LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Confidence is his No. 1 attribute.
He scored a touchdown last season on the very first play of his
collegiate career.
He's the No. 1 cornerback on Wyoming's football team.
He's the first child in his family to go to college.
No wonder Derrick Martin feels like he belongs in the No. 1
jersey.
"That's me," Martin said Wednesday following the Cowboys'
first spring practice in full pads. "I'm gonna be that No. 1 this
year."
Martin added, "Plus, I wore that in high school and it made me
feel good."
The No. 1 -- there's that number again -- player in UW's 2003
recruiting class, Martin is expected to solve defensive coordinator
Mike Breske's No. 1 concern in the Cowboys' revamped secondary.
He's labeled as the successor to Chris Dixon, who served as the
team's lockdown cornerback last season.
"He's got a presence," Breske said of Martin, who wore No. 27
as a true freshman. "The thing about cornerbacks is, they're
always tested. It may not be every play, but you don't know when
that play is. How do you rebound from something negative? Derrick
forgets about it, and that's the mentality you have to have. When
bad things happen, just forget about it and go to the next play.
You can't let it linger and affect your play, and he doesn't."
"He's very competitive, he's a physical ballplayer and he's one
of our fastest players," Breske continued. "He brings a lot to
the table."
Not just one of the fastest players. Martin's time of 4.39
seconds in the 40-meter dash was, you guessed it, No. 1 on the
team.
Martin's mouth runs almost as fast as his feet. He's quickly
gained a reputation for yapping at quarterbacks in practice and he
doesn't keep quiet off the field, either.
"Derrick's just wild, man," said redshirt freshman cornerback
Andre LaCaille, one of Martin's closest friends on the team. "You
hear him everywhere. He comes off the elevator, you hear him
talking. He's out on the field giving the quarterbacks a hard time
and gets (offensive coordinator Bill) Cockhill yelling at him. He's
just wild. He's just fun to be around and he keeps the team going.
He's a good leader."
Martin, a former standout at Thomas Jefferson High in
Westminster, Colo., does more than talk a good game. He plays one,
too. Despite being limited to six games last season because of
injury -- he broke his left hand against Oklahoma State in September
-- Martin made 27 tackles while splitting time between cornerback
and free safety and also played a prominent role on special teams.
In his UW debut against Montana State, Martin scooped up a
blocked punt and dove into the end zone to score the Cowboys' first
points of the 2003 season. The next week against OSU, Martin
partially blocked a punt that traveled 15 yards.
"Where I grew up, man, you had to talk and you had to be
confident in what you do. I just brought that up here," said
Martin, whose goal this season is to lead UW in interceptions.
"All I do is talk and try to back it up."
Said LaCaille, "He makes big plays. You always hear that big
players make big plays, and that's the type of player he is. He's
always around the ball and he's always making plays."
In fact, LaCaille regards Martin as the Cowboys' No. 1 playmaker
in the secondary. Then again, who else would be No. 1?
"Oh, yeah," LaCaille said. "He's making plays all the time.
He's a big playmaker."
In addition to his considerable talents on the field, Martin's
coaches and teammates appreciate his attitude.
Much like UW's charismatic head coach Joe Glenn, Martin has a
knack for energizing everybody around him, whether it's with a
smile, a funny story or just by being himself.
"Derrick's real lively. He's a good guy to hang around,
especially when you're not in the best of moods," said Martin's
roommate, Chase McBride, a redshirt freshman wide receiver. "He's
always there to liven things up. He's real happy, he's always in a
good mood and I like that about him."
All the while, McBride said, Martin has the team's best
interests in mind.
"He got hurt last year and he felt like he had to come back
because he was letting the team down," said McBride. "He's not
all about himself. As good as he wants to do personally, his team
is first."
And, now, Martin is No. 1 on his team. And happy about it,
right?
"Yeah," McBride said, cracking a smile. "He likes that
number."