AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of AOL News!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories

Draft Prospect Zack Follett's Role Model? Terry Tate, Office Linebacker

Feb 23, 2009 – 10:45 AM
Text Size
Michael David Smith

Michael David Smith %BloggerTitle%



Ask the NFL draft prospects at the Indianapolis Scouting Combine who their role models are, and you're usually going to hear names like Peyton Manning, Ray Lewis or LaDainian Tomlinson. But Zack Follett, a linebacker from Cal, had a more creative answer to that question at the combine this weekend.

Doug Farrar of Football Outsiders was on the scene in Indianapolis and quotes Follett saying this:
"Growing up, Terry Tate, No. 56, the Office Linebacker, he was my hero watching those commercials. I tried to emulate him when I was out there. ... Junior year of high school, I went to Champs Sports and they sold a Reebok Terry Tate number 56 jersey, and I bought one immediately. We watched all his YouTube clips and he's bringing the 'Pain Train' and doing the 'whoop-whoop' sound and I used to do it in high school, and I used to blow the horn. It kind of stuck with me a little bit."
And with that, Zack Follett became my favorite player in this year's NFL draft. I just hope that when he gets his first job in the NFL, he remembers to put the new cover sheets on his TPS reports.
Filed under: Sports

ON FACEBOOK