University Southern California Trojans
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Photo by: John McGillen
Wise Words
September 21, 2018 | Football
by Katie Ryan, USC Assistant Sports Information Director
"Every single guy on the team calls me old," laughed senior tight end Tyler Petite. "It's really a team joke."
"On his birthday, before we put up his real photo in the team meeting, we put up a picture of Adam Sandler," said sophomore tight end Erik Krommenhoek. "The whole room busted out laughing because they look the same."
They say with age comes wisdom, so Petite takes the jokes in stride.
"They mess with me because I look old, but it's also in the way I act," said Petite. "I take pride in knowing what to do and making sure everyone is doing things the right way."
Throughout his time at USC, Petite has matured into a strong, confident man both on and off of the field. However, this mindset wasn't always instinctive.
"I wasn't that highly recruiting originally," said Petite. "I went to Campolindo High School, a small Division III school in the East Bay. We had sent a couple kids to Division 1 schools, but not many. At first, it was really hard because I believed that I was good enough to make it, but I wasn't receiving any offers."
Petite watched other young players he knew get scholarship offers, and he began to doubt himself.
"I never knew what was going to happen," he said. "At one point, I was like 'I don't know if I'm even good enough.'"
A massive weight was lifted off of his shoulders when he received his first offer from Arizona State. After the first offer, the rest came rolling in.
"I ended up getting around 20 offers from schools all over the country, and I chose to commit to Duke," said Petite.
Although he had already verbally committed to the Blue Devils, his offer from the Trojans continued to weigh heavily in the back of his mind.
"Even though they had offered me a scholarship, I was never confident that I could play at USC," he said. "Once I committed to Duke, I said I would never decommit and I would try to be a man of my word. Then, my dad sat me down and said 'You have one chance to play college football. Do you want to do it in the Coliseum?' And I was like 'Yeah, I do!' I think it was the best decision I ever made."
Since coming to USC, Petite has gained the confidence to shine on the field. He has appeared in 43 games with 16 starts. He has made 49 catches for 616 yards (12.6 avg) with six touchdowns. He has been able to succeed both on the field and in the classroom.
"USC is a place where there's a great balance of getting an outstanding education, having a good social life and having great opportunities on the field," said the communication major. "Being able to earn my degree from a place like this is amazing. USC really is the whole package."
Petite is a vet, and while everything is old hat for him (pun intended), he values the lessons that being a football player have taught him.
"I've been here a long time," he said. "I've learned how to be accountable to people because that's what football is about. It's what life is about. It's about doing what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it. That's why I like football so much: because the things you learn in football have real world applications."'
Tight end is a selfless position. While wide receivers and running backs may have the glitz and the glamour of the breathtaking touchdowns and are featured in heart stopping moments, tight ends are typically behind the scenes doing the work to make that play possible.
"Its tough sometimes because you want to have people acknowledge what you're doing," said Petite. "That's human nature. Humans want people to tell them that they are doing a good job. Sometimes its hard, but at the end of the day, you just have to have a different mindset.
"In the UNLV game this year, I didn't catch a pass. I blocked pretty much the whole time. In that big run by Stephen Carr, I had a great block. That fired me up just as much as me scoring. I know what I did is a big reason why that play ended up happening. Sometimes you have to be okay with accepting the fact that you might not be in the spotlight all the time, but you still have a huge role on the team. The wide out is not making that catch if I don't make my block. The running back isn't going to score if I don't block for him. You are still making a difference and if you weren't there, things would not be going they way that they are."
Petite's selfless attitude extends far beyond playing in games. He wants to make all the players around him better, especially the young ones.
"I want to take the knowledge I've accrued here and put it towards helping these young guys," he said. "At the end of the day, if they succeed, our team will succeed. I want them to see a guy that is doing things the right way. Once I'm gone, they can instill that same mentality in the new group that comes in and keep the culture going. You never want to see a young guy lose their way because an older guy wasn't there to help coach him up or give him advice."
"He's an older veteran guy," said tight ends coach Keary Colbert. "He has that natural leadership ability. He comes off as an extra coach on the field. He's definitely good to have in the room and on the team."
"Its simple; it's the golden rule," said Petite. "People don't get through things by themselves. Everyone needs help at some point. Most freshmen won't ask the older guys for help. I help them anyway because I know it's the right thing to do."
"He's two lockers down from me," said freshman quarterback JT Daniels. "I've asked him really basic things such as what uniform do we wear to practice today to more complex things about the details of the game. He's a guy I can always talk to."
Petite is clearly a man of character who embodies the characteristics that any coach would want to see in a senior leader. If you were to glance at his Twitter account, you would see that it is a highlight reel…not of himself, but of the accomplishments of his teammates.
In fact, the pinned tweet at the top of his page is about his best friend and current NFL Jets starting quarterback Sam Darnold. The tweet states: "There is no QB I would rather go to battle with. A once in a generation player who I'll defend and support for life."
Watching Darnold become a household name has given Petite the motivation for his final USC season and confidence in his future.
"It's highly motivating," he said. "Watching my best friend have this kind of success makes me want it that much more. I texted him after his first NFL preseason game and he responded and said, 'You would be great in the NFL.' It wasn't a lot, but I don't think he will ever realize how much it meant to me. To have a guy like Sam say that to me, it's nice to know that he believes I can do it. I know I have an opportunity to do something special."
"Every single guy on the team calls me old," laughed senior tight end Tyler Petite. "It's really a team joke."
"On his birthday, before we put up his real photo in the team meeting, we put up a picture of Adam Sandler," said sophomore tight end Erik Krommenhoek. "The whole room busted out laughing because they look the same."
They say with age comes wisdom, so Petite takes the jokes in stride.
"They mess with me because I look old, but it's also in the way I act," said Petite. "I take pride in knowing what to do and making sure everyone is doing things the right way."
Throughout his time at USC, Petite has matured into a strong, confident man both on and off of the field. However, this mindset wasn't always instinctive.
"I wasn't that highly recruiting originally," said Petite. "I went to Campolindo High School, a small Division III school in the East Bay. We had sent a couple kids to Division 1 schools, but not many. At first, it was really hard because I believed that I was good enough to make it, but I wasn't receiving any offers."
Petite watched other young players he knew get scholarship offers, and he began to doubt himself.
"I never knew what was going to happen," he said. "At one point, I was like 'I don't know if I'm even good enough.'"
A massive weight was lifted off of his shoulders when he received his first offer from Arizona State. After the first offer, the rest came rolling in.
"I ended up getting around 20 offers from schools all over the country, and I chose to commit to Duke," said Petite.
Although he had already verbally committed to the Blue Devils, his offer from the Trojans continued to weigh heavily in the back of his mind.
"Even though they had offered me a scholarship, I was never confident that I could play at USC," he said. "Once I committed to Duke, I said I would never decommit and I would try to be a man of my word. Then, my dad sat me down and said 'You have one chance to play college football. Do you want to do it in the Coliseum?' And I was like 'Yeah, I do!' I think it was the best decision I ever made."
Since coming to USC, Petite has gained the confidence to shine on the field. He has appeared in 43 games with 16 starts. He has made 49 catches for 616 yards (12.6 avg) with six touchdowns. He has been able to succeed both on the field and in the classroom.
"USC is a place where there's a great balance of getting an outstanding education, having a good social life and having great opportunities on the field," said the communication major. "Being able to earn my degree from a place like this is amazing. USC really is the whole package."
Petite is a vet, and while everything is old hat for him (pun intended), he values the lessons that being a football player have taught him.
"I've been here a long time," he said. "I've learned how to be accountable to people because that's what football is about. It's what life is about. It's about doing what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it. That's why I like football so much: because the things you learn in football have real world applications."'
Tight end is a selfless position. While wide receivers and running backs may have the glitz and the glamour of the breathtaking touchdowns and are featured in heart stopping moments, tight ends are typically behind the scenes doing the work to make that play possible.
"Its tough sometimes because you want to have people acknowledge what you're doing," said Petite. "That's human nature. Humans want people to tell them that they are doing a good job. Sometimes its hard, but at the end of the day, you just have to have a different mindset.
"In the UNLV game this year, I didn't catch a pass. I blocked pretty much the whole time. In that big run by Stephen Carr, I had a great block. That fired me up just as much as me scoring. I know what I did is a big reason why that play ended up happening. Sometimes you have to be okay with accepting the fact that you might not be in the spotlight all the time, but you still have a huge role on the team. The wide out is not making that catch if I don't make my block. The running back isn't going to score if I don't block for him. You are still making a difference and if you weren't there, things would not be going they way that they are."
Petite's selfless attitude extends far beyond playing in games. He wants to make all the players around him better, especially the young ones.
"I want to take the knowledge I've accrued here and put it towards helping these young guys," he said. "At the end of the day, if they succeed, our team will succeed. I want them to see a guy that is doing things the right way. Once I'm gone, they can instill that same mentality in the new group that comes in and keep the culture going. You never want to see a young guy lose their way because an older guy wasn't there to help coach him up or give him advice."
"He's an older veteran guy," said tight ends coach Keary Colbert. "He has that natural leadership ability. He comes off as an extra coach on the field. He's definitely good to have in the room and on the team."
"Its simple; it's the golden rule," said Petite. "People don't get through things by themselves. Everyone needs help at some point. Most freshmen won't ask the older guys for help. I help them anyway because I know it's the right thing to do."
"He's two lockers down from me," said freshman quarterback JT Daniels. "I've asked him really basic things such as what uniform do we wear to practice today to more complex things about the details of the game. He's a guy I can always talk to."
Petite is clearly a man of character who embodies the characteristics that any coach would want to see in a senior leader. If you were to glance at his Twitter account, you would see that it is a highlight reel…not of himself, but of the accomplishments of his teammates.
In fact, the pinned tweet at the top of his page is about his best friend and current NFL Jets starting quarterback Sam Darnold. The tweet states: "There is no QB I would rather go to battle with. A once in a generation player who I'll defend and support for life."
Watching Darnold become a household name has given Petite the motivation for his final USC season and confidence in his future.
"It's highly motivating," he said. "Watching my best friend have this kind of success makes me want it that much more. I texted him after his first NFL preseason game and he responded and said, 'You would be great in the NFL.' It wasn't a lot, but I don't think he will ever realize how much it meant to me. To have a guy like Sam say that to me, it's nice to know that he believes I can do it. I know I have an opportunity to do something special."
Tuesday, August 18
Tuesday, August 18
Tuesday, August 18
Tuesday, August 18
