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Growing up in Rochester, Josh Mack always knew he wanted to make it to the NFL. 

Now the leading rusher for the undefeated Liberty Flames, Mack has begun to turn a few heads in the NFL for his strong play at LU and in high school. 

Halfway through his college career, he transferred to Liberty from Maine. Even without starting a game last year — his first eligible season with the Flames — Mack put together 1006 all-purpose yards and tacked on seven touchdowns. Now the starting running back in his redshirt senior year, Mack has piled up 59 rushes for 359 yards and one touchdown in the first four games of the season. 

Keith Molinich, Mack’s coach at Pittsford Mendon High School, said that NFL teams have contacted him and have asked about Mack’s background on and off the field.

One of Mack’s most memorable games, according to Molinich, was a record-breaking performance in which he rushed for 353 yards and five touchdowns against Orchard Park — all with a cast on his hand. 

Mack broke his hand a week prior after it got it stuck in a helmet. But by the next game, he showed up with a cast and was ready to play. His mother, Essie Spann-Cox, didn’t want Mack to play that game. 

“Mom it’s football,” Mack told her. “I got this.”

Mack remembers feeling a bit apprehensive about using his broken hand, but just a few plays in, he hit a hole and saw that he could create a big play if he threw a stiff arm with his bad hand. In a split-second decision, Mack did just that, breaking off a long run where the defense dragged him down with his bad hand. With adrenaline pumping, he ignored any pain he might’ve felt otherwise, got up and clapped in celebration. All the while, Spann-Cox sat in the stands, praying he didn’t injure his hand even more.

At Liberty, Josh Mack has earned the starting job this year, recording 359 rushing yards and one touchdown through four games. Courtesy of Liberty Athletics

As the game wore on, Mack continued to rack up yards. In that game, he never had a problem rushing left while carrying the ball in his right hand, something running backs wouldn’t normally do. 

Usually, an assistant on the sidelines will tell Molinich when players hit certain increments, like a running back hitting 25 or 35 carries. But Molinich didn’t hear anything that game until Mack hit 40 carries, so he pulled Mack to the sideline to check on his condition. 

“Josh just smiled, he laughed and he goes ‘I’m fine,’” Molinich said. “It was unbelievable. He just took over the football game and never was tired. It was ridiculous.” 

Growing up, Mack played six sports — football, basketball, baseball and volleyball, as well as wrestling and running track. That was largely because he tried to outplay his brothers and cousins, his mom said.

Mack played AAU basketball for one of the best teams in New York state and faced future NBA players, such as Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson, at national tournaments. But his mom thinks his best sport is baseball, citing his pitching and fielding abilities. 

He only wrestled briefly, and though he lacked experience, Mack beat the best wrestlers on rival teams. Spann-Cox played volleyball in high school, and now her family meets every Sunday for a game. It’s a tradition that’s lasted for the past nine years, and it’s one that brings out the family’s — and Mack’s — competitiveness. 

Mack brought that mindset over to chess as he competed for his elementary school. The game enhanced his mental strength and patience on the football field, he said.

“We preach dirty runs, so three, four yards, that’s good. That’s like moving your pawn or setting up to capture a piece,” Mack said. “Because maybe the next play you’re gonna pop out and you break for a 40 or 50-yard run.”

In high school, Mack was the lead back. He was named the 2015 Rochester Co-Player of the year and two-time All-Greater Rochester while setting single-game Section V rushing records in the regular season and playoffs. 

“The strengths were just his physical gifts. He was just stronger and quicker, and that burst of speed was just so much greater than everybody else on the field,” Molinich said. “(His) lateral movement was elite, and just the vision to find holes where they weren’t sometimes.” 

While he may be inching closer toward his NFL dream, this weekend, Mack will go up against a Syracuse run defense that just gave up 363 yards on the ground to Duke. However, despite the contrasting fortunes of undefeated Liberty and 1-3 Syracuse, Mack is not allowing himself to get cocky.

“I expect that I’ll go over there (Syracuse) and play 60 minutes of football,” Mack said. “Then I expect to see what the scoreboard says after that.”

Published on October 14, 2020 at 10:57 pm

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