The legend and lore surrounding that first class of recruits to UTSA will be long have a special place in the hearts and minds of Roadrunner fans. The history of the program will always be deeply rooted in the effort those first recruits.
That group took a leap of faith and joined a program that was starting from scratch. No facilities, no amenities, nothing. Every first for UTSA started with that group and Darrien Starling can squarely count himself among those trailblazers. Starling had pedigree for days prior to joining UTSA. Playing for the legendary John Tyler High School in Tyler, Starling would earn All-East Texas honors and be named first-team all-area and first-team All-District 11-5A accolades as a senior.
While he has moved on from UTSA, he has never left his Roadrunner ties behind. In addition to working for Facebook, and helping run his family’s used car lot in Tyler, Starling also spends his time running the Runners Unfiltered podcast. He recently took some time away from his busy schedule to talk about Deion Sanders, shocking the Houston Cougars, and the current state of the program.
EM: Looking at how well your career turned out, I’m assuming you got an early start in the game. At what point though did you know that football was something you were good at?
DS: Yeah I got started about playing when I was about seven. I didn’t really know I was good until my eighth grade year when I moved to corner. I can remember, I had a game where I caught an interception and I ran it back about 50-something yards. I thought ‘Hmm, I might’ve got something going on here.’
EM: In your opinion, what made you good as a defensive back?
DS: My favorite player growing up was Deion Sanders. I really wanted to do everything that he did as a corner. My high school, John Tyler, has a rich history of DBs. Going into high school, I knew I was going to have to be on my game on the field. There was so much talent out there. I kind of got obsessed with it at that point. I was obsessed with technique and I focused on that from ninth grade on all through my career.
EM: What kind of stuff, technique-wise, were you focusing on? Oh and what about that concept of defensive backs having to have good short-term memory? Is that something you had?
DS: I was never the biggest guy and I was fast, but I was never the fastest guy. Having good feet was something I worked on. I would study always being in the right position and that’s what kind of carried me throughout my years.
One hundred percent I think you have to have that [short-term memory]. As a corner, you’ve got to have confidence in yourself. I know when I was young, when I’d play video games – and you can ask anybody I played video games with in college – I’m a huge shit talker. It kind of comes with the territory and is in line with a corner’s mentality. If you give up a big play, you’re going to get criticized the most rather than a quarterback having a bad game or anything like that.
EM: Man, that swagger you guys who play DB have, that’s something I just don’t have and that’s something I’m jealous of. Is that something you have always just had?
DS: I would say it’s something that comes naturally. I’m not the kind of guy that fabricates anything, so if it comes out it just comes out. If it comes across as swag then that’s even better. It’s not something that I think about and try to portray as a persona.
EM: Gotcha, now I wish I was like you even more! What was the recruiting process like for you? How did you ultimately decide UTSA was the place for you?
DS: Recruiting for me was weird. I was a pretty good player throughout the years, but that’s the thing about John Tyler. When you get to varsity and you have a senior that’s really, really, really good, there’s no chance you’re going to start over him. They’re really big on seniority there. So, once I got to varsity I had two guys who were DI recruits ahead of me. I pretty much just had one year to earn a scholarship.
I wasn’t really heavily recruited. I got some people to look at me because I was MVP at most of the camps that I went to that summer going into my senior year. I know I got offers from places like Sam Houston State, UTEP, SMU, Louisiana-Monroe, and of course UTSA.
I liked the opportunity here at UTSA. I wanted to play. I knew I wanted to stay in Texas, but I wanted the right environment and I didn’t want to go out to El Paso. It came down to I wanted be in San Antonio rather than El Paso. Plus, Coach Coker really sold it. I liked him a lot.
EM: Let’s talk about you and Coach Coker for a minute. I’m always interested in what guys like you who were in those early recruiting classes thought of him. What was it like meeting him that first time?
DS: Coach Coker was dope! You got an impression from him that he was big time as the recruiting process was going on. He controlled the room and did everything first class. Plus, he knows how to motivate you. He didn’t do much X’s and O’s coaching, he was more about making sure guys were where they needed to be and making sure the program was running well. He made sure we had what we needed while also making the final decisions. He was a phenomenal motivator, especially early on and you can see the benefits of his structure even now.
EM: Now that you’ve been away from the program for a few years, do you have a favorite on-field memory of your time here with the Roadrunners?
DS: I would say that my favorite memory was the way went out and beat the U of H that first game of my senior season. That was some of the most fun that I’ve had playing football even though I dropped a damn pick six. But, I had a great game. The corners had a great game. The offense was clicking. They thought they were gonna beat us and we were heavy underdogs, but we came in and showed them up as they debuted their new stadium on ESPN.
EM: That was a great night. I know you’ve got a lot of metaphorical irons in the fire. What all are you up to these days?
DS: Right now, I’m living up in Austin and I work in contract management for Facebook. So, I do that and am running a used car lot in Tyler with my family. Me, my Mom and Dad opened up a used car lot this year and that’s been a lot of fun. Other than that, I’m doing the Runners Unfiltered podcast and that’s been really good. Other than that, I’ve gotten to a comfortable spot where I can pick and choose the avenues I want to go in my life. My career is good, my life is good, everything is good right now.
EM: You’re in a unique spot of being both a former player and a member of the media now. We’re obviously having a down year, but what are your thoughts on the state of the program overall?
DS: This is kind of how I look at it, we’re obviously having a down year, but I’m kind of disappointed that we haven’t progressed at all this season. On my podcast, earlier this year whenever we were making our season predictions, I didn’t predict us to have a good year just because we lost so much. But what I was looking forward to was our progression over the season.
With the new offensive and defensive coordinators, I wanted to see them establish their base. I haven’t seen that, so that’s been disappointing. Also, we have not shown the ability to adapt to change. We haven’t changed anything. We’re still doing the exact same thing from week one to now.
I’ll never say I’m disappointed in the program because we’re so young and we have a lot of talent. We’ve been more talented than some of the programs we’ve lost to this season. I don’t think these guys have had a lot of time to blossom under the new OC and new DC. I’m not satisfied with the progression and let’s just say that.
EM: OK, so last thing on this topic then. What are your thoughts on Coach Wilson? Have you had any interaction with him yet?
DS: I have not had a chance to meet with him yet. What I will say is that, from my perspective, he can potentially turn out to be a great head coach. He is a hell of a recruiter and he has done some good things. However, it takes a lot more than coming in and inheriting a lot of Coach Coker’s really, really good recruits and going 6-6 and 6-5. That’s good, but it takes a lot more to impress me. I’ll just say that I’m not sold yet, but at the same time, his story has not been told yet.
