North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: McCuller Matures Into A Force on O-Line
4/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. When he was eight years old, Jeraill McCuller sneaked out of the house, crossed the railroad tracks in his hometown of Jamesville, N.C., and joined a Pop Warner football team without his mother’s permission.
For weeks, he would go to practice and play in games without his mom’s knowledge. He didn’t want her worrying about him playing a physical sport. She finally broke down and asked him where he was running off to late in the evenings.
He admitted that he was playing football, and to his surprise, it was a sport his mom, Annette Johnson, immediately embraced for her oldest son. In fact, for years, she kept telling Jeraill that he needed to be concentrating on the gridiron, instead of chasing his dream to become a basketball player.
“She used to make me play football,” McCuller said. “I just wanted to play basketball.”
The ever-growing McCuller bounced back and forth between his biological parents’ homes, splitting time in eastern North Carolina and Michigan while in middle school and high school. He even spent a year in Detroit at a prep school, hoping to get the exposure to earn himself a basketball scholarship.
That year taught him, however, that he was more suited for football.
“I played basketball day-in and day-out growing up,” said McCuller, now a senior offensive lineman at NC State. “When I went to a prep school [Detroit Country Day] my 10th grade year, I really got to see what it takes to be that dominant of a basketball player. It was a sign from God that football is my calling. It was a hard thing the way they run those guys.
“I knew football was going to be my sport.”
McCuller, whose half-sister Erica Solomon plays basketball at Notre Dame, had the height for hoops, growing to a strapping 6-feet, 7-inches tall. But he had the girth for football, reaching a massive 335 pounds. Heading into his senior season with the Wolfpack, he is easily the biggest player on the roster.
How’d he get so big?
“Genetics,” said McCuller, whose mom is 5-10 and father is 6-5. “That, and my grandmother’s sweet potato pie. Those things are addictive.”
He’s been a starter at right tackle on the offensive line, starting the final four games of 2007 and all 13 games last year at right tackle. He played more snaps than any other player on the Wolfpack offense [795 plays] and allowed just two sacks all season long.
But, midway through the Wolfpack’s spring drills, McCuller isn’t about to take anything for granted, the way he did last year. He entered last spring as the starter at right tackle, but lost his job heading into fall.
So he’s not taking spring competition lightly this time around. And because of the competition, the offensive line which had been reshaped and reformed on multiple occasions over the last decade has a better chance to be a strength on an offense that has multiple weapons, from scrambling quarterback Russell Wilson, running backs Jamelle Eugene and Toney Baker and wide receivers Darrell Davis, Owen Spencer and Jarvis Williams.
“I can tell you from experience, one thing that is making us better as a team is Coach O’Brien’s concept of competition,” McCuller said. “I think that bit me in the butt last year. Coming out of the season, I was the starter, but I got a little lackadaisical.
“I had to show myself worthy of getting my starting job back. Going into this spring, Coach made it clear that there are other guys who are good and who are going to play. The guy behind me is [red-shirt freshman] R.J. Mattes, and he is a real talent. Everyday, I buckle the chin strap and go out there knowing that I got to prove myself.”
So, like everybody else on the roster, McCuller knows he has to work hard in spring drills to retain his starting position.
“Coach O’Brien always says that the hardest workers play for him,” McCuller said. “And he has shown us all that if you don’t work hard, you won’t play.”
So far, McCuller has made a positive impression on the coach.
“He’s done a great job, especially this spring,” O’Brien said following the first scrimmage of the spring. “You can see he's taken a step forward... he's taken a leadership role on this football team. I'm happy with the progress we've seen out of him.”
Fans can see the progress of McCuller and the rest of the team on April 18, at the annual Kay Yow Spring Football Game, which kicks off at 1 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium. For more information, click here.
McCuller admits that he had to mature into his position. But he’s proud that he has developed into an NFL prospect.
“I have matured by leaps and bounds, just in the way I now approach football,” McCuller said. “I have a more dedicated and genuine love for the game and I just try to come out everyday and bring something new to the table, so we keep getting better every day.
“This coaching staff has helped me a lot. I have had some obstacles that I have had to hurdle and they have let me know they have my back. They wanted me to rebound from those obstacles and not let them get in the way again. That is what I have dedicated myself to doing.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
