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Anyone that has watched Southern Utah University receiver Tysson Poots play knows where his nickname "Silk" came from.
"Tysson is one of those players that is just so smooth that you don't realize just how fast he is moving," said Thunderbirds coach Ed Lamb, who originally gave Poots the nickname. "He is a tremendous athlete, and he just makes everything look so easy."
In fact, because of his ability to make things look simple, Poots caused as many problems for defenders on his own team for awhile as he has done to opponents for the past three seasons.
"At first, I was getting on our cornerbacks for not doing a good job of covering him," added Lamb. "I assumed when I was looking at film or watching him at practice that the defenders were doing something wrong, something in their technique. There had to be a reason why this guy was making all these catches and just gliding by our defense."
Poots is a redshirt junior and had a breakout season last year as a sophomore, when he was an all-conference selection and honorable mention All-American. His 83 catches, 1,236 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns were all school records. After sitting out the opening two games this year, recovering from offseason surgery for a stress fracture in his foot, he has picked up where he left off with 13 receptions, 176 yards and a pair of scores in his two games so far, including seven catches for 67 yards and a touchdown last week at Utah State.
"It was awful watching the first two games," said Poots. "I could see so many things that I felt I could help my teammates on, so many plays were out there to be made. After that, I know for sure that I always want to be healthy. I don't want to sit on the sidelines again."
Opposing teams generally wish after a game Poots had been on the sideline. But for the same reason Lamb was getting on his defenders, Poots probably hasn't had as much respect entering a game as he deserves.
"I guess it is for the same reason that he just doesn't look nearly as dangerous on film, but teams still are not double-covering him," Lamb said. "That is just fine with us because if you don't slide a man over and just single cover Tysson, he is going to make some plays to beat you."
Poots is blessed with all the physical tools to be a dominant receiver. He is 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, one of the strongest players on the team in the weight room, and Poots has one of the best vertical leaps on the team.
"One of my favorite things is when the quarterback will just lay a ball up there and I can go up and get it," he said. "I kind of made a living doing it in high school, and I love to do it in basketball. I think that is probably one of my strengths, just being able to go and get the football when it is thrown my way."
Poots is a physical science major with a 3.5 GPA. He said the smaller class size and personal approach of the professors was one of the things that brought him to Cedar from his hometown of Las Vegas — but only one of the reasons.
"Football was one of the main reasons, but I've decided I really like the weather as well. Vegas is just too hot," he said. "The class sizes are great, and I really liked the fact that Cedar is close enough to home that my family and friends can come and watch me play, and I can get home for a weekend if I want. But at the same time, I am far enough away to really get a college experience."
Lamb and the rest of the T-birds are glad Poots felt that way as well. Southern Utah hosts Texas State this weekend before beginning conference play against Cal Poly on the road Oct. 17. Poots hopes to continue with his stellar play in those games and for many weeks to come.
"I just want to keep working hard and getting better," Poots said. "I have goals and dreams of playing in the NFL, but there are things I need to work on to reach those goals. I have the drive to work hard enough to reach those goals, and I just want to work on being the best that I can be."
e-mail: mblack@desnews.com