Goines Hops Hurdles to Thrive in Frisco
June 1, 2021 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Frisco Fighters News Release
If adversity was a person, it would be Malcolm Goines.
Manning the trenches in his No. 99 jersey, Malcolm Goines Sr. has faced no shortage of hardships.
Under the care of his father, he grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn. Hoping to prove himself on the field and eventually reach Division I competition, Goines attended Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan.
"You have to be built different to endure community college," said Goines. "There were a lot of long nights. I cried some of those nights. Like, 'Do I really want to do this?'"
From sleeping on an air mattress in the living room of his first college house to having to move in and share a two-bedroom dwelling with seven other guys, Goines's living arrangements were far from glamorous at GRCC. But on the turf, he was a first-team all-conference and all-region talent.
His talent attracted larger DI suitors, but teams began pulling their scholarship offers, worried he wouldn't graduate that summer.
Austin Peay State University the only program to stick around. Rather than staying at GRCC and holding out for a more prestigious offer, Goines packed up and headed to Clarksville, Tenn.
Goines started eight games in his first campaign as a Governor. Then, three weeks into his junior season, Goines was sidelined due to a missing credit that wasn't to his knowledge.
"That gave me a lot of motivation," he said. "I did go into a depression. I was just like, 'They're not going to have any choice but to call my name on draft day.' Unfortunately, that didn't happen. but that was my mindset."
Determined, Goines returned to action at Austin Peay State in 2014, notching 41 total takedowns, a sack, and 4.5 tackles for loss.
As Goines prepared for his pre-draft workouts, he got a call that his house burned down. Faced with yet another obstacle, he and his family had nowhere to stay.
"I had nothing to my name," said Goines. "No clothes, no money, no anything. I'm supposed to be training and eating right. Now everyone's looking at me like, 'What are we going to do now?'"
Even considering the circumstances, Goines didn't perform as well as he would have liked at pro day. However, the Indianapolis Colts called him on the last day of the draft and told him they might like to use their last choice on him. With high hopes, Goines's phone never rang. No rookie minicamp opportunities materialized either.
"I'm going to be honest with myself. Now looking back, I wouldn't have drafted myself," he said. "But they didn't know internally what was going on."
At one of Goines's pre-draft workouts, Spokane Shock head coach Billy Back, then with the since-folded Nashville Venom, took notice. At first, Goines turned his nose at the thought of playing indoor football. The next spring, he was playing under Back with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks.
"It's kind of a different world in the IFL and arena football," Goines said. "I was a deer in the headlights for a lot of those games. One or two seconds, if you're not there, the ball's gone."
Nearly two years ago, Goines helped the Sioux Falls Storm win a United Bowl over the previously undefeated Arizona Rattlers. He thought about walking away from the game with his ring, but offensive lineman Chris Taylor had recently signed with Frisco and was trying his best to recruit his former Sioux Falls teammate.
"After 2019, I said I was done with football," Goines remarked. "I'm getting up in age - the body doesn't heal like it used to. Chris had Coach [Dave Ewart] call me, and we clicked."
Goines decided he had one more year left in the tank. His showing last Saturday against the Louisville Xtreme, with family in the bleachers, proved that to be true.
Named the team's Co-Player of the Week, Goines recorded 2.5 sacks, four solo tackles, and one assisted tackle in Frisco's second game against Louisville. The stat line is one he might want to get used to if he's going to reach his goal of being the IFL's Defensive Player of the Year.
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Indoor Football League Stories from June 1, 2021
- Caregivers Night June 19th - Spokane Shock
- Barnstormers and Bucks Crack into Top Five in Week Seven of the Coaches Poll - IFL
- Goines Hops Hurdles to Thrive in Frisco - Frisco Fighters
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