NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Tamarick Vanover Jr., WR, Morehouse College

•       Name: Tamarick Vanover Jr.
        •       Height: 5’9
        •       Weight: 175
        •       Position: Wide Receiver and Punt Returner
        •       College: Morehouse College
        •       Twitter: T_Vanover3

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?
        • I am from Lake City, Florida. It’s a small country town with a lot of football culture, it has produced some players that are in the NFL today such as Laremy Tunsil and Timmy Jernigan. What I love about Lake City is how small it is so it feels like everybody knows everybody.     

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?
        •  Practice, Film Study, then Strength and Conditioning. Practice would come first because my college receiver coach always drilled in me that whatever you do in practice throughout the week is what will happen in the game and I really believe that. Film Study would be next because in order to be successful in a game you have to practice good and you have to know everything about your opponent. Strength and Conditioning would be last but it’s definitely important in the game of football because being strong on the football field gives you a different level of confidence when you know you’re stronger than your opponent or can run longer and faster them.

What do you worry about, and why?
        • The only thing I worry about is not making the most out of my life, because you only get one and I want to make it the best.     

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?
        •  I got cut from my middle school basketball team in 7th grade and I was down at first, but then I started to work on my game and I made the team the next year and all of my years in high school.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?
        • My speed.   

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?
        • I would have to say, Osband Thompson from Tuskegee University. He used to be all over the field. 

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football?        

• I would be a Physical Therapist or a Football Coach.

Room, desk, and car – which do you clean first?
        •  Room.

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?
        •  One family member, because family always comes first no matter what.      

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?
        • I would be Spider Man because I always thought it looked fun to swing around the city on webs and climb up skyscrapers, and he’s not the biggest of all the super heroes but he still takes care of business when it comes to defeating villains. 

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?
        • My biggest adversity in life was coming to Morehouse with no scholarship and facing being sent back home because I didn’t have the money to pay for it. The way I dealt with it was I worked harder than I ever had before and ended up earning one in the following Spring through football and eventually Track and Field.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
        •  When I was in elementary school I was trying to be cool in front of some girls by throwing some water in the air and catching it in my mouth (not really cool) and I tripped over this bench and hit my head on a table. 

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?
        • When we beat Miles College in the Chicago Bears stadium on a Hail Mary.

What song best describes your work ethic?
        •  YFN Lucci- Made for it     

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level? 
        •  Work ethic. 

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?
        •  My cousin, Tommie. He was always in a good mood and fun to be around and I miss him.

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it? 
        •  The Mansion

Who is the most overrated player in the NFL? 
        •  Richard Sherman 

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?
        •  I’d rather be respected because people won’t do things to hurt you such as lie to you or talk bad about you when you’re not around if they respect you. 

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?       

•  Josh Gordon, because I worked out with him a couple of times while he was in Gainesville, Florida and he really is a different breed athletically and it just sucks to see that he can’t put it on display in the NFL.   

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?
        •  I love to win, I’m really competitive so I feel like I should win at everything.    

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?
        •  My mother, Deidra she showed me how to work hard for the things you want in life even when the odds may be stacked against you. Seeing my father Tamarick Vanover Sr. play in the NFL is what inspired me to play football since I was a kid.