Rams News

True to name, Auburn's Takeo is a warrior
04/15 11:37 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

By now, Auburn's Takeo Spikes has grown accustomed to people butchering his first name.
Tee-Co. Take-Oh. Tack-ee-Oh. Taco. Takhomasak.
As a youngster, the first day of school was always a traumatic experience.
``The teacher would say it wrong and everybody would start giggling,'' Spikes said. ``It made me feel bad.''
Year after year. Kids, after all, can be cruel on such matters.
``But I was able to grow out of that,'' Spikes said. ``Now, somebody could say my name, and I don't have to feel bad or shy away because everybody knows. They know who Takeo is now.''
Every scout and personnel man in the NFL knows, that's for sure. If not the first linebacker taken in the draft, Spikes figures to go second behind Georgia Tech's Keith Brooking.
The name, by the way, is Tuh-KEY-oh.
``A lot of people ask me where I got my name from,'' Spikes said. ``There's a little history behind that. When my mother was in the hospital (giving birth), she was trying to think of a name. At the time there was some conflict going on over in Japan. The prime minister at that time, his name was Takeo.''
So there you have it. But there is this postscript:
``Just a couple years back, some reporters did some work looking into the history of the name, to see what it meant,'' Spikes said.
And? ``It meant: Great Warrior,'' Spikes said.
Mom must have known what was coming. Spikes has been a great warrior at every level of football.
He was a Parade All-American in high school in Sandersville, Ga. At Auburn, he cracked the starting lineup midway through his ``true'' freshman season.
As both a sophomore and junior -- in 1996 and '97 -- Spikes was an All-Southeastern Conference pick and a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation's top college linebacker. Only 21, he is turning pro after his junior season.
Spikes is a sideline-to-sideline player, with the speed to run down backs and a knack for being at his best against the best. Witness his 18 tackles against Florida, 14 tackles vs. Tennessee in the SEC championship game, and his 13 stops against Georgia last season.
``I just like to play at a high level of intensity,'' Spikes said. ``When I step on the field, and the defense is in the huddle, I look everybody in the eye and I say, `Let's go out here and do it. Let's go three-and-out.' I like for them to see the fire in my eyes.''
For all his mobility, Spikes is a little undersized by NFL standards. Especially for an inside linebacker, which is where most projections have him playing. He stands a shade under 6 feet 1 and weighed in at 234 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Spikes begs to differ. ``Look at Sam Mills and Mike Singletary,'' he said. ``It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how big is your heart?''
And Spikes doesn't have much wear and tear. When he took his physical at the Combine, Spikes pointed out with some pride that he didn't have any nicks or bruises.
``I told all the scouts, instead of me receiving the hits, I've been delivering the hit,'' Spikes said.
Speaking of which, Spikes is still waiting for his ultimate hit.
``I'm trying to get the hit where they have the ambulance come out there, and give salt, and wake him up a little bit,'' he said. ``I don't really want to hurt anybody. I just want to let them know that Spikes is for real.''

ARCHIVE

HOME