The Cardinal Countdown: 6 Days Until Kickoff

#6 Shaq Wiggins

Class: RS Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 5-10/171

Position: Cornerback

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Twitter: @ShaqWiggins6

Thoughts: Since the day he arrived on campus many have pegged Wiggins as a Charles Gaines in the making. Play big, talk bigger. With less than a week before kickoff the stories about Shaq’s chops continue to pile up…and I’m not so sure if even Gaines could keep up with the new mouth of the defense.

trash talk (n) - insulting or boastful speech intended to demoralize, intimidate, or humiliate someone, especially an opponent in an athletic contest.

Shaq likes to talk. Shaq talked in high school, Shaq talked as a freshman at Georgia, Shaq talked last season as he was forced to sit out as a transfer, and as a member of what many expect to be one of the best defenses in the country, Shaq continues to talk. During ACC media days UofL was almost universally identified as the program who ‘talks the most’ among the other teams, and Wiggins wasn’t even on the field last year. Get ready ACC. While Shaq’s reputation as the new mouth of the south continues to flourish, it’s his play that usually leaves opponents speechless. As a true freshman Shaq played in twelve games and started eight in the mighty SEC conference. Shaq lead his Georgia team in interceptions in 2013, including one he took back to the house for six against Vandy. Man coverage, zone coverage, pressuring the quarterback, open field tackles..he can do a little of it all and most of it he does very well. Since Spring ball I think many penciled Shaq and his fellow ex-Georgia teammate Harvey-Clemons as Day 1 starters, and even with a minor injury during Spring camp, Wiggins was not deterred. As Spring rolled into summer and summer turned into fall the players and coaches around the program have confirmed that the early prediction for Wiggins would hold true. Quick, Savage and others have all praised Shaq for his play and aggressiveness on the outside. In a recent interview Coach Grantham simply reiterated what he told fans when Shaq committed over a year ago, the kid is special….and he’s not afraid to tell you about it.

Sweet Tweet:

Sooner or later everybody will learn.

— Shaquille Wiggins (@ShaqWiggins6) August 26, 2015

I don’t know Shaq, there are some things I’ve been trying to “teach” my wife for awhile now and she just ain’t buying it. Maybe it’s me? In fact, I’ve been working on teaching one of my buddies, who is my age,  about this new fangled website known to many as ‘Google’ but he isn’t biting either. You see, the concept sounds simply enough, but for the life of me I can’t understand his rationale for not using it. When I get a text that says “What time does Louisville play basketball tonight” it kind of drives me insane. You could literally…and I do mean literally, type that same exact thing into Google instead of a text, and have your answer in about .052 seconds. Instead, you decide to wait 12 minutes for my reply? And this isn’t a one shot deal, no sir,  it’s a 7:00pm “what was the gangster movie with Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro” text, the 8:30am “who does Louisville play on Saturday” text and my personal favorite, “what was the final score in the [insert team] game?” text. I pray you understand my pain.