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ShowMeBear2
August 11th, 2007, 06:39 PM
McElvane grows up

MSU's wide receiver has improved his body, attitude towards game.

Lyndal Scranton
News-Leader


The biceps are huge and, with the sleeves of his Missouri State football jersey rolled up, Tamarkus McElvane enjoys showing them off.
"It's a product of weight training. You have to work hard," McElvane said, pointing to his upper left arm that's a part of 13 added pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-1 frame.



It's not that the senior receiver was downright weak or didn't know the value of hard work when he arrived at Missouri State a year ago. But alarm bells went off in his head when McElvane didn't set the college football world ablaze.

A self-confident sort, McElvane made a rather pedestrian impact with his 25 catches for 351 yards and one touchdown. He battled an assortment of nagging injuries along the way, often to the aggravation of coach Terry Allen.

But beginning in spring practice and carrying through summer workouts, McElvane seems a changed player. Perhaps he is on his way to becoming the kind of difference-making receiver Allen envisioned when McElvane arrived from junior college.

"Tamarkus has grown up an awful lot," Allen said. "In the classroom, everything that he's done. I think that maturity will shine through on the field.

"Last year, if Tamarkus got his fingernail tweaked or if somebody got a piece of him at the line of scrimmage, he wouldn't compete and would just go into his shell. This year... he will fight through nagging injuries and compete coming off the ball."



McElvane, from Oakland, Calif., spent last season learning what the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) level was all about. It took more than just walking onto the field and assuming good things were about to happen.

"He's definitely a great athlete and his attitude definitely has progressed from juco to D-I," teammate and fellow senior receiver Jeremy Nicholson said. "Tamarkus has worked real hard and ... he's gonna be an integral part of this offense."

McElvane said the challenges "surprised me in a way, but it's football. It's a competitive sport."

And McElvane does not want to be perceived as a non-competitive person. As a senior on a team with more than half the roster consisting of newcomers, McElvane wants to be a positive role model.

"If people see me working harder, then they're going to work harder — either at my position or at other positions," he said. "If your teammates work hard, you have to fall in.

"We have a veteran group of receivers. I'm just going to do what I can."