The fact that he ever played a down in college, let alone the NFL speaks to his will and determination. As a six-foot, 150 lbs high school senior, Cecil wasn’t offered a college scholarship anywhere. His coach told him not to take off his shirt during workouts for recruiters so they couldn’t see how skinny he was.
Ultimately he walked on at the University of Arizona and became a consensus All-American and the Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year in his senior year, a year in which he collected nine interceptions. When he left the University of Arizona his 21 career interceptions was a Pac-10 record.
Cecil was drafted in the fourth round of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers and wasn’t expected to contribute very much, because even then at 6 feet, 185 lbs, he was vastly undersized in a league full of huge humans. After three years primarily coming off of the bench, Cecil’s 1991 season put him on the map. And, scored him some killer in-stores:
In starting all 16 games he had 110 tackles, three interceptions and a forced fumble. But more than that he made a name for himself with his aggressive, reckless tackling style; if he would’ve been a baseball player around that time, he would’ve been Rob Deer because he either ripped a homer, or struck out, every time.
