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FSU's Emanuel: discipline is one key to his success

Defensive tackle learned valuable lessons mastering the piano.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 23, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- At times, Kevin Emanuel would feel overwhelmed.

How could he possibly learn all the instructions without the book spread out in front of him? Could he ever gain the necessary hand-eye coordination to perform reflexively? What about the synchronous footwork? Maybe, he wondered in those moments of self-doubt and frustration, he should try something else.

At those times, he would hear the calming, encouraging voice of his mother.

"You can do it," Gloria Emanuel would say.

Taking a deep breath, Emanuel would sit back down on the bench, inch closer to the piano and try again to play the classical piece that was so confounding him.

At times on the football field at Florida State, that lesson of perseverance resonates.

"The piano takes discipline. You have to keep practicing and keep practicing to get better, just like on the football field," Emmanuel, a redshirt freshman defensive tackle, said. "You have to constantly keep practicing or else you won't ever accomplish anything."

And he wants a virtuoso performance.

So, too, do the No. 2-ranked Seminoles, whose chance of defending their national title may hinge on how well Emanuel and redshirt sophomore Chris Woods replace defensive tackles Corey Simon and Jerry Johnson, who have moved on to the NFL. That position is the biggest question mark for the Seminoles as they open Saturday against Brigham Young in the Pigskin Classic.

"I'm expecting him to be the best, nothing less, and he expects the same thing," assistant coach Odell Haggins said. "You come to Florida State and we expect you to be as good as the other kids (before you). I'll tell you this; that kid works hard. He works as hard as heck. He's a non-stop, all-out guy."

Long before Emanuel, 20, demonstrated the athletic gifts that run in his family (his cousin Bert Emanuel is an ex-Buccaneer playing with the Miami Dolphins), he astounded his parents, the Rev. Lawrence and Gloria Emanuel, with his musical talents.

By age 2, Emanuel would crawl over to the piano in his family's Waco, Texas, home, climb up on the bench and try to play the keys -- not pound them randomly, but glide his hands from the center to one side and then the other.

When he reached the second grade, he begged his mother to let him take lessons. After seeing how her parents forced piano lessons on her less-than-enthusiastic siblings, she balked.

But he kept at her.

"She finally said, "All right, but if you start it, you're going to finish it; you're not going to waste my money,' " he said.

He didn't. He zealously attacked his lessons and learned the classics at a startlingly fast pace. Although a natural musician -- he also learned to play the cello and trombone -- he had predictable struggles.

"I remember one year, he was going to be the highlight of the Christmas program, and he had to play Handel's Messiah," his mother said. "Well, that takes time. He worked with it and worked with it, and he said, "I'm just going to give up. I can't get it.' I said, "Oh, no. You'll learn it.'

"It was Friday, the day before the recital, and he had been at it for three or four weeks and still didn't seem to have it. But he assured his teacher he'd be ready tomorrow. She said, "Well, I don't see how you'll know it if you don't know in practice and it's Friday.' But when it was time for the show, super job."

At Waco High, Emanuel blossomed into one of the nation's top defensive ends. Like most true freshmen, he sat out last season and began working on a position change to tackle.

During the spring, the coaches named him the most improved defensive lineman, but Emanuel, 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds, realized he lacked sufficient size for the spot.

He gained 18 pounds but retained his quickness (he ran the team's 11/2-mile test in a linebacker-like time of 9 minutes, 55 seconds) and (his 341/2-inch vertical leap was better than any other lineman.

"He's still quick, and he's got a motor on him; he can go for a long time," said senior Char-ron Dorsey, FSU's 6-7, 325-pound offensive tackle.

"He's got all the tools," senior defensive end Jamal Reynolds said. "He's really a hard worker. He's one of the guys you see after practice trying to get a little extra work in. You can expect big things out of him this year."

Neither Dorsey nor Reynolds had any idea about Emanuel's other passion. Emanuel doesn't get to play in Tallahassee and has to make due with playing for services at his father's church, St. Luke, when he's home. But Emanuel doesn't advertise his musical gifts.

In middle school he had to endure quizzical looks and ribbing. He had to learn to ignore the talk, a lesson helping him now as he blocks out the perception that FSU's inexperienced defensive tackles will be the team's weak link.

"When you start thinking about what you have to do, who you're trying to take the place of, you lose the idea of what you have to do, and that's to play hard and have fun," he said. "I'm just looking forward to going out there and having fun."

And making sweet music.

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