Detroit Lions' Titus Young balks at being called 'poor man's DeSean Jackson'

Tom Kowalski By Tom Kowalski
on April 29, 2011 at 10:47 PM, updated April 29, 2011 at 10:49 PM

ALLEN PARK - Here are a couple of highlights from the conference calls Detroit Lions draft picks Titus Young and Mikel Leshoure had with the Detroit media today:

--- Titus Young, on being called a "poor man's DeSean Jackson'':

"I've never been poor. I've never been another man's nothing. I've always been Titus Young from day one. My mother named me Titus Demetrius Young, she didn't name me anything else. I know people will compare me to other people but God made me to be me. He made me to be Titus Demetrius Young. My initials are T.D. Young. Touchdown Young.''

--- Young, on his first meeting with Lions receivers coach Shawn Jefferson:

"I remember Shawn Jefferson, the first day of practice at the Senior Bowl, he told me 'Hey, you're dropping the ball because you're not getting your hands around quicker. In the NFL, the ball's going to come quicker.' I listened. I've always loved a coach who watches me and for him to make me better. The next day, I don't think I had a dropped pass. I said that to say this - I knew he saw something in me. I looked in his eyes and said, "This man wants me and I want to play for him because he made me better in two seconds.'''

--- Young, on no longer playing on the blue turf at Boise State:

"The green turf is going to be a little bit of an adjustment for me but the blue uniforms will kind of keep me at home.''

--- Young, on the disappointment of not being the first overall pick in the draft:

"I told my parents the other day that, to be completely honest, I'll be a little upset automatically if I'm not chosen No. 1 overall - just because I'm a competitor. That's just something that's been about me. But that wasn't realistic. But I do everything to be No. 1.''

--- Leshoure, on competing with Lions' running back Jahvid Best:

"It's always going to be a team thing. And it'll be competition; without competition you can't get better. I look forward to meeting him and working with him. I've never been a selfish guy or a guy who isn't willing to learn.''

--- Leshoure, on some of the personal issues he had at Illinois:

"I definitely feel like I've gotten past that. There were some bumps in the road over my career in my freshman and sophomore year and those are things that I learned from. It made me a better person and a better player today. But if you look back and ask any of my coaches what type of person I was, compared to the type of person I was in my freshman year, they'll tell you there's a difference in maturity, just a different man. I learned from my mistakes and those mistakes are in my past.''