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1 year ago
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Mississippi State's interim head coach Greg Knox rode out of the team's locker room on a four-wheeler in front of his own players before facing Mississippi in a huge Egg Bowl game on Thanksgiving.
The 60-year-old first took up the habit prior to the Bulldogs' 41-20 win vs. Southern Mississippi earlier this month, as players were seen jamming to locker room music in two separate lines, paving the way for Knox to get onto the field on the vehicle.
'A lot of people don't understand it,' he told his squad. 'But you guys know the true story of the adversity and what the 4-wheeler meant.'
Before the game against the Eagles, Knox showed a video from motivational speaker and former Tennessee player Inky Johnson titled, 'Go Heavy', to his players.
In the clip, Johnson, whose playing days were cut short after an injury permanently paralyzed his right arm in 2006, shared a time when he and his son rode and fell off a four-wheeler.
Instead of being rattled by the experience, Johnson motivated his son to get back on the four-wheel and keep driving it.
Knox carried through that message, and it became obvious to the staff that players were buying into it.
That's when Knock was advised to ride a four-wheeler into the team's locker room by defensive coordinator Matt Brock.
Mississippi State interim head coach Greg Knox before the Egg Bowl game against Ole Miss
With the help of those in higher positions than him, mainly from associate athletics director Brad Peterson, staff was awarded with a four-wheeler and hid it in the locker room before the game against Southern Mississippi.
Knox unveiled the vehicle in the middle of his pep-talk before he and his players took the field against the Eagles.
'We cranked it up,' Knox said, according to the Clarion Ledger.
'I come around that corner, and the excitement in that locker room, they were ecstatic. It was a great feeling. It was what they needed. It was what they wanted... the excitement, the build-up. They enjoyed it, and they had fun with it.'
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