Nothing little about Littles game

Little. The surname would seem to suit him well. After all, Jimmy Little is only 5-feet-10, which is around an inch or two shorter than the average cornerback.

But there's really nothing little (pun intended) about Little. Little (again, pun intended) do people know, Little, a rising senior from Milford Mill Academy, is a husky 190 pounds with a game that's downright gargantuan.

"He's one of the more talented football players we've had," said Milford Mill coach Reggie White. "He has great ball-hawking skills, he's one of our strongest guys and he's pretty fast. He runs a 'good' 4.6; in other words, his game speed is tremendous and it's a lot faster than his 40 time. With that combination, a lot of teams just stay away from him."

Evidently they didn't stay away from him enough. Last year, Little recorded 28 tackles and a team-high 12 pass breakups and three interceptions. But while the numbers are solid, especially considering Milford Mill only played 10 games, they hardly illustrate Little's true impact.

Sure, he had plenty of picks and pass breakups, but one-on-one coverage wasn't even his forte. In fact, Little excelled in two areas where most high school corners struggle: tackling and reading an offense.

"I'm a physical corner; that's my game," Little said. "I'll step up and make tackles no corner will make. I don't care about size. I'll hit you right in the mouth and even go for a strip if I can. I have the mentality of a linebacker."

Last year Little was matched up against a 6-5 receiver from Parkville. To make up for the seven-inch difference in size, Little jammed his opponent at the line, throwing him off his routes and even knocking him to the ground once. When the receiver did catch a pass, Little dropped him immediately.

"He's a great tackler, and that comes from his strength," White said. "He's always in the weight room, and he's probably stronger than 95 percent of our team. I mean, he throws up double-digits on the bench at 185 pounds a rep. It's impressive."

Little doesn't spend all his extra time in the weight room, however. He's a certified film junkie who is so enthralled with dissecting technique - both his own and his opponents' -- he'll make copies of game film to watch at home. He's searching for that tiny tendency every receiver has, whether it's how tense they hold their hands or how they move their feet before a route.

"Most corners can pick up on the basic things like the routes a receiver likes to run," Little said. "I'm looking for the more subtle things, like hip movements or when a receiver will run his go-to route."

Against Woodlawn last year, Little was guarding a faster receiver whom he knew liked to use a lot of double moves. To counteract them, Little either a) jammed the receiver so he couldn't get into his route or b) played a step or two off so he could read the wideout's feet.

"He was so consistent shutting those guys down," White said. "He never got beat."

Well, almost never. There was really only one receiver who gave him any trouble at all last year: his own teammate, Tyrek Cheeseboro. Cheeseboro, a pure speed-burner with legitimate 4.3 speed who recently committed to Maryland, was too savvy and just a little too fast for Little. Although Little held his own in practice, Cheeseboro won his share of the battles.

"If there was any receiver who could challenge me, it was Tyrek; he had me beat speed-wise," Little said. "But I liked playing him because he made me better and forced me to raise my game."

Although his game speed is solid, Little is rarely tested by receivers who can run 4.4 40s and below. But he will in college.

So in order to prepare for upcoming camps and combines, where 40 times are of the utmost importance, he's running track. He's already lowered his 100-meter time to a 10.9.

"I'd like him to get down to a 4.5 40 so he can play more in man coverage instead of backing off the receivers," White said.

While Little did match up one-on-one against taller receivers, he spent much of his time in a cover-2 zone. In zone coverage, he sat back off the line like a pseudo-safety. That way those small, quick, pesky receivers couldn't beat him as he tried his signature jam move.

"Last year I played it safe sometimes so the receiver couldn't beat me, but next year I plan on getting faster so I can play on an island," Little said. "I want to be able to take a lot more risks by jumping routes and playing tight."

For the most part, however, Little wasn't a liability, even in man coverage. White indicated that he never doubted Little's matchup skills, noting that "he's still one of the fastest guys we have."

"He might be stockier, but he can run," White said. "We played Franklin last year and we were up 21-20 late. Franklin tried to throw a deep pass to their fastest receiver. Jimmy ran with him right down the field and made the game-ending interception."

Little likes to compare himself to Lardarius Webb, the second-year Raven who, coming out of college, was thought to be too slow for cornerback. All Webb did last year was become the Ravens' top cover man and one of the best rookie defensive backs in the league.

"I'm like [Webb] because I have the skills of a safety - mainly my tackling -- and enough game speed and instincts to play corner," Little said. "Every day I think about how he was overlooked, had to go to a small college (Nicholls State) and still made the NFL. My plan is to do the same thing."

That's assuming Little gets overlooked at all. It's still early and he does have a chance to lure in a Division I recruiter with a solid summer and fall. But all indications are that he'll end up at the I-AA level. White projects Little to end up in the Patriot League or perhaps the CAA, two upper-echelon FCS conferences.

"He's probably not an ACC guy," White said. "But he'll get some looks from some bigger [I-AA] colleges. There's no doubt about that."

And there's nothing "Little" about that either.