Darryl Tapp: "Always Believe in Yourself"
It was still a few hours before game time on that September Sunday morning when the Seattle Seahawks' buses pulled up to Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. One by one, members of the reigning NFC Champions got off the bus and walked into the visiting team's locker room. For the veteran players it was just another season opener, just another game, just another day on the job.
For a rookie on the team, it was a moment to be remembered.
After a stellar collegiate career at Virginia Tech, Chesapeake native and former Deep Creek standout Darryl Tapp was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round of the NFL Draft this past April.
The 6'1", 265 lbs. defensive end will never forget the way he felt as he walked into that locker room and prepared to compete in his first professional football game that Sunday morning. "It was a great feeling to see my jersey for the fist time with my name on the back and the NFL emblem on the front," Tapp says of the moment. "It's a dream come true."
In an age of professional athletes that are either too politically correct or too outrageous and arrogant, Tapp, 22, would be any organization's ideal player. He is polite without being boring. He is excitable without being obnoxious. He establishes a personable connection while remaining professional at all times. He even credits this "explosive personality" as a strength that he brings to every team that he has ever played for. "I'm out there having fun," he says, "I'm making plays and working hard in everything I do."
Tapp has been working hard ever since his high school days at Deep Creek where he dominated the Hampton Roads high school football scene as a Hornet. He posted some ridiculous numbers his senior year that included 89 tackles, five fumble recoveries, and he even set a school record for sacks in one season (15). These gaudy stats helped him earn 1st Team All-Southeastern District, All-Tidewater and All-Eastern Region honors that year.
Oh, and by the way, he was also selected to the 1st Team All-Group AAA and was a 2nd Team pick by The Associated Press and was named an All-American as well.
It was the culmination of these accolades that led Tapp to a scholarship offer from Virginia Tech to play Division I football for the Hokies. Fortunately he did not struggle with the move from playing on Friday nights to playing on Saturday afternoons after graduating from high school. "At Deep Creek we did the same things that we did at Virginia Tech as far as weight lifting to our defensive schemes," Tapp says, "It wasn't that big of a transition."
And other than differences in terminology, he hasn't seen that much of a change in the way the game is played at the NFL level in his first few months as a pro. The biggest challenge for Tapp has been the distance from home. He's never been more than just a few hours away from his family and friends in Chesapeake. Now, there's an entire country between them. He did make the trip home during the Seahawks bye week in October and visited his alma mater's football practice, even giving some one on one instruction to some of the Hornets' players. "It's been kind of hard," he says about the distance, "I'm the only one in my family that's on the west coast. Seattle's where I'm at right now [but] Chesapeake will always be home."
The sacrifice has been more than worth it already for Tapp. "It's been a fun experience," he says, "I'm learning how to become a professional, paying my dues, and earning the right to be an NFL player."
Although Tapp has mainly seen time on the field as a special teams player thus far, he did have six solo tackles and even a couple of sacks from his defensive end position through the first two months of the season.
"Football's my way of life right now, that's my job," Tapp says about living his dream.
And he knows what it takes to get there.
"Always believe in yourself," he adds. "Just continue to work hard in everything that you do and things will come to you."
