W&M’s Tracy happy to seek, and follow, mom’s advice

RICHMOND, Va. -- Adrian Tracy talks to his mother a little less frequently than the three-a-day calls he made when he first got to William and Mary. But he still frequently chats with, and listens to, the person he calls "definitely my best friend."

"I talk to her about anything and everything," he said. "I've been doing it since I was 8, so it's second nature to do it now that I'm 22."

Had he not followed his mother's guidance, Tracy wouldn't have gone on a recruiting visit to William and Mary. He wouldn't have become a walk-on, and he probably wouldn't have become one of the best players in Football Championship Subdivision.

The 6-4, 243-pound senior defensive end will take the field at UR Stadium in tomorrow's Colonial Athletic Association showdown between the No.5 Tribe (6-1, 9-1) and No.4 Richmond (6-1, 9-1) as one of the leading candidates for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top defensive player in FCS.

Tracy has 17.5 tackles for loss, a category he leads among active FCS players with 58 during his career. He has 10 sacks and ranks third among active players with 29 overall, a school record.

"If he continues to work hard and it's important enough to him, I think he'll get an opportunity [in the NFL]," William and Mary defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said.

Thin at 6-1, 195 pounds as a senior at Potomac Falls High in Northern Virginia, Tracy was viewed as a basketball player and an in-between-positions football recruit for a few nonscholarship schools.

He had decided to go to Davidson, he said, when Steven Jerry, then a William and Mary assistant, came to Potomac Falls to watch tape of other players. Jerry noticed Tracy on the tape and asked if he wanted to make a visit.

Tracy didn't. His mother, though, persuaded him to go.

Sitting in the office of William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock, Tracy kept noticing the trophies behind Laycock. Even though Laycock said no scholarship money was available and he'd have to walk on, Tracy said he began to realize the Tribe's tradition and academics were a good fit.

His mother, Ann Hill, realized something else as the meeting unfolded.

"The name Laycock was familiar to her," Tracy said. "He was asking me a couple of questions and she just burst out, 'Hold on! You said you're from Northern Virginia? Purcellville?' He was like, 'Yes, ma'am.' She was like, 'I think your mother taught me in high school.' He said her name, and she said, 'She was my English teacher my junior year.'"

Tracy called Laycock on the way home and committed to the Tribe. He earned a half-scholarship before his redshirt freshman year and a full scholarship before his sophomore year.

Complacency hampered him during his sophomore season, but Tracy reapplied himself. His power and speed off the edge since have been difficult for opposing linemen to handle.

"His maturation is just amazing to me," Shoop said. "He's always been an excellent person, strong family background. His mom's the most important thing in his life. Just watching him develop as a man over the last two years is probably just as exciting as watching him develop as a football player."

Tracy said his father was in and out of his life. His mother, always there, always available, was the foundation upon which he built. As he was introduced during Senior Day ceremonies last week, he couldn't help becoming emotional when he saw his mother and his stepfather, Charles Hill.

She was wiping away tears.

"When I was little, she said the one thing she wanted was for me was to go to college and be able to graduate and have a good degree and a bright future," said Tracy, a kinesiology major. "For us to be on that field and kind of realize that it was right in front of us was definitely something that hit hard with me."