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Quick step helps Boyd wreak havocBy JAMAL THALJI © St. Petersburg Times, published December 24, 2000 WESLEY CHAPEL -- One step. Give Jason Boyd that much and a team risks everything. A sack. A tackle for a loss. A busted play. Perhaps the play that steals away momentum and gives away the ballgame. So much havoc can happen back there. Maybe the running back won't have time to secure the ball if a defender meets him before he hits the hole. A fumble could result. Maybe the quarterback will make the wrong decision if a defender gets in his face. An interception or an incompletion could result. But it all begins with that quick first step, the one that keeps the center or guard from putting a proper block on Wesley Chapel's nose guard. It is the reason why Boyd again led Pasco County in sacks, why he is Pasco County's version of Warren Sapp and why he is the Times Pasco County Defensive Player of the Year. Last season as a sophomore, Boyd had 81 tackles, 5 sacks and recovered 2 fumbles for the first-year Wildcats. He only got better this season. Boyd, a junior, again dominated opposing offenses. He led all Pasco County lineman with 61 tackles and 26 assists. But his 11 sacks are what's most impressive. The county's reigning sack-master also had 13 tackles for loss, and did it from an unlikely spot: directly over the center and guard. He did it with just a 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame. He also blocked two kicks and recovered six fumbles. Statistics good enough to earn him a spot on the Times All-Suncoast first team defense, a group of the best players in the Tampa Bay area. He was also named to the Sunshine Athletic Conference's defensive first team. Boyd's prowess is the product of hard work and dedication. His motor, as coaches like to call that drive that propels players toward the ball, never stops. He is strong enough to bull rush his way past a blocker to the quarterback or running back. Or he could use technique, leverage and quickness to finesse his way to the ball carrier. Try as they might, and opposing teams scouted him thoroughly, they still could not game plan around him, still could not stop him. Either way, some way, Boyd will find his way into the opposing backfield. Count on it.
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