Levon Kirkland says loss to USC was painful to watch

Kirkland was recently named head coach of Shannon Forest Christian School.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Nov 29 00:45:03 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON - Saturday night’s loss to South Carolina was painful for Levon KirklandLevon Kirkland
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The former Clemson linebacker and All-Pro with the Pittsburgh Steelers told TigerNet Monday evening that watching the Gamecocks run the ball on his former team was hard to take.

“It’s tough. You know, you feel like you are always a part of the program,” Kirkland said. “And to see what happened on Saturday is tough. That ESPN reporter said Clemson had a really great tradition, and we always played tough defense and always ran the ball. To see that happen was really tough.”

Kirkland was 4-0 against the Gamecocks, and he said the mentality was just different in his day.

“We had that mentality of ‘we dare you to try and cross the 50. We are going to do what we do and there is nothing you can do about it.’ There was no letdown,” Kirkland said. “We were the king of the mountain, and we dared people to climb our mountain. It takes a mentality like that. On defense, you have to be an aggressive person but you also have to trust your eyes and trust your teammates to do their job and know where they are.”

Kirkland said that football shouldn’t be as complicated as people want to make it.

“I knew I was going to do my job,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about you doing your job. If you can do that across the board, you can have a successful defense. Just do it aggressively and make plays. As complicated as people want to make football, it boils down to two things – blocking and tackling.

He said that when he started as a freshman, he made a ton of mistakes but made up for it with hustle and aggressiveness.

“My freshman year, we were playing Maryland and I intercepted a pass and ran it down to the two-yard line,” he said. “Everybody was telling me it was a great play, but I wasn’t supposed to drop back into coverage on that play, I was supposed to rush the passer. Sometimes, I think you see young players trying to think too much because they are trying to do everything right. Just let loose and go out and have fun and play. Don’t worry about everything that can possibly happen, just worry about what is happening now.”

Former NFL linebacker Matt Millen gave a young Levon Kirkland advice that he said served him well in the NFL.

“Once your mind starts trying to do too much, it’s hard to do what you are capable of no matter what field you are in,” he said. “You put too much pressure on yourself. Sometimes maybe you are reacting or thinking too much, and you aren’t even ready when the ball is snapped. You have to do what I call ‘being in the flow’ or ‘being in the now.’ Matt Millen told me that one thing you can always do is trust your eyes and trust what you see. Once you start trusting in yourself you can make a play. Once he told me that, it elevated my game as a professional.”