Brad Ketron: Interview with DB Signee DeMarcus Van Dyke

Published Jun 25, 2007

Interview with DB Signee DeMarcus Van Dyke

CanesOverHere’s Brad Ketron chatted recently with recent Cane DB signee DeMarcus Van Dyke. Here's how their conversation went:

Brad: Who is your favorite Cane of all time, and why?

DeMarcus: Probably Phillip Buchanon because he’s kinda like me. He can return punts, he’s a shutdown corner, he’s a good tackler, and when the ball’s in the air he’s a ball-hawking cornerback. So, that’s how I play my game and that’s why I like him so much.

Brad: What about the playbook? How hard or easy has it been to pick up what defense that we’re gonna be running next year for you?

DeMarcus: I came to campus early to get a head start on things, but right now the playbook is not that hard. Right now it’s just breaking down piece by piece what I have to do in different formations and stuff like that, on Cover 3, Cover 1…

Brad: Taking away any Canes past or present, which football player - college or pro - do you try to pattern your game after or think your game is like?

DeMarcus: At receiver, I’m like a Ted Ginn Jr. type of person, but on defense, I’m a P-Buck type of person man, gotta go with him.

Brad: Yeah, but P-Buck’s a Cane…what about a non-Cane you pattern your defensive style after?

DeMarcus: I gotta say Deion Sanders.

Brad: You’re on campus, you’re working hard with everybody, so who are some of the players on the team right now that in your opinion are going to make the biggest impact this upcoming season?

DeMarcus: In one-on-one’s, Lance Leggett—he’s been like a beast, man, catching everything, comfortable with the jams and stuff like that. Darnell Jenkins too - him and Sam Shields are two of the fastest receivers I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Baby J and Coop, too, they’re like Reggie Bush and Lendale White.

Brad: Let me ask you about that 40.78 second 4x100 relay that you and your teammates at Pace ran at the track meet this past year, how did that feel? Running that fast, setting the bar for everyone else in the nation to try to hit?

DeMarcus: Our whole goal this year was something like 40.9, 40.7, somewhere in there. We were putting out consistently 41.3, 41.4, but at the state meet, we were like this is our last time, last go round for the team, so let’s go out there and get a 40.7, 40.5. We set our marks around the track, so our first leg got a great start, and then our second leg came around, and we knew then, it’s gotta be a 40-point-something.

Brad: Yeah, I’m not used to seeing that type of speed up here in Virginia, man.

DeMarcus: Yeah, our first leg is a sophomore, and so is our third leg.

Brad: If you hadn’t have committed to Miami, where would you have gone to school and why?

DeMarcus: I probably would have went to LSU because the coaches up there were really smooth and calm, but there’s no place like home, like Miami, so I had to come to The U.

Brad: Tell me about the Kayne parking lot incident.

DeMarcus: I shut him down, man… (laughs)

Brad: Well, I asked Kayne about it. Tell me exactly what happened—was it a bad pass or good defense?

DeMarcus: Good defense, of course…. (laughs)

Brad: You’re wearing number 31 this upcoming season, is that right?

DeMarcus: They changed me to 30 this year, and next year I’m switching to 8 (when Jenkins graduates).

Brad: Who are you rooming with on campus?

DeMarcus: I’m going to be rooming with Allen Bailey.

Brad: What’s your favorite food?

DeMarcus: Shrimp pasta.

Brad: What about your favorite songs, favorite artists right now, who are you listening to?

DeMarcus: I get into some Young Jeezy, some Trick Daddy before every game to get me pumped.

Brad: Yeah some Trick Daddy, Pitbull, Rick Ross, good stuff.

DeMarcus: All of them Miami boys, 305 boys.

Brad: You’ve got 3 different Jessicas—Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, and Jessica Simpson—who’s the hottest?

DeMarcus: I gotta go with Jessica Simpson, man.

Brad: What about Pace’s team this year—any players that we need to watch out for that you think Miami should be paying attention to?

DeMarcus: My cousin David Van Dyke ran a 4.41 forty at Nike camp this past year and he’s just an upcoming Junior. Kavon Webster, he just ran a 4.39 at the WakeForest camp. Alex Harris, Byron Thomas, Jeffrey Allen, and Greg Shaw.

Brad: Tell me more about Greg Shaw; I hear Louisville is his destination so he can be with his cousin Willie Williams.

DeMarcus: I kind of think he’s going to go up there with Willie, too.

Brad: Have you been in his ear, though?

DeMarcus: Yeah, I got to talk to him a couple of days ago. I was like man, you said you like Jacory (Harris) and that’s your boy and he said he’s gonna think about it…so I don’t know for sure.

Brad: You mentioned Jacory; do you think that his committing to Miami is going to be the first domino to fall that will get all of the Miami Northwestern guys to come to Miami with him?

DeMarcus: I know Aldarius Johnson is coming, I know Tommy Streeter is coming, Marcus Forston—he tells me he’s coming, but he’s got to play that recruiting game because he’s one of the top recruits in the nation, and Sean Spence told me he was coming. The only one I’m kind of iffy about is Benjamin Jones—I think he’s going to go up to OhioState and help them out.

Brad: Talk about the goals you want to achieve this year as a Cane.

DeMarcus: This year I want to be in New Orleans for sure. I want the team to win a National Championship. I’d like to get on the freshman all-american team, return some kicks for the team, and help us get there.

Brad: For your career as a Cane, what are some of your goals? Are you looking at breaking some records that some of the DB’s that have come through Miami have set?

DeMarcus: I at least want to try to break the interceptions record for sure, and I want to break the most national titles record, and I’m gonna be running track so I’d like to break some record there, for sure.

Brad: What do you think about the current recruits we have for this next year’s class? Who do you think out of them will have the biggest impact as a freshman next year if they end up at Miami?

DeMarcus: I like Patrick Johnson a lot. I’ve seen him play a couple of times last year, he’s a heck of a player.

Brad: What about the receivers we’ve got like Thearon Collier?

DeMarcus: I never went against him, but when I go up to see him play he reminds me a lot of Santana Moss, and a guy like Aldarius Johnson reminds me a lot of Andre Johnson.

Brad: You just named the 2 starting WR’s off of the last Miami national championship team - you do realize that, right?

DeMarcus: That’s right. I mean it, too.

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