EDITOR'S NOTE: Cornerback Antwaun Molden, a third-round draft choice at No. 79 overall out of Eastern Kentucky, is providing fans with a periodic diary entry throughout his rookie season on HoustonTexans.com.
To all my fans –
I'll start by answering some questions that were e-mailed in. The first question is about where I went to high school. I played at Warren G. Harding about an hour outside of Cleveland, and I also played at Cleveland Glenville. I was at Warren G. Harding first and then transferred to Glenville my senior year.
I ran track at Glenville with a lot of great athletes – Teddy Gin and Donte Whitner who are in the NFL now, Troy Cloud, Donte Cloud who played at Akron, Roland Sweet, Daven Jones who was at Wisconsin, Raymond Fisher who was at Indiana, Ray Small who was out of Ohio State. We did pretty well. In 2003, we won the Adidas National Championship in track and field. We accumulated the most points out of all the teams there, so we were the best team in the country at that time.
I try to keep in touch with those guys still when I can. Most of them have a tight schedule, as I do. I try to keep in touch through my coaches to see how they're doing, and on facebook, too.
As far as the season goes, another question I've gotten from a couple of fans is which wide receiver in the NFL I'm most looking forward to facing. My answer to that is every wide receiver in the NFL. I know each team has a No. 1 wide receiver and that wide receiver is good; from the first week all the way to Week 16, I believe there's no drop-off at wide receiver, and I'm going to prepare well. As a rookie corner, that's all you can do.
{QUOTE}We have a big challenge this week. The Steelers have a great passing game. They have a great offense. I mean, you look at Big Ben, the numbers he's put up, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and the tight end Miller. With that said, we've just got to prepare well.
I know it's going to be a hostile environment at Heinz Field. I haven't really talked to any of the veterans about it, but it's the NFL. I think every environment's going to be hostile. I'm just focused on preparing well. If I prepare well, have confidence, I can go into the game confident and make plays.
It was supposed to be a big learning curve for me coming from a small school to the NFL. How much progress I've made through the offseason will be determined by the coaches. How much I've learned, I've learned a lot. I learned a lot on and off the field about the game. I'm just excited to make that transition to the regular season. I'm ready to contribute right now, right away, whether it's on special teams, on defense, whatever they want me to play.
Speaking of my school, Eastern Kentucky has a big game this weekend against Western Kentucky. That Eastern-Western game is a huge rivalry. Western switched to Division One on us, but we're still strong. I've got faith in the new coach, Dean Hood. We're going to get it done this weekend.
I definitely remember those games: sold out crowd at each game, hostile environment. I know they sold about 6,000 tickets over the seating. It's just a great game, great atmosphere, great tailgating and everything that leads up to it. It's definitely worth the hype.
As far as a prediction goes, I'm going to say Eastern on top. The score? It's going to be a close game, but I'm going to say Eastern on top.
Thanks for all your support. I can't wait for this first game on Sunday.
- Antwaun
ANTWAUN MOLDEN DIARY ARCHIVE
**8/26** - Watching Harry Williams go down
**8/20** - Looking back on a week in New Orleans
**8/8** - Excited for my first game; rookie hazing
**8/2** - Training camp - tiring, but not overwhelming
**7/27**;/1218232188794/) - Life as a rookie in a new city
Questions for Antwaun that you'd like to see answered in his next diary entry? Post a comment, or send an e-mail to the editor at **nscurfield@houstontexans.com*.*
