What hit the cutting room floor in our chat with Jerraud Powers

By Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Published: February 7, 2010

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Jerraud Powers was never short on words during his three years at Auburn, and the current Indianapolis Colts cornerback certainly hasn’t let a year at the professional level change his demeanor.

So it’s no surprise that there were plenty of leftovers from today’s feature story about Powers.

Let’s dig in.

(What was your reaction when you got drafted by the Colts?)
“Right away I knew this was a title-contending team. You just hear about all the things. Coach (Tony) Dungy set the foundation and you just hear so many great things about the Colts. You never hear any bad things about them. When I got drafted by them, I was extremely blessed. I put everything in God’s hands and I thank him for everything but once I got down here and got to meet all the people I’ve been looking up to for so many years, I just felt honored.“

(What made you feel ready to leave school early?)
“It was one of the first decisions I had to make for me in a long time. I just thought I was ready for the next level. I thought I was ready to compete and take on new challenges and start a new career. I knew that I was making the right decision from the start. A lot of people thought I was making a terrible decision and I was only going to hurt myself, but I knew that I was going and I’m not surprised by the fact that I’ve been able to contribute right away because of the confidence that I had in myself. Not in a cocky way, but just the confidence I had in myself.“

(How’s Peyton Manning?)
“Peyton didn’t pick on me in camp. Usually when you arrive in the NFL, you have the SEC bonds. You’ve still got your rivals, but once conference starts going, you’ve got all the SEC guys. He needed to stick up for me a little bit when guys used to pick on me a little bit.“

(Best moment of the season?)
“An instant classic when we played the Patriots. Just lining up against Randy Moss and Wes Welker and playing against Tom Brady, three Hall-of-Famers, being able to make some plays on those guys. I’ll probably remember that more than anything this year and I’m pretty sure there’s one that’s coming up that will take over pretty soon.“

(How much do you follow Auburn?)
“I keep up with all those guys. Aairon Savage and Walt McFadden, I talk to them almost every other day. I talk to Ben Tate and Antonio (Coleman), Big Jake (Ricks) and all those guys a lot. I keep up with everything that’s going on at Auburn just because of the love. You don’t just leave a place and act like you’ve never been there. I’ve been keeping up with the recruiting and everything. It looks like we’re heading in the right direction. Hopefully we can bring in a few more big time commitments and get us in the SEC championship next year, which I think can happen.“

(Photo credit: AP)