Aug. 5, 2015
Past Mick McGrane 2014-15 football features
2014
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle (Aug. 21)
The Season's in Session, Take Your Seats (Aug. 29)
How Quickly we Forget (Sept. 7)
Looks can be Deceiving (Sept. 19)
O-Line has Aztecs' Running Game in High Gear (Oct. 23)
Falling Short is no Longer an Option for Aztec Football (Nov. 29)
Winds of Change: "Rise To 25" Fuels New Direction for Football (Dec. 23)
Pumphrey in Need of a Playing Partner (Dec. 24)
2015
Football no Longer Needs Sun to Sell Itself (Feb. 4)
Aztec Football is Flush with Experience in 2015 (Feb. 20)
Regardless of the Road, J.J. Whittake's Future is Flush with Success (July 23)
Gordon no Longer Wrestling with Football Future (July 30)
McGrane: Damontae Kazee has the Corner Covered in Aztec D
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
Damontae Kazee had been pushed around long enough, bullied by bigger boys whose sole aim was to intimidate, humiliate and otherwise compel him to cower in a corner.
Knowing that eliciting sympathy from coaches was about as likely as coaxing compassion from a concrete slab, Kazee did the next best thing.
He told his mom.
"My freshman year here, he used to run me over," Kazee said of his older brother, Walter, who was a senior running back at SDSU when Damontae began his first season as a defensive back with the Aztecs. "And I let my mama (Latrease) know. I said, look, your son is out there running me over even though we have the same mama. But I'm not going to let your son run me over for no reason. If he's running at me, I'm going to hit him."
Blood may, indeed, be thicker than water, but if there was blood to be spilled, it wasn't solely going to belong to little brother.
The ground rules had been established years earlier when Damontae, along with Walter and brothers Jamael and Deauntrae, staged some less-than-cordial collisions in the front yard of their home in San Bernardino.
Walter, now 24 and a San Bernardino County sheriff, was the oldest. Arguably, he was no less the least fearless, a liberally-listed 5-foot-9, 190-pound running back who during his time at SDSU (2009-12) rushed for 1,896 yards and 17 touchdowns. Jamael, who was a standout prep running back in his own right, and Deauntrae both played junior college football.
Yet it was at home where you proved your true measure as a man. Given that the brothers are separated by only five years, at least three were simultaneously in attendance --- and playing football --- at Cajon High in San Bernardino.
"We would bring our shoulder pads home from school and go head-up right in the front yard," said Damontae, third-youngest among the brothers. "We would go at it all day sometimes. It could get pretty rough, and when you have brothers going at each other like that you know there's almost always going to be a fight. But we tried to make sure it never got too serious.
"My dad (Walter) never pushed us that hard in terms of playing (football). He's just always said, 'Don't be soft out on that field.' Basically, it's more like, 'If I'm going to be paying money for you to play, you better be out there working your butt off.' "
And so began the heavy lifting, the sweat-soaked summers, the tedium of endless toil that would propel Kazee from fresh-faced freshman to his present-day status as a preseason all-Mountain West selection. Now a junior, he also enters his fourth fall camp this week having been named to the Thorpe Award Watch List, annually presented to the nation's top defensive back. It's a distinction shared by his running mate at left corner, senior J.J. Whittaker, a second-team all-MW pick in 2014.
"During his redshirt year, when he wasn't even playing, everyone knew how good he could be," Whittaker said of Kazee, who also earned second-team all-league honors last season. "He's not only proven how good he can be, but he might be even better. The sky is the limit for him. We call him the Wild Dog, because he's like a blind dog in a butcher shop. He's in there going crazy, always trying to get that meat."
Kazee got his fill in 2014. Helping spearhead a defense that ranked No. 10 in the nation in passing yards allowed per game (178.5) and No. 19 in pass efficiency defense (112.10), he started all 13 games for the Aztecs, finishing with 58 tackles (40 solo), a team-high 13 pass breakups, an interception, a fumble recovery and four tackles for loss. He ranked third in the MW with an average of 1.08 passes defended (interceptions plus pass breakups) per game.
Yet Kazee, who at 5-11, 185, has an ideal blend of size and speed for a cornerback, has little time for laurels.
"I'm not going to base anything I do this year off of what happened last season," he said. "I'm always going to go out there and try to do a better job than I did the previous year. I'm letting last year go."
Aztecs defensive backs coach Tony White, who believes he may have one of the top cornerback tandems in the nation, is not hesitant to sing Kazee's praises. Nor is he reluctant to remind him that his work is far from complete.
"Damontae is a guy who, when you talk to him, you never talk about the things that he's done because there is so much more that he can do," White said. "There are some guys who, went the lights go on, they're just ready to go. Damontae is slowly maturing into a guy that guy, but he has things to work on, because he has to meet the expectations that have been raised for him.
"When you look at the difference between J.J. (Whittaker) and Damontae, J.J. is that strong, silent type who is a real student of the game. Damontae studies the game, too, but he's more of the loud, hey-look-at-me type. But both of them, when it comes to the game, they just love to play football. They are all-in. They really play well off of each other. J.J. is a little more cerebral, always thinking one step ahead. Damontae is a more of a guy who lives for the moment. And when the moment is right, he can get it done."
At no time was the moment more right then in last season's clash with eventual MW champion and Fiesta Bowl winner Boise State, a contest in which Kazee collected a season-high seven tackles. SDSU, which built a 20-0 lead, would ultimately suffer a bitter 38-29 defeat. Yet Kazee, who had never started a game prior to last season, had clearly anchored himself as owner of the starting spot at right corner, no small feat given the extraordinary pressure placed on the position in head coach Rocky Long's 3-3-5 defense.
"The most important thing I did when I first got here was to learn everything I could about the defense, to see how everything works and pay attention to everything that was going on," he said. "I always pictured myself in the shoes of (the starters), because it's hard to play corner. When you mess up, everybody notices you. But when you play well, people are going to notice you, too."
People like opposing coaches. People like peers. People like national media and receivers whose routes often end in ruin.
Even people like mom.