Senior Quintin Echols is a big man. At 6-foot-1, 315 pounds, he has been a mainstay in the K-State defensive line for the entirety of his football eligibility and finished sixth on the team in tackles last year. Echols recently answered questions on issues ranging from his three-and-a-half year marriage to his worst job in high school.
Q. What is it like having children and playing football?
A. It is kind of hard being rough and tough in football and then coming home and having a little girl. She has probably made me a softy a little bit. I think about making her life a little better, so it makes me play harder. When I go home and I am tired, I will always have my daughter to make me feel good.
Q: How hard is it to balance football and marriage?
A: Being married gives you a lot more responsibility. When I first got married, it was a little harder, but now it gives me responsibility. When I get tired, I think that it is not just me I am playing for, so it actually helps now.
Q: Why do you like to hang out at the K-State Student Union?
A: I am a people person. I just like to sit in the Union and meet everybody that walks through. If you see other people in the Union, and I am not there, they might think the world is going to end. I just like to meet new people.
Q: What is the deal with the dreads and shells in your hair?
A: I have no idea what the shells are actually about. I am just doing something different. I am from Texas and not a lot people from Texas have dreads. I have had braids before, but I just wanted to try something new. The main reason I started it was so they could hang out of my helmet, though.
Q: What music do you like to listen to before a game?
A: I listen to a lot of rap and a lot of upbeat music to get me ready for the game. I guess my favorite artist is The Game.
Q: What is your favorite off-the-field activity?
A: Besides hanging out with my daughter and my wife, it is playing NCAA Football 2007. I am probably the best player on the team.
Q: What is the worst job you have ever had?
A: When I was in ninth grade I worked at Beefer's, a little burger place at home. I basically emptied out the grease and cleaned out the grease pots.
Q: You had some trouble with the preseason conditioning tests coach Prince introduced. How hard was it to pass that test?
A: It was one of those things that you wake up and wonder, "Why do I have to do this?" It was hard, but I think for a lot of us guys, it was a mental thing. When we put it in our minds that we could and just stopped thinking about it, then it was easy. To the naked eye, it is probably the hardest thing you are going to do in your life.
Be the first to comment on this story