To put in the amount of work it takes to not only sustain your position as a starting linebacker for Auburn football but to also lead the nation in tackles only to not get the recognition you rightfully deserve could be defeating, but Zakoby McClain is using it as fuel for another banner season.
No, Auburn football didn’t earn an actual banner for what was an uneven 6-5 campaign, and McClain himself didn’t collect the individual acclaim someone that just had the season he did usually achieves, but he is one step closer to one of his dreams–an NFL contract–after collecting 113 tackles and three sacks in 2020. McClain’s other dream is to graduate from Auburn, which he will have the opportunity to do now after forgoing the chance to go pro following his best season on the Plains.
Before he does that, though, another goal is on deck: earning the respect of those that have seemingly refused to give it to him up until this point in the senior’s career.
McClain tweeted out a proclamation that he was coming for it in a quote tweet of a piece by the Montgomery Advertiser’s Josh Vitale:
They gonna respect me! https://t.co/OSgdUUzasw
— Zakoby McClain (@RicochetRabbit) June 16, 2021
While McClain has proclaimed before that he doesn’t care what people behind a computer screen think, it’s our human nature to want to be recognized for success. In McClain’s case, the positive press can only help his case to be selected higher in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Luckily, the Valdosta, GA native is converting the lack of said positive press into motivation:
"McClain is paying attention to what those people are saying, though. He’s seen every list that doesn’t have his name on it. He hasn’t forgotten about being left off last season’s All-SEC team.“It just gives me more motivation,” McClain said during the spring. “I’ve got a chip on my shoulder to just keep going harder and harder.”"
The more that chip grows, the better the chances are that opposing offenses will be the ones feeling the hurt in 2021.