Sept. 10, 2002
by Stephanie Peterson * Host Communications
What started out as 25 fresh, new hopefuls in 1998 has slowly dwindled tosix. Of the six who remain, only one is a born-and-bred Kentuckian – and forthat he stands tall and proud.
Amid the ups-and-downs of his previous three seasons, Artose Pinner has stuckit out because he believes in his team and the potential they have to becomegreat. He has purposely set high goals for himself and for the team in the2002 season.
“My main goal is to see us win this season,” he says. “I think that’s whatthe team wants most. After back-to-back losing seasons, we need to turneverything around and I really believe that we can do that.”
Pinner says his feelings about a winning year stem from the positiveencouragement he receives from the new coaching staff.
“This is by far the best staff I’ve ever been a part of as a player,” hesays. “They make you believe in yourself and what you are doing out there.They make you play for yourself, for the team, for your families.
They push me to do my best and the other guys to do their best, not just sowe can win, but just to push ourselves further than we thought we could.”
“Push” and Pinner go hand-in-hand when it comes to individual goals, as well.
“I want to rush for over 1,000 yards and over 1,700 all-purpose yards,” he says. “A lot of people are going to look at me and say ‘no way, can’t do it’because no one has done it since Moe Williams in the ’90s. They think we’retoo inexperienced of a team. I know it’s going to be hard to do, but I wantto push myself. I don’t want to be given limitations.”
As if Pinner actually knew what limitations were. Starting off as a reservehis freshman and sophomore years, the Hopkinsville, Ky., native began hiscollegiate career by being labeled as a power back, lacking breakaway speed.Which was funny for a guy who was a track star in high school, winning tworegional titles and placing third in the state in the 400-meter run.
As the blocking back label continued to stick, Pinner kept with the programhoping that his time would come. Constant drills where he was used as ablocker, not as a runner, tested him and several of the other running backs.But in the end, it was worth it.
In the game against Ole Miss last year, Pinner’s time to shine, and showeveryone that the stereotypes weren’t true, finally came. He had acareer-high 130 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns.
He then went on to demonstrate that the Ole Miss game was no fluke rushingfor 105 yards against South Carolina and becoming the first UK running backto rush for more than 100 yards in back-to-back games since Anthony White in1999. Football fans everywhere began to realize that Pinner was going to beplayer that not only was hard to keep down but catch up to as well.
“At lot of guys in my position were good at running 100’s (yards) or 200’s(yards) and I was better with the endurance,” he said. “That helped me sinceI had really spent time developing my blocking but had kept working on myrunning too. Now I’m coming into my own, all wrapped up into one – speed,power, a total package. I’m more than just a power back.”
While the season may have just begun, the work to get to this point in hiscareer has been ongoing since he began playing. This past summer’s trainingwas no exception to the “go hard or go home” rule he seems to live by.
Pinner and his teammates have been on the practice field day in and day out,running plays, crunching bones and focusing on the job, all in extreme heatand humidity. And that doesn’t include the time spent in the weight room,watching tapes, mapping out strategies and doing sprints.
In the end, the Wildcats are hoping it all pays off.
“If I go hard at every play, practice well, play hard, the game will comeeasy,” says Pinner. “I know I need to lead by example, both vocally and onthe field.”
Pinner has three freshman running backs who will benefit from his strongpresence this year – but he wants to do more than just lead them on thefield.
“I want them to know I am more than just their ‘football buddy,’ I am theirfriend off the field, too,” he says. “I think it is important they know thatthere is more to life than just football.”
Part of the reason Pinner takes such an active role in helping out the newguys is because he never had anyone do that for him.
“College throws you different life experiences in general and that may bekind of hard to cope with when you’re new to somewhere,” he said. “But Iwant these guys to know my door is always open to talk about whatever. Ihung out with three other freshmen when I was first here. I think everyoneneeds someone to look over them and I never really had that.”
Even without a senior mentor looking over him, Pinner had plenty of outsidesupport, which he credits for the speed of his progress.
“There was a point when I wasn’t playing and I was frustrated and it wouldhave been easier to quit,” he remembers. “But there was always a crowdbehind me – my mom (Tina Pinner), my grandma, my family and friends. Theymade me work harder.”
Pinner believes that if he did not have that support, it would have taken himfar longer to reach this point in his life. He was even ready to transferschools because of the angst of limited playing time and the littleencouragement he was receiving from the former coaching staff.
But will, desire and people who believed in what he could do helped him makethe decision to take one more step toward greatness.
“There were a lot of outside things going on I didn’t understand,” he said.”I could have just given up but all those people who did support me, evenwhen I was tired, wouldn’t let me fail.”
Pinner kept a sense of humor through the tough times. It is his easy-goingmanner and ability to keep players laughing that makes him not only apopular player, but a success on the field. He understands that yes, thereis a job to be done, but it is also supposed to be fun.
Pinner recalls a time when he started out at UK that some of the coaches putthe players down rather than encouraging them. No longer the case, he isquick to add. But it was that experience that made him not want to showcoaches how much it bothered him so he used a positive attitude and humorousmanner to compensate and pull through the dark days.
“I think when you relax and have fun, you play better,” Pinner said. “That’swhy a lot of guys did well in high school – ’cause they were having fun. Iwant to remember that and remind the other guys of the fun of the game. Younever know how long it’s going to last.”
Pinner, who was named “Artose” by his grandmother to mean “special child,”truly has something special indeed. His teammates and coaches alsorecognized that last season when Pinner proved what a player can accomplishif he doesn’t give up. However, he says a lot of that credit goes to the newcoaching staff whom he believes is so outstanding, among other reasons,because many of them have some sort of National Football League experience.
“I’ll think that I’ll do some play in practice really well and then coachCarr gets on me and shows me what needs to be better,” he said.Pinner explains that this coaching staff is very keen on detail, which showsthe players they are trying to help them succeed, not to set them up forfailure.
“They go over things on tapes and there’s always something that can becritiqued to help us be better players, both for ourselves and our team as awhole,” says Pinner.
But Pinner came to Wildcat country to become more than just a great player.He came here to study telecommunications. He chose the field because hebelieves there will always be something he can do with it. He is very opento the idea of becoming a sports broadcaster, a web page designer or acomputer program analyst. He has also mulled over the idea of becoming ateacher, a career that extends a good deal from his leadership role on thefootball field.
“I want be able to teach kids because if we get them while they are young,we’ll make them better for the future,” he said. “I’d like to incorporatetechnology because it’s going to be the future of big business. As anAfrican-American male, I want them to know their goals are reachable if yougo after it.”
Pinner went after it on the field and has seen success. However, he knowsthere is still much to be done both off and on the field as the 2002 seasongets under way.
“I came into this program wanting to make a name for the University ofKentucky football program,” says Pinner. “I believe I can still do that. I’mnot finished here yet.”
