile: Malcom Floyd
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/malcom_floyd.jpg
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_stats_risingstar.jpg
http://cfx.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/2007/08/cfx_profile_malcom_floyd_1.html
Rising Star
By Forrest Overin
It's interesting that things seem to be working out just fine for Malcom Floyd... and yet, not much has gone according to plan.
Even before he was born, his life took peculiar twists. While waiting for Malcom to be delivered, his parents decided to let their older son-- nine years old at the time-- have the privilege of naming the new baby. Big brother chose the name 'Malcom'. It didn't seem to matter that his own name was 'Malcolm'.
"I want to name the baby after me!" he explained. And so it was that Malcom came to have the same name as his own brother.
"Well... his name IS spelled with two 'L's," Malcom corrected me.
Okay, fair enough. I guess they aren't EXACTLY the same name.
Malcom grew up in the Sacramento area of Northern California, and was a standout both offensively and defensively in football, as well as on the basketball court. He hoped to get a scholarship offer from a Pac 10 college, but wasn't getting much interest from the schools closest to his home, where he preferred to stay. While schools showed some interest, Floyd put off committing, taking a chance that a last minute offer might materialize from a program within a few highway hours from his hometown. Instead, as Malcom got closer to the deadline for committing, he found that those scholarship offers had been retracted and given to others.
Ooops!
By this time, Malcom had used up six of his allotted eight recruitment visits, and the only programs with scholarship offers still on the table were Colorado State and Wyoming. He set up visits to both campuses, heading first to Fort Collins. After meeting with the coaches and touring the facilities, Floyd expected to join the Rams program.
Cue the next unexpected twist.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_rivers_back.jpg
As is generally the case when high school athletes visit college programs, players on the team take the recruits out to dinner and show them the town. This is when Malcom discovered that getting ripped was a major pastime of his soon-to-be teammates.
"I'm not the type to go out drinking," Malcom explained, "but these guys were. They put on the pressure to drink, and to drink a LOT."
This really wasn't the kind of environment Malcom was looking for, so he called his dad, discussed the situation, and decided against enrolling at Colorado State. He pretty much put all of his eggs in the basket marked 'Wyoming', and visited the Laramie campus shortly thereafter.
"I discovered it was the same way at Wyoming," Floyd said with shrug regarding the party atmosphere he found there, "but I was down to my last option by that point, so I decided to take it."
Okay... so things didn't exactly unfold by any kind of precise design. Malcolm went on to have a not-especially-distinguished career for a struggling Cowboys team in the 'weak sister' Mountain West Conference, certainly not what you'd consider flashy credentials for taking his career to the next level. Floyd earned some All-Conference honors as a senior, but it came as no surprise when the 2004 NFL Draft came and went without his name being called.
Malcom signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent, and made it to the final roster cut down before being released. After clearing waivers, he was signed to the team's Practice Squad, and spent the first 12 games of the campaign there. Activated for the last four games, Floyd played on special teams before finally getting the chance to take some snaps on offense in the season finale, where he earned the distinction of catching Philips Rivers' first career touchdown pass.
Floyd was in the Chargers' camp again the next summer, once more facing long odds of making the final 53 man roster. While soaring for a pass in practice, he was submarined by a defensive back, flipped and landed awkwardly on his head and shoulder, breaking his collar bone. Despite the injury, Floyd again survived until the final roster cuts. As he had the year before, he cleared waivers and was signed to the Chargers' Practice Squad.
Anyone who has ever played competitive sports knows the frustration of practicing long and hard, but not seeing the field during the game itself. Malcom didn't even dress out, much less actually play, in a single regular season game in 2005. It has to be tough to push oneself to the degree that an NFL career requires, yet be denied the opportunity to compete on game day.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_solo.jpg
"I just learned that there are some things you can control, and some you can't," Malcom said during a break between training camp practices. "I've been held back some by injuries, but they kept me for a reason. They see a lot of promise in me, and I'm grateful they look at me that way."
"They", Malcom explained, when asked, means A.J. Smith, Buddy Nix, James Lofton, and of course Marty Schottenheimer, while he was here.
Injuries are a part of football. As the saying goes, no player is 100% healthy by the time the season is half over. Part of what makes a good football player is the ability to push oneself through the grind of treating and coming back from injuries.
"Football is a tough sport, and I've been playing since I was in kindergarten," Floyd said. "For some people, playing over the years takes a toll, and their bodies give out. I feel lucky that I've made it THIS far, because a lot of people who are REALLY talented don't make it."
When Malcom came to camp a year ago, it was without question a 'make or break' endeavor. Ineligible to spend any more time on the Practice Squad, Floyd would make the Chargers, or get cut. Period. He had gotten stronger and added some weight, but he had also observed Eric Parker and Keenan McCardell, and emulated their practice habits and work ethic. Along the way, he figured out how to use his considerable size advantage over defensive backs, showed reliable hands, and ran with power and determination after the catch. He made the team, outright.
Malcom totaled 15 catches, for 210 yards and three TDs last year in little more than half a season of play. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the ninth game of the season, which kept him out of a couple of games and limited him in others before he was finally placed on Injured Reserve in mid-December.
But while his audition was limited, Malcom displayed big play ability, often in clutch situations. In the game in Cincinnati last fall-- a game Floyd calls "the biggest comeback I've ever been a part of"-- he came through time and again, moving the chains in critical situations and showing outstanding hands.
So now, for the very first time, Malcom Floyd finds himself in a training camp where he's not a 'bubble' player. Everybody around EXPECTS that he'll make the make the team. That is... health permitting.
As for Floyd, he's focusing on things he does, in fact, have some control over. Not that he's taking anything for granted.
"You still have to work hard," whether you're first or last on the depth chart, "and it's still a grind out there," Malcom explained. You gotta come out ready to work every day, and there are going to be days when you don't feel like it."
"There's days when you're going to be banged up, but football's a tough sport-- a man's sport-- and you have to be able to get through it," he continued. "There are some very talented players who have short careers because they can't push themselves to keep going through the grind. It's a mental thing you have to work through."
In other words, the game requires physical skills, sure. But it DEMANDS a mental toughness that doesn't always accompany a great physical skill set.
Okay, so it hasn't been a conventional path to an NFL training camp in which a guy is expected to compete for a starting job. But as improbable as it is, it's the journey Malcom Floyd has
taken.
And it's getting harder to shake the idea that he's come all this way for nothing.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/malcom_floyd.jpg
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_stats_risingstar.jpg
http://cfx.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/2007/08/cfx_profile_malcom_floyd_1.html
Rising Star
By Forrest Overin
It's interesting that things seem to be working out just fine for Malcom Floyd... and yet, not much has gone according to plan.
Even before he was born, his life took peculiar twists. While waiting for Malcom to be delivered, his parents decided to let their older son-- nine years old at the time-- have the privilege of naming the new baby. Big brother chose the name 'Malcom'. It didn't seem to matter that his own name was 'Malcolm'.
"I want to name the baby after me!" he explained. And so it was that Malcom came to have the same name as his own brother.
"Well... his name IS spelled with two 'L's," Malcom corrected me.
Okay, fair enough. I guess they aren't EXACTLY the same name.
Malcom grew up in the Sacramento area of Northern California, and was a standout both offensively and defensively in football, as well as on the basketball court. He hoped to get a scholarship offer from a Pac 10 college, but wasn't getting much interest from the schools closest to his home, where he preferred to stay. While schools showed some interest, Floyd put off committing, taking a chance that a last minute offer might materialize from a program within a few highway hours from his hometown. Instead, as Malcom got closer to the deadline for committing, he found that those scholarship offers had been retracted and given to others.
Ooops!
By this time, Malcom had used up six of his allotted eight recruitment visits, and the only programs with scholarship offers still on the table were Colorado State and Wyoming. He set up visits to both campuses, heading first to Fort Collins. After meeting with the coaches and touring the facilities, Floyd expected to join the Rams program.
Cue the next unexpected twist.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_rivers_back.jpg
As is generally the case when high school athletes visit college programs, players on the team take the recruits out to dinner and show them the town. This is when Malcom discovered that getting ripped was a major pastime of his soon-to-be teammates.
"I'm not the type to go out drinking," Malcom explained, "but these guys were. They put on the pressure to drink, and to drink a LOT."
This really wasn't the kind of environment Malcom was looking for, so he called his dad, discussed the situation, and decided against enrolling at Colorado State. He pretty much put all of his eggs in the basket marked 'Wyoming', and visited the Laramie campus shortly thereafter.
"I discovered it was the same way at Wyoming," Floyd said with shrug regarding the party atmosphere he found there, "but I was down to my last option by that point, so I decided to take it."
Okay... so things didn't exactly unfold by any kind of precise design. Malcolm went on to have a not-especially-distinguished career for a struggling Cowboys team in the 'weak sister' Mountain West Conference, certainly not what you'd consider flashy credentials for taking his career to the next level. Floyd earned some All-Conference honors as a senior, but it came as no surprise when the 2004 NFL Draft came and went without his name being called.
Malcom signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent, and made it to the final roster cut down before being released. After clearing waivers, he was signed to the team's Practice Squad, and spent the first 12 games of the campaign there. Activated for the last four games, Floyd played on special teams before finally getting the chance to take some snaps on offense in the season finale, where he earned the distinction of catching Philips Rivers' first career touchdown pass.
Floyd was in the Chargers' camp again the next summer, once more facing long odds of making the final 53 man roster. While soaring for a pass in practice, he was submarined by a defensive back, flipped and landed awkwardly on his head and shoulder, breaking his collar bone. Despite the injury, Floyd again survived until the final roster cuts. As he had the year before, he cleared waivers and was signed to the Chargers' Practice Squad.
Anyone who has ever played competitive sports knows the frustration of practicing long and hard, but not seeing the field during the game itself. Malcom didn't even dress out, much less actually play, in a single regular season game in 2005. It has to be tough to push oneself to the degree that an NFL career requires, yet be denied the opportunity to compete on game day.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/cfx/floyd_solo.jpg
"I just learned that there are some things you can control, and some you can't," Malcom said during a break between training camp practices. "I've been held back some by injuries, but they kept me for a reason. They see a lot of promise in me, and I'm grateful they look at me that way."
"They", Malcom explained, when asked, means A.J. Smith, Buddy Nix, James Lofton, and of course Marty Schottenheimer, while he was here.
Injuries are a part of football. As the saying goes, no player is 100% healthy by the time the season is half over. Part of what makes a good football player is the ability to push oneself through the grind of treating and coming back from injuries.
"Football is a tough sport, and I've been playing since I was in kindergarten," Floyd said. "For some people, playing over the years takes a toll, and their bodies give out. I feel lucky that I've made it THIS far, because a lot of people who are REALLY talented don't make it."
When Malcom came to camp a year ago, it was without question a 'make or break' endeavor. Ineligible to spend any more time on the Practice Squad, Floyd would make the Chargers, or get cut. Period. He had gotten stronger and added some weight, but he had also observed Eric Parker and Keenan McCardell, and emulated their practice habits and work ethic. Along the way, he figured out how to use his considerable size advantage over defensive backs, showed reliable hands, and ran with power and determination after the catch. He made the team, outright.
Malcom totaled 15 catches, for 210 yards and three TDs last year in little more than half a season of play. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the ninth game of the season, which kept him out of a couple of games and limited him in others before he was finally placed on Injured Reserve in mid-December.
But while his audition was limited, Malcom displayed big play ability, often in clutch situations. In the game in Cincinnati last fall-- a game Floyd calls "the biggest comeback I've ever been a part of"-- he came through time and again, moving the chains in critical situations and showing outstanding hands.
So now, for the very first time, Malcom Floyd finds himself in a training camp where he's not a 'bubble' player. Everybody around EXPECTS that he'll make the make the team. That is... health permitting.
As for Floyd, he's focusing on things he does, in fact, have some control over. Not that he's taking anything for granted.
"You still have to work hard," whether you're first or last on the depth chart, "and it's still a grind out there," Malcom explained. You gotta come out ready to work every day, and there are going to be days when you don't feel like it."
"There's days when you're going to be banged up, but football's a tough sport-- a man's sport-- and you have to be able to get through it," he continued. "There are some very talented players who have short careers because they can't push themselves to keep going through the grind. It's a mental thing you have to work through."
In other words, the game requires physical skills, sure. But it DEMANDS a mental toughness that doesn't always accompany a great physical skill set.
Okay, so it hasn't been a conventional path to an NFL training camp in which a guy is expected to compete for a starting job. But as improbable as it is, it's the journey Malcom Floyd has
taken.
And it's getting harder to shake the idea that he's come all this way for nothing.