Senior DB looks to break up Hoyas’ losing ways

Photo by Hilary Nakasone

With six games left in his senior season, Georgetown defensive back Travis Mack has all the right answers.

What is his goal for the last six games of his career?

“Win,” Mack said.

What’s his outlook on the rest of the season after the Hoyas’ 0-5 start?

“Optimistic,” Mack continued.

But these responses aren’t a product of a final season rebirth. Over the last four years, Mack has done everything that his coaches have wanted from him.

“He works his tail off,” assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Rob Sgarlata said. “There’s probably not a harder worker around.”

The coach’s hyperbole isn’t mistaken. Actual stats back up testimonies of Mack’s work ethic.

The coaching staff keeps a statistic called “loafs” to gauge the speed the defense is playing at. As Sgarlata explained, loafs occur when a player “starts a play off fast, slows down, and then speeds up.” Mack has yet to record a loaf all season—meaning he plays at his fastest speed on all downs.

Perhaps Mack doesn’t slow down on the gridiron because his greatest asset is his speed. After occasionally playing free safety in the past, Mack has now switched to weak safety. In the Hoyas’ defensive scheme, the position is a hybrid between safety and linebacker. Mack is frequently used in blitzes, and he plays as close to the ball as possible.

“We try to get Travis as close to the ball as possible from the safety spot,” Sgarlata said. “He’s not a guy you want back in the deep third, wasting him. He can make a lot of plays and this year we’ve blitzed him a lot more because we’ve tried to alter our scheme a little bit. He’s down playing more man-to-man and is closer to the game. He does have the ability to tackle and that’s a big, big deal for us.”

Since the last few games of his freshman year, Mack has been a consistent starter on the field for the Hoya defense, a stark change from Mack’s high school career. Mack had a large growth spurt between his senior year of high school and his post-graduate year at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, giving him the bulk necessary to compete at the collegiate level.

His experience playing on the field for almost his entire stint at Georgetown has helped him succeed so far this season; Mack has totaled 23 tackles, two pass deflections, and two breakups.

As a freshman, even though he didn’t start until the last few games of the season, Mack finished tenth on the team in tackles. As a sophomore, he improved to fourth. Last year, a year in which he earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors, he finished second on the team and ninth in the Patriot League in tackles.

None of these statistics, however, measure his mentoring capabilities. As a four-year starter, Mack has the experience to teach his teammates both on and off the field.

“We have some young guys, especially at safety and corner, and he’s been through it all, from starting as a freshman to now,” Sgarlata said. “It’s more than just the football part of it. It’s the emphasis on school and all the other stuff he’s trying to help the younger guys with.”

Still, Mack has experienced some rough seasons, and in his final campaign, he has seen Georgetown get off to a 0-5 start. Mack and the Hoyas will try to start turning that record before the halfway point of the season, with a win over Lehigh this Saturday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Mack stressed the importance of the Hoyas’ man-to-man defense this week. He gave all the right answers about how the Hoyas should play and their outlook on this week’s game.

But, as the season winds down and Mack’s collegiate career gets shorter by the day, there’s only so much he can do to lead the Hoyas to victory. He says the accomplishment he is most proud of as a Hoya is that he hasn’t been hurt and has played on a consistent basis.

A couple of big wins at the end of his senior season might just upstage that.