Coach: DE Joseph Anderson's Character Second To None

Joseph Anderson‍ has been pegged as one of the nation’s top prospects for a while now.

“Obviously, God blessed him with some unbelievable gifts,” Anderson’s head coach at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Michael Copley tells Irish Sports Daily.

“When you’re 6-4.5 and 265 and can really run, there aren’t a whole lot of guys who can run like he runs at that size.”

That has resulted in scholarship offers from schools like Notre Dame, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and South Carolina among others, but the 2019 Tennessee defensive end certainly doesn’t act like it.

“His intention to get better is one of the biggest things I like about him,” Copley adds. “He wants to know every day how we can get better. He comes in the office today, ‘Coach, I still don’t like the tempo in the weight room? What are we going to do? What can I do?’ It’s not just about him, it’s about the team.”

Anderson hasn’t allowed the hoopla of the recruiting process to change him.

“Today, a lot of times you have these high-profile guys and it’s about Me,” Copley says. “He’s really about We and the team and trying to improve. He’s said, ‘I can get better every day,” and that’s what he’s trying to do, even academically. He’s fighting really hard academically to continue to improve his grades.

“He’s a very humble, team guy, who knows he can get better every day and he’s working to do that. That excites me as much as anything. I’m sure there are other guys out there his size and his speed, but are they really putting effort and the work in to get better like he is?”

Anderson’s teammates certainly are.

“All of the other guys see that and say, ‘If he can work that hard, we can too,’” his coach says. “For the culture of the school and the culture of the program, other guys see he hasn’t quit working. He doesn’t feel like he’s arrived. He’ll look at you and say, ‘I’ve got room for improvement. How can I get better?’

“That says a lot to the program where everybody goes, ‘Hey, we’ve got a four-star, five-star guy and he’s willing to try to get better, we can too.’”

Copley points to Anderson’s upbringing as a major reason.

“He has great character,” the coach says. “He’s a guy you bring in your house and you give him a room. He’s yes-sir, no-sir. Mom and Dad have raised him great.

“He’s what I call, a little bit of an old soul. He’s just awesome. He’s very humble. He’s a good young man to be around. That’s probably one of the best things when you talk about getting a young man. You can almost guarantee you’re going to have zero trouble with him. I’ve been with him 15 months and he’s not even remotely said anything out of the way in the building or in the fieldhouse. It’s yes sir, no sir and go to work. The character he’s got is second to none.”

And there’s a reason Anderson continues to work to get better, because he can get better.

“Obviously, being a defensive lineman, I think he’s always got room to grow in getting off the ball faster,” Copley explains. “He’s just 16 years old, so he can get stronger. Those are two of the main areas that stick out in mind. He’s fairly strong, but I look at him and he barely has any whiskers on his face. When he gets 18, 19 years old, it’s hard to tell how big and how strong he’s going to be.

“The strength that’s going to come with the growth is going to be exciting to see.”

Anderson continues to comb through his options and Notre Dame is certainly one of his top choices, having been to South Bend several times already with another trip coming for the Irish’s spring game next month.

But Copley isn’t going to offer much of his opinion, if any at all.

“It’s for me to help guide them and lead them and help them get the best situation for them,” he explains of his role in the process. “Does it have the right education? Those types of things. I’ll never look and say, ‘Hey, I think this fits you or I think that fits you.’ I think that’s for them and their mother and father, family to say. It’s non-negotiable. God forbid you get hurt, would you still want to be there? That’s where I kind of come in; calling a coach to see if they will accept a commitment. Things of that nature.

“I’m very careful not to interject any of my opinions or thoughts because I don’t think that’s my place. My place is to support where they need my support. If they ask my opinion, I’m careful on how I give my opinion. I don’t ever want a player to come back and say, ‘Well, I chose this because Coach wanted me to.' I want them to choose it for the right reasons for them and their family to know in four to five years, they’ve been set up for the next 40 to 50 years and only them and their family I think can make that decision for them.”