What makes Vernon Hargreaves great

“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.”-Vince Lombardi

Vernon Hargreaves III stared down his opponent with a fierceness that has singed many a man with merely a glance. The ball had yet to be snapped, there was still an invisible string along the line of scrimmage that holds all 22 players in frozen intensity before breaking into quick action and during it all Vernon looked across the few yards that separated him and the man he was assigned to cover, never wavering and knowing the whole time that this would be yet another battle he could win.

It was only practice. This was all coming out on a field that essentially “didn’t matter”, but no one told Vernon that. As Treon Harris called hut, Brandon Powell broke out into his route, with Hargreaves hot on his heels and completely covering him. There was seemingly no way that Harris would be able to get the ball to Powell at that point, but with linemen blocking Harris’ view of a short field, Hargreaves realized Harris might not know that yet. Thanks to the fact that he was covering Powell so closely, Hargreaves was in the same spot on the field that the receiver should be for the called play. Over the shouts and grunts that come with each play, Hargreaves began to shout “ball, ball, ball ball ball!!”
His hope, if Harris had not thrown it away, was to draw the quarterbacks attention to that area of the field, make him think it was Powell calling for the ball to make a play and instead give Hargreaves a chance to make an interception.
As all of this was happening, in the space of about four seconds, one reporter watching turned to another and said, “That’s what makes him such a great player.”
That one play though is a snap shot of all that is Vernon Hargreaves III and opens Pandora’s box to the larger question in play.

What makes a player great?
Is it instinct? It is learned skills? Is it simply being better than those currently around you?

Many players strive and hope to answer yes to at least one of those questions.
Florida Gators defensive back Vernon Hargreaves III seems to play with the confidence and ease of someone who has found the answer to all of those questions and more.

He’s a guy that told radio host Paul Finebaum, “Oh I’m the best corner in college football without a doubt” and said it without a quiver of insincerity in his voice.
Head coach Jim McElwain agreed, recently calling Hargreaves “arguably the best defensive player and obviously the best defensive back in the country.”
Vernon has shown he knows how to be great and it’s not really an exaggeration to say that word can be attributed to him as more fact than opinion.
But for the rest of us mere mortals who stand by in awe as he rules “Hargreaves Island”, we find ourselves asking on multiple occasions, how does he do it?

The simple answer has been to explain away the junior’s talent as, “coaches son”.
It makes sense. For someone to grow up under the roof of a guy that has been coaching in college football for nearly three decades, helped lead the University of Miami Hurricanes to a BCS National Championship in 2001 as linebackers coach and now is in the same position with the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, it would seem that football would be ingrained into Vernon Hargreaves III mind. This explanation conjures images of a young Vernon not being allowed to watch television until he could name the best way to cover a two tight end set.

Vernon Hargreaves Jr., recently speaking with GatorCountry.com admitted though that he and “Little V” didn’t talk much football growing up. In fact “we probably talk more football now than we ever did,” says the elder Hargreaves.

“I let him kind of do what he wanted to do as far as sports and football and all that stuff and he just kind of gravitated towards it.”

So what makes Vernon Hargreaves III an All-American?

Diving into that question, we came up with three things. Imagine a Venn diagram.

In one circle, you have “A product of his raising.”
The second circle is titled “Learned leadership.”
And the last circle is “Natural ability.”
Together, they made a deadly combination.

~A Product of His Raising~

While his father may not adhere to the notion that he ingrained Vernon with all he needed to know to be successful, it stands to reason that his career did have a profound impact on his son.

Hargreaves was the linebacker’s coach at Miami from 1998-2005 and during that time, his son had the opportunity to be surrounded talent that most kids could only achieve by putting up posters on their wall.

His mother, Jackie Hargreaves recalls “I would drop him off at practice if I had an errand or something to run, and he’d be out there talking to ball boys and running around.”

His father can remember those days as well and what kind of future he saw even then.

“When he was little and would come out to campus and stuff, he’d be out there running around with those guys; he looked like a good little athlete when he was out there then.”

Someone who got to observe this first hand was current Florida Gators linebackers coach Randy Shannon.

When leaving for the Miami Dolphins in 1998, Shannon helped bring in Hargreaves to fill the position he was vacating.

Returning to the Hurricanes in 2001, Shannon got a glimpse of the future star as Vernon spent his afternoons on the practice field.

“He was a pretty good football player when he was young,” Shannon said during the Gators annual Media Day.

“He played a little tailback, a little punt return. He was a little jitterbug.”
Jackie laughs when hearing the description and agrees it’s an apt one to describe her middle child.

“That’s exactly what he was, he was a jitterbug.”

So much so that it got him into trouble at a young age.

Actually to be fair, guys like Vince Wilfork, Dan Morgan, Rocky McIntosh, Reggie Wayne, Edgerrin James and Santanta Moss got Vernon into trouble at a young age.
They were his babysitters.

Instead of the teenage girl down the road who needed some shopping money, Vernon Hargreaves III got a list of guys who would go on to have a Bednarik Award, a BCS National Championship, 17 NFL Pro-Bowls and 3 Super Bowl Championships between them.

“His favorite, he loved, Vince Wilfork”, Jackie recalls. “Vince would always watch him after practice and he’d take care of him. It was hilarious to see big Vince Wilfork and he’s walking Vernon around practice and showing him stuff.”

And while Jackie says they were ideal babysitters in that they watched over him, never left a mess and took good care of her baby boy, she still found herself facing some of the games most intimidating players and telling them to calm it down.

“We had a little park right across the street from our house and the players would take him out there and show him how to tackle and it got to the point where Vernon would go to preschool and he would try to tackle the kids in the way that the Miami players would show him how to do it cause they didn’t have any mercy with him. They’d toss him around and Vernon would get in so much trouble at preschool because he thought he could play with the kids in preschool that way. So I wound up having to tell the players, you can’t play with him like that because he thinks everybody can play like that.”

Finally in a “park” so to speak where that is allowed, Vernon is showing what he learned as a tot.

In his sophomore season, Hargreaves accumulated 50 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 interceptions and 13 pass breakups.

The 50 total tackles came in as third best amongst Florida defensive backs, but something stats don’t account for is a team purposely throwing away from Hargreaves, which happened more often than not.

So far in 2015, even with quarterbacks continuing to look far away from “District Uno,” Hargreaves has accounted for 22 tackles (seven total coming against the high powered offense of Ole Miss) and three interceptions while also logging a six-yard reception on offense.

Those three interceptions bring his Florida Gators career total to nine. His freshman year, he had an interception in each of his first three games before offensive coordinators caught on. Now as a seasoned junior, Hargreaves is showing prowess as an offensive nightmare as he reads quarterbacks better than ever and continually putting himself in the right place for these turnovers. He ranks fourth in the country for total yards on interceptions this season and is also the only FBS player in the country with three interception returns of 35-plus yards.

How much of this success came from those times spent in the park with future hall of famers, teaching him these tricks before he even knew what it all meant? It can’t be said for sure. As his mom points out, he didn’t even know who they were at the time.

“He didn’t even recognize them as being anything special at the time. Just dad’s players that always come over to eat and play with me.”
Dad chimes in with a point that can’t be overlooked. Eventually Vernon grew up and connected the dots.

“I think it was just being around those kids and then as he got older, knowing those kids and seeing how they turned out and what they were doing and everything else. That possibly had an impact on it.”

But that’s just one circle.

~Learned Leadership~

During a spring practice back in March 2015 for the Florida Gators football team, Brian Poole dropped what would have been a sure pick.
Before he returned to the play though, someone walked up beside him, told him to get on the ground to do pushups, and then walked away after being satisfied with the number of calisthenics that Poole had performed.

https://instagram.com/p/0bSI7NBAVC/?taken-by=kassidyhill

It wasn’t defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and it wasn’t defensive backs coach Kirk Callahan. It was Vernon Hargreaves III. On one hand, this is another by product of his raising, at least according to Vernon himself.

“That’s something I learned when I was younger, watching my dad coach at Miami. The players would drop a pick and I’d see Ed Reed and Sean Taylor making them do pushups and was like well I figured I’d try to do what they were doing so you drop picks you do pushups.

The first time I did it Brian [Poole] kind of looked at me like, ‘Are you for real?’, and I was like ‘Yea I’m for real.’ They understood where I was coming from. They know I wasn’t trying to be a “leader” in that sort of sense, but it was fun, and I do my fair share of push- ups.”

A few yards up stood Jonathan Bullard who is considered by and by the veteran leader on the defense. What he saw in that moment wasn’t a young kid trying to flex his muscles amongst teammates or even a player mimicking his dad’s former players. Instead he saw someone wise beyond their years that took what he had learned at a young ago and woven it into the very fabric of who he is today.
“That’s just something he has, he has that in him. I don’t think every athlete has that in him. I don’t think every athlete is a leader. You’ve got to have that. You’ve got to want that also. It kind of works both ways,” said Bullard, speaking passionately about the potential he sees in Hargreaves.

“[The pushups] are a group thing but I mean he is the one that should be on top of it and he is the leader of the DB’s.”

As the leader of the DB’s, Hargreaves serves as a shining example for his group according to McElwain, and by default, for the entire Florida Gators football team.

“I love the way this guy comes to work every day. The way he practices, the way he thrives in competition, and not only that, the way he takes care of himself in the classroom and other things that go along with being successful in life.”

Seeing this play out in games, not only on the field but amongst the fans who have crowned Vernon the face of their beloved Gators, Jackie can’t help but get emotional.
“Oh my god, it makes you want to cry almost,” she admits.

“It just warms your heart. The fans at Florida have been absolutely awesome. Even at Fan Day, some of the fans recognized me as his mom and recognized his sister and they were asking to take pictures with us.”
The pressure that comes with this amount of recognition and the responsibility of so many fans hopes on his shoulders, so much of his team looking to him for guidance hasn’t gotten to Vernon though because, as Bullard explains, Vernon has already earned the respect to be trusted.

“You’ve got to have it but you’ve got to earn it also. You can’t just be a guy who wants it but is not doing it. [Vernon’s] doing it also and I’m all behind it. If you’re one of the best at what you’re doing, no matter your age I still believe you can be a leader.”

However it takes one more attribute to go from being a leader to being great, and in football, it’s the one that matters most.

~A Natural Ability~

Pundits’ favorite past time seems to be making rankings. It’s what keeps those horrible days between football games bearable as it gives fans a chance to at least discuss the game and it’s players.

With the 2015 regular college football season quickly now halfway thru, a more popular ranking has been within each position. There’s usually some discrepancy within the middle of each list and a few swapped rankings between each outlet’s entries into the Twitterverse.

One that has remained a near constant though is who is considered the best cornerback in the country. Can you guess who?

If you didn’t say Vernon Hargreaves III then you’ve obviously missed the whole point of this article thus far.

Analysts, coaches, fellow players, they all agree that there are few better than “VH3” as he calls himself.

As the season wears on, there are times granted when Vernon might miss a tackle, whiff on a play and show us that he is a mere human. But past precedent shows us that we expect the absolute best from Hargeaves, as does he. Exceptional has become his norm, and that says more about Vernon Hargeaves III than any stat ever could.

Jim McElwain gushed over the summer about the fact that he gets to see the guy in action every practice.

“I’ll tell you, here’s the best thing, he’s fun to watch practice. The guy loves it. That’s what I think separates some of the guys at times is the ones that really, truly go out there and compete every day to perfect their craft. He’s one of those guys. He’s a lot of fun to be around, and he’s great to watch on tape.”

McElwain has shown at times that he’d like to employ this further by keeping Hargreaves on punt returns throughout the 2015 season; a fact that his mother admits she’s none to happy about.

“I cannot bear to watch him do punt returns. I’ll probably be in the bathroom or something because I don’t think I can watch it…and you know Vernon wants to do it. He’s like ‘what are you nervous for mom, I’m the one on the field.’ I say ‘I know, I know, but if you don’t get out of the way someone’s gonna kill you back there. Look I don’t care what your coach tells you, you fair catch it every time.’ But he’s excited to do it. He can’t wait. He cannot wait.”

He seemed to keep both coach and mom happy in the season opener against New Mexico State. He returned one for 11 yards and called for a fair catch on two others. Since then Brandon Powell and Antonio Callaway have been used more in that area, with Hargreaves still knocking on the door asking for his opportunity, and seeing it at times such as at LSU.

That anticipation is part of that love McElwain sees every day in practice and something that has always been in this “jitterbug”.

While the love for the game has always been obvious in Vernon though, the natural ability seemed to lay dormant for years. Then as he grew into his position as a junior in high school, his dad finally saw everything click into place.

“I think being a dad, being around him and watching him, I guess I was kind of used to some of the things he did and I didn’t look at it any different way. But then slowly but surely other guys, mostly other coaches, would be like ‘Yo man this guy’s pretty good’ and I was like well I’m looking at him with dad eyes. I think some kind of light came on once he got into this junior senior year in high school and I don’t know where, when, why, how but he just felt like he could be pretty good at it.”

It was also around this time that the elder Hargreaves pushed his son for the only time in football, when he made him join the 7-on-7-club “Team Tampa”. There he got the opportunity to play with guys like future Florida Gators Matt Jones and Dante Fowler Jr. along with future University of Southern California wide receiver Nelson Agholor.

Watching his son not only compete with some of the best but hold his own, Hargreaves realized that all of those coaches were right.

“He just started playing well. At some point in time some light went on. The more I watched him I started to think he does compete pretty nicely.”

Pretty nicely could be considered an understatement when talking about the player that NFL.com analyst describes as “ultra competitive and explosive” (Daniel Jeremiah), “A premier athlete who can overwhelm lesser opponents across from him with his physical talent. Good combination of size and speed” (Lance Zierlein) and a cornerback who “Quarterbacks throw away from, the ultimate compliment” (Chase Goodbread).

Vernon’s father is noticeable a quieter man though, and one who let’s humility come before every other character trait, something he has passed along to his son.
He’s also passed along a drive that coupled with his natural talent can be scary.
“I’ll call the coaches from time to time to make sure he’s practicing the right way and moving forward and not being happy with where he’s at” says Hargreaves Jr.
“So I think he’s got a chance to be pretty good if he keeps working at it.”

~A Deadly Combination~

As anyone who was every forced to sit through middle school knows, it isn’t what goes into the individual circles of a Venn diagram that’s important, but more so, what they make when brought together.
-Product of his raising
-Learned leadership
-Natural ability

When you merge those three things above, you come away with Vernon Hargreaves III. And merging them together is the secret.

“Sometimes I think some kids they just have “it” because there’s a lot of coaches kids that play and still don’t end up being really good. I think it’s probably just a God given gift more than anything,” explains Vernon Hargreaves Jr.

“He understands as good as anybody execution and edge. Especially if you’ve got the other tools, if you can run and you can jump and good athlete and all those things, then you also understand it and know what‘s coming possibly, and you can put it all together…that’s what gives you the chance to really have a ton of success. And he’s gotten to the point he understands the game pretty good and he’s got some of those physical tools you’re gonna need.”

As Randy Shannon describes it, “Vernon’s his own unique player. He can play at a high level. I’ve been around a lot of the great ones; he can be one of the great ones.”

So what makes a player great?

Well it’s a little bit of everything and plenty of players have at least one of the attributes that it takes to be successful.

That means what makes Vernon Hargreaves III great isn’t going to be the same thing that makes another player “great”.

The secret lies in tapping into the inherent vein which threads through all of those individual qualities, the combination that is unique to each person, and bringing it together on a field of what would otherwise be equally great players. It’s not an easy task by any means and thusly isn’t common.

But as the elder Hargreaves said, Vernon success stems from “not being happy with where he’s at” and that’s the difference.

Because for the uncommon man, the one who merely achieves greatness while chasing perfection, the secret can be found simply because he always looks for new ways to find it, measuring success not against others or even himself, but against perfection. That’s what Vernon Hargreaves III has done and continues to do.
That goes beyond being great. That’s what makes a player special.