Rush Newcomer Earns League Honor for Week 15 Performance
June 20, 2012 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Chicago Rush News Release
CHICAGO, Illinois - Having only six days in as a member of the Chicago Rush, Jorrick Calvin has surely made the most them. Collecting 8.5 tackles and 2 interceptions in a victory over the Georgia Force last Saturday, the rookie defensive back earned the honor of AFL Riddell Defensive Player of the Week.
A native of Scotlandville, Louisiana, Calvin has traversed a career from Troy University to the NFL and now the Chicago Rush. Carrying great support from his family back home, they were actually the first one's to break the news.
"I was actually surprised. My mom had called me after seeing it on the league website and let me know right away. The award made me excited. I try to go out every week and do my best and it's an honor to be recognized," stated Jorrick Calvin.
Upon arriving for practice last Thursday, secondary coach Titcus Pettigrew talked about how he only gave Calvin a few elements of coaching to focus on given the short amount of preparation time.
"All said and done (Calvin) is a competitor because his will to compete is endless. We gave him a little skill set to learn in terms of how to align and the way we go about things, but when you can make plays like he can there's not much coaching I need to do," said Rush secondary coach Titcus Pettigrew.
Calvin ingrained his name and number in the minds of the Allstate Arena crowd late in the second quarter when Force quarterback R.J. Archer zeroed in on his primary receiver Larry Shipp. Anticipating the pass, Calvin undercut Shipp's route a split second before the ball arrived to steal a touchdown away from Georgia. The turnover led to the Rush being able to widen their lead with a 2-yard touchdown toss to go up 28-7 right before halftime. A quarter later, the opportunistic defensive back took in his second interception of the game to derail another Force drive and preserve Chicago's lead.
"I give it up to my coaching," stated Jorrick Calvin. "(Titcus) worked hard last week and said we were going to play a lot more man coverage than they had been doing in the past (weeks). I feel man coverage is a strength of mine and collectively as a group we rallied around each other to make plays."
As a whole, the defense captured three Force turnovers, returning one of them for a score in the 62-27 win. In the post-game press conference, Calvin talked about the ability for the defense to build off the swagger they evoked in the game.
"Everyone that's around (here) wants the same thing. We want to win and we'll go at it with everything we have. Our main thing is to get a swagger about ourselves back there, to believe in yourself and know that no one can beat you but yourself."
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