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Published Jul 14, 2006
Leary moving up the charts
Jeremy Crabtree
Recruiting Editor
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Every time at the Texas 7-on-7 State Championship, it's the offensive players that get the headlines. But every coach will tell you to win the title, you have to have several good defenders to go all the way. And a big reason why Copperas Cove faces Cy Falls in Saturday's championship bracket has to do with the play of safety Joseph Leary.
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The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder was one of Cove's biggest defensive stoppers and he relished the opportunity to make a big play or two to help his team come out on the winning side.
"We have to make the stop," Leary said. "If we go back and forth, back and forth, it's going to come down to who has the ball last. We make a stop and the offense scores, then you're going to likely win the game. If you can do that once or twice a game on defense, then you're going to do just fine.
"I think I've been doing really well and have made some big plays, but I keep pushing myself pretty hard. I'm out here just trying to better my ability and work on the fundamentals. I work on breaking on the ball and just going up and getting it and catching it."
Leary's coaches admit he's a big reason why many people are picking Cove to be one of the favorites to win the state championship or at least make a deep run in the playoffs.
He gets excited when he hears talk like that, but he also admits that being a role model for his teammates is a bigger deal than being a super star on the field.
"I'm smart and I'm a leader," Leary, who has a 4.19 grade-point average, said. "I'm a strong player. I can go up on the ball, break down and make the big stop."
Leary recently picked up his first scholarship offers from Oklahoma State and Kansas. He admits his stock is starting to rise, he hopes more schools pay attention to him and hopefully a good turnout at this weekend's tournament will allow even more offers to come in.
"I think Duke and Rice are going to offer me here pretty soon, too," he said. "It's just now starting to get exciting, and I can't wait to see what's going to happen."
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