Percy makes instant impact for defense

COURTESY/KENT NISHIMURA Boise State Bronco J.C. Percy tackles Hawai'i Warrior Alex green during second half action at a NCAA WAC match up between the Hawai'i Warriors and the Boise State Broncos Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The Bronco's beat the Warriors 54-9.

When freshman linebacker JC Percy first came to Boise State he immediately noticed most of the starting linebackers were seniors.

That day, Percy set a goal for himself: to play his freshman year.

The walk-on linebacker from Blackfoot, Idaho met his goal as planned and finished the 2009 regular season second on the team in tackles with 64. Percy trails aggressive junior safety Jeron Johnson, who finished with 88 tackles.

“Since I was a little kid my parents told me to shoot for the stars. I’ve always had that mentality to do extraordinary things. So having self confidence wasn’t a big issue,” Percy said.

Percy’s quest in becoming a Bronco has the same feel that of former BSU linebacker, and current Green Bay Packer, Korey Hall.

“Korey Hall is a great example of an Idaho linebacker, and I’m following right in his footsteps,” Percy says. “I’m proud to say I’m an Idaho kid and happy I’ve proven to people that I can play.”

Coming from Blackfoot, Percy was able to become a standout athlete in high school, but when it came time to decide on his future, his options were limited.

“Littler schools came to talk to me and I’d kind of shoot them off and say I wanted to play division one football. Coming out of high school and into college I had zero offers. I just had two walk on opportunities. Here (BSU) and Stanford,” Percy remembers.

After coming to one of BSU’s football camps, Broncos’ head coach Chris Petersen offered him the chance to walk-on.

Percy, who had been hurt most of his senior year in high school, took the opportunity. After one redshirt season under his belt, he is starting for the Broncos at middle linebacker.

“He really fit that walk-on mold where he was hurt most of his senior year, but we just really didn’t know,” Petersen said. “We always felt really good about him and always wanted him here. Guys know if you come here and you produce it can work really well for you.”

Now, Percy prides himself as being one of the toughest guys on the team. Percy’s teammates and coaches regularly notice him during practice because of his tremendous work ethic — which has propelled him much like it once did for Hall.

“He’s a real smart intellectual linebacker,” sophomore defensive tackle Billy Winn said. “He knows where he needs to be and knows what he needs to do. He has helped us out all season long because he has that drive and that fight.”

Winn and Percy say they often tussle in friendly wrestling matches, but neither gives the other player credit as who is the better of the two.

“Definitely not Percy,” Winn said when asked who is better.

Percy, on the other hand, says Winn is lying to himself.

“Billy can think that all he wants, but when it comes down to it he knows who’ll win. That’s alright, I just use quickness to get around him,” Percy said confidently.

It’s literally a dream come true for Percy, who went out on a limb to prove to people he was capable of playing big time football at a big time university.

“I came in here with a huge chip on my shoulder and wanted to prove everybody wrong. Everyone back home thought I could do it. I wanted to prove to them that they were right,” Percy said.

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Posted by Trent Lootens on Dec 13 2009. Filed under Blue-N-Orange, Bowl Championship Series, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.