I met neither one before I came to school here, but I'd heard a lot about both, especially Artie and his ability. Coach Jones, I still haven't met him yet, I'm looking forward to that.

I did wonder about that, but that's kind of how it is now, up and down. For coach Wallace, you gotta perform, in games and practice. He'll go with who's playing well at the time. It might be me one night, Hiram another and John (Wilder) another. It works for us. As a freshman, you have to learn to deal with that, and be mentally tough.

I had the confidence to shoot and I was waiting for the opportunity. You have to have confidence in what you do.

We used to send out material before school started but we've found that just being visible gets the word out.

The thing I remember most about middle school was how tough it was. You're not quite an adult, but you're not a kid anymore. I try to treat these kids with the respect I would have wanted at that age. These kids ? sorry, young adults ? are very sharp, and they deserve my respect.

I think deep down I've always wanted to be an actor. It was the one thing in school that I was undoubtedly enthusiastic about and good at. I coasted along being good at German, Geography, English and football but there wasn't anything that I could really call my thing, my niche.