The Harlingen Cardinals’ defense has found its form over the past few weeks. A large part has to do with the play from hard-hitting linebacker Garrison Medley. The senior currently leads the team in tackles with 48. Medley will look to lead the Cardinals in Friday’s Bird Bowl XXV. The Valley Morning Star had a chance to catch up with Medley.
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Q: It’s Bird Bowl week and it’s your senior year. How much fun has it been the last three years being a part of it?
A: Nothing else can compare to the fun I have on the field during Bird Bowl. These past three years have been my most memorable years and being able to play in Bird Bowl was a dream come true from my childhood.
Q: Do you have any friends at Harlingen South that you’ve grown up playing against?
A: I met Brandon Bennett in middle school when he played for VelaMiddle School. He is the only person I really know on the South football team that I have known before high school started.
Q: Harlingen has beaten South the last nine seasons. What’s it going to take to make it 10 in a row?
A: It’s going to take a team effort. We need all 11 players giving it their hardest on the field. We just need to take care of each of our jobs and do the little things right. The little things are what win and lose football games.
Q: What’s the best part of Bird Bowl?
A: The feeling of going onto the field for the very first play of the game. I get that feeling of euphoria and adrenaline that you cannot simulate anywhere else.
Q: What’s the one song that gets you pumped up and why?
A: It would have to be “Break the House Down” by Borgeuos and Tony Junior. This song just gives me goose bumps and I just get hyped to do whatever I’m about to do while listening to it.
Q: What’s your favorite pre-game meal?
A: A giant bowl of penne pasta with three tablespoons of butter and parmesan cheese with Italian sausage.
Q: Who is your favorite NFL linebacker and why?
A: It would be Carolina’s Luke Kuechly. He is my favorite NFL linebacker. His style of play is something I model myself after. He isn’t the biggest or the strongest on the field, but he makes up for it with speed and intelligence. He plays practical and smart, taking the right angles and playing the right reads.
Q: What’s the best part about playing linebacker?
A: The best part of being a linebacker is just the freedom to fly to the ball and annihilate the running back, quarterback or receiver. Coach Gomez gives me the freedom of a check defense and that allows me to go out there and ball out, and have fun.
