A'Marion McCoy: Running His Own Race
The Boise State cornerback has been on fire lately. But it's all part of his process of being patient with his own journey.
Chris Kutz
In the last five games, he has four interceptions. He has eight in his Boise State career.
His four interceptions this year are already the most since JL Skinner had four in 2022.
A Boise State player has not had five interceptions in a season since Darian Thompson in 2015. The FBS program record is eight by Gabe Franklin in 2002.
To top it all off so far, according to PFF coverage grades, McCoy is the fifth-best rated cornerback this year.
Through the hot streak, though, McCoy also seems humbled by his journey to this point.
When he had the interception returned for a touchdown in the 56-31 win over UNLV, his celebration was muted compared to those in the past. Part of it was due to being pulled for a few plays after being called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second quarter. The other part is a gradual change in his approach on the field as of late.
“Sometimes I could get overwhelmed and get rolling, like being loud,” said McCoy about his on-field demeanor, “but I feel like when I'm locked in on my technique and with everything that's going around our sideline and with our team, I feel like I play a lot better. That’s where the plays are coming from, me staying focused and locked in.”
The humility was always deep in McCoy. From going back to football in the middle of a global pandemic to earn an opportunity to play at the collegiate level, to playing junior college and fighting to get noticed by Division I coaches. He has to work hard to stand out. With the recent bursts of humility, McCoy has always had belief.
McCoy is in his third season as a Bronco. After beginning his college career at Laney Junior College - the same school featured in Netflix’s “Last Chance U” in 2020 - the East Palo Alto, Calif. native has played in 45 games at Boise State. He is playing alongside his childhood friend, Jeremiah Earby.
He entered this season on the watch lists for some of the nation’s top defensive honors, including the Bednarik Award and Thorpe Award. He was one of 10 Broncos to be named to the All-Mountain West preseason team back in July.
All of it has been a process to get recognition, though. And it goes back to his high school days and being recruited. He has played football since he was four years old and learned to love the game from his father. He played as a freshman in high school, but after only playing in a couple games in 2017, he chose to focus on basketball for the next two years.
“I’m not going to say I had the best jumper or anything, but I always had a quick first step so I could always get to the basket, and I always played defense,” said McCoy about his skills on the basketball court.
With a quick first step and a defensive mindset - key qualities to being a good defensive back – McCoy found himself back in the game of football in his senior year of high school. He had friends and former teammates receiving offers to play college football, and due to his lack of height, he felt his best ticket to the next level was the game he grew up loving.
“As I was going through high school, everybody that I grew up with and still hanging out with, they were getting (scholarship) offers for football,” said McCoy. “So, I was like, ‘Wow, this could change our life.’”
The only problem for McCoy was his senior year of high school was during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020. He had to constantly train to stand out while the team played a limited five-game schedule that school year. It’s also the reason he had to go to Laney, a school tucked in the middle of Oakland, Calif. and 35 minutes from his childhood home.
Nevertheless, in his first game in an Eagle uniform, he had an interception, setting the tone for what was ahead in his football career.
Comparison became the thief of McCoy’s joy, however. He had friends and high school teammates at the Division I level.
“It could be hard, but I learned to try and not compare myself,” said McCoy. “All of us are going through something and you're just growing, and they're growing. It’s just you're at a different pace, and you're in a different race.”
McCoy was just trying to get back into football at the same time as navigating the world of junior college football in California.
“I'm going to school with guys that are 25, and I'm 17,” said McCoy. “It’s just different, like guys are coming out of jail. I knew what it was going to take, and I knew what it was. I just kept my head on straight, and I knew what I wanted to do with this.”
The JUCO experience taught McCoy plenty. It is a far cry from the current experience he has as a Bronco, but he has grown to understand what it showed him in others.
“Being there, just know not everything's going to be perfect. You're not going to have much. But seeing how guys came in and worked because they're trying to change their lives,” said McCoy about his biggest takeaway from going to junior college. “Like, even if they know they don't have a shot, they're just going to school and trying to change their life. So I know everybody comes from something different.
“Just because you’re going through something bad now, it doesn't mean it's going to be bad forever.”
McCoy is proud of his hometown. He describes East Palo Alto as a “tough, gritty city.” He has an East Palo Alto tattoo on him. He went back this past summer to help younger players through football camps and clinics. McCoy was recognized by KTVB, the local NBC affiliate, for paying for the groceries for a stranger in September.
The willingness to help stems from a number of McCoy’s experiences, including being the youngest of three children. His two older siblings are significantly older, though. His brother is 10 years older while his sister is 15 years his senior.
“I never had much growing up,” said McCoy. “So as much as I can, I'm going to help. Just trying to make the world a better place because it has not always been rainbows and everything for me. I wish somebody would have helped me when I was coming up, so just being able to help somebody else as they're coming up, or help somebody else as they're still going through stuff.
“Lend a helping hand, that could change somebody’s whole everything.”
The stats have flipped this season in McCoy’s favor. He is convinced his play on the field is similar to last year, except for this season he is catching more of the possible interceptions. Last year, McCoy had three dropped interceptions, which were tied for the second-most in the country. He also only had one pick, which was down from his team-leading three interceptions as a junior in 2023.
This year he has worked harder in practice and in drills to translate those and get better results during games.
“I feel like I'm doing the same thing I've been doing (on the field in games), just catching the ball a little more (this year), but I feel like I'm just approaching it every day a little more different than I did last year,” said McCoy on what is different this year compared to last. “I feel like I was a little more lackadaisical (last year), because I was coming off a better year. I feel like I’m attacking every day.
“You won't miss your opportunity if you can attack it every day.”
For Boise State defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, who has helped the Broncos enter this week’s rivalry game against Fresno State (1:30 pm, FS1 and Bronco Radio Network) as one of the top defensive units in the Mountain West, he has noticed a difference in McCoy as well.
“A’Marion is always locked in, but I’ve seen him really ramp that up in the last couple of weeks,” Chinander said on Oct. 13. “His technique has been really good. He’s been really studying film. To watch him grow in so many ways is pretty awesome.”
McCoy is making the most of this season, which was provided through an extra year of eligibility granted to former junior college players now at the NCAA level. He chose to come back and give it one more opportunity after graduating last May with a bachelor’s in sociology. He is now taking classes this fall to better himself off the field and learn in new areas.
The desire to learn and grow matches the nickname he and his friends came up with for himself: The Librarian.
“I took the librarian, my cousin, he calls himself the ‘Book Worm,’ and my other cousin, we call him ‘Booker T’” said McCoy. “So for every interception, we just take our nicknames and be able to laugh with that. The Librarian is me reading books, so I'm jumping these routes and stuff.”
For Chinander, he still sees more in McCoy as the Broncos enter the final stretch in defending their back-to-back Mountain West titles.
“I still think there’s potential and ceiling left for him because I do think he can be one of the best corners in the country,” said Chinander.
And for McCoy, the studying and reading his opponents for countless hours during the week has fed into his hunger to improve.
“I’m more hungry than before,” said McCoy after his performance against UNLV on The Blue on Oct. 18. “Two years ago I thought I was the best cornerback in the country, but I guess that wasn’t true. I want to prove everything, all the balls I dropped (last year), (that was) not me. I’m just trying to get better and better every day.”
He also knows patience in the process to be his best is required.
“You can’t rush this,” said McCoy. “Everybody is on their own journey. Everybody is running their own race.”
