Derek Stingley Jr. sat down with Texans legend Johnathan Joseph for the “No Audibles” podcast. The young corner got real about everything from his LSU championship days to watching C.J. Stroud carve up defenses from the sideline.
The Championship Foundation
Sting’s roots run deep in championship culture. When J-Joe asked about that LSU national title run, Stingley Jr. didn’t hesitate: “I feel like the main thing that gave me was really just the standard of winning and what it takes, day in, day out, being consistent to win a championship.”
But he kept it real about the jump to the NFL. “I feel like at LSU, of course, it was a lot of talent. Everybody was great. But it’s really just different winning at this level because it’s everybody’s the best.”
Building Chemistry with C.J. Stroud
Sting lit up talking about Stroud, and you could hear the genuine love there.
“That’s my brother for real,” he said. “We talk all the time, off the field, on the field. Really just building that chemistry with him on and off the field has been great for me because I’m able to watch him from the sideline and just see how he operates and see defenses.”
According to No. 24, He’s basically getting a masterclass every Sunday: “I’m able to really just see how he picks apart the defense and that really just helps me on the other side of the ball, being able to go against these quarterbacks because, I mean, he’s one of the best, if not the best, I feel like. So being able to watch him and just see his operation throughout the game and how he operates, it really just helps me diagnose and see what other quarterbacks see on the other side.”
The Mental Side: Cornerback Psychology
J-Joe knows better than anyone how brutal the corner position can be mentally, so he asked Sting about bouncing back from getting beat.
“You really just gotta have a short term memory,” Stingley Jr. explained. “What I tell myself is they don’t remember the bad plays. They remember the good plays… The pick that I got against Green Bay, that’s what they remember. They don’t remember if I got beat on a route or whatever it is.”
“For me, that’s what I say to myself just to get myself going and keep my confidence because that’s really all about. At the end of the day, you gotta believe in yourself that you’re the best player on the field every Sunday… you gotta have that confidence to where even if you do get beat, it’s okay because the next play, you’re getting a pick or you’re getting your revenge.”
