AUBURNDALE – Just go ahead and try to find someone with a negative thing to say about the Bloodhounds’ Artavis Pierce–we dare you. From his coach, to his teammates and anyone in-between that’s come in contact with the senior running back who’s off to Oregon State University at the end of this season, they all are some of Artavis Pierce’ biggest fans. Pierce rushed for 1,126 yards and 12 touchdowns for A-Dale and helped his ‘Hounds reach the playoffs in 2014, but the start to the 2015 season has seen his squad faced with a little more adversity starting 0-4 amid high hopes to contend for a playoff spot.
Yesterday, Pierce was presented with his jersey for the annual Blue-Grey All-American Bowl that will be held at Raymond James Stadium on January 9th, 2016. We were there to capture the moment and spoke with Artavis, his Head Coach Billy Deeds, and his parents, Mr. Arthur Pierce and Mrs. Delores Pierce. Here now are some of the things that his folks had to say along with video from the presentation.
BCP: This has to be a pretty proud moment for you both as the national folks have come all the way to tiny Auburndale to recognize your son and his accomplishments, isn’t it?
Mr. Arthur Pierce: “We are just humbled by the situation. A year or two ago, we were trying to hit every camp and combine we could. You know, as a parent–you think your kid is the best, but we’ve tried to humble ourselves through the entire process. There’s plenty of talent out there and we try to remind him (Artavis) of that in order to keep him humble through the process of his recruitment.”
BCP: Can you remember what it was like when this whole process began?
Mr. Pierce: “Once we started going through the process though, we noticed he began to separate himself from some of the other players at the position–and then we went to one of the BCP camps and some comments were made on the website and then I started to think–well, there must be something going on then. There’s some potential there. When I saw that–things start to click and my head and I just thought to myself–“Okay, there’s something going here.” We were trying not to be the parents that say–oh, you’re going to be in the NFL, you’re going to be such-and-such in college. It’s one step at a time–try and get you some recognition on the smaller level and then let that momentum carry itself.
BCP: It feels like the message to stay on the grind and never settle–is something you guys were trying to impose on your son throughout this entire process. What did you say to him?
Mr. Pierce: “I had a talk with him when he first started getting the offers–I said I don’t know where it’s going to lead, but I want you to understand that you’re going to have to work harder now. Because now? Once you get those eyes on you–there’s people that can’t wait to label you a bust or overrated by the recruiting sites and whatnot because I’ve seen it happen to so many kids already. You’ve got to continue to climb that ladder–whether it’s getting stronger and faster–or whether it’s in the classroom because you’ve always got to keep the mindset that you may never reach the top. None of that’s guaranteed at all.”
BCP: How much did your Faith and your message of humility to Artavis play into your own lives in dealing with this process of recruitment?
Mr. Pierce: “Not to throw my wife under the bus, but she worries a little bit more than I do–she would be like, ‘well things aren’t going right’–but there’s plenty of times we’ve sat down and talked about the fact there could be many things going on behind-the-scenes (at the colleges) that we don’t know about–the schools don’t have to give you a call and say this is what we think about your son. A lot of this came down to Faith and prayer and feeling like we’ve done as much as we can do and understand that there’s plenty of things going on at the schools behind closed doors that we just don’t know about. We can only control what we can and Faith just takes care of the rest.”
BCP: Can you describe what it was like to get that first offer from your perspective?
Mr. Pierce: “His first offer (University of South Alabama) we just went crazy over. It was actually South Alabama one day, then Alabama State–then an hour later Oregon State was actually the third offer that came all within a 24-hour period. We had to stop and breath for a second–we had to stop and ask ourselves “what just happened?!” It was like when your wife’s about to have a baby–and the only thought is–IT’S HAPPENING! IT’s HAPPENING! We were just so excited, but humbled at the same time.
BCP: Was it always easy to get him to discuss what was going on in his recruiting process? How has he handled this in your estimation?
Mrs. Delores Pierce: “Through everything I can say–that he still presents himself as a normal child–you can see him walking down the street and never think that something like this was going on for him because he doesn’t talk about this stuff–I have to ask him so many questions to get feedback. It’s like pulling teeth.”
Mr. Pierce: “One thing we do know–is when he’s on the phone with a coach–because that demeanor changes–and that glow on his face starts to show.”