How would you feel if people called you Sauce? A highly regarded cornerback prospect Ahmad Gardner from Cincinnati has had that nickname since he was six years old.

Gardner certainly plays like barbecue sauce on the field with the sweet feet he has, but how exactly did he earn that nickname?

Gardner has been a football star from a young age and his coaches knew that. When he was six years old his youth football coach told him he needed to bulk up and put on some pounds. He was always at Wendy’s and always getting all the sauces that were available to help spice up and add flavor to his food. In order to properly gain weight, his coaches suggested that he lay off the sauces.

Now you might be wondering, why would he have to ditch the sauces if he was trying to gain weight? Wouldn’t that just add extra calories resulting in more of a weight gain? Well the key word his young coaches said was properly.

Charlie Souza, a freshman at Franklin High School, expressed how important it was to have muscle mass instead of body fat. Souza said having muscle would make Gardner quicker, faster, and stronger whereas having fat would decrease things like speed and quickness. Gardner still is getting stronger but also maintaining speed and quickness with the lean bulking approach he is taking.

Being a press heavy corner you are required to be strong as that ultimately is what leads to you getting the jam and bumping the receiver off his route.

Sauce had set a goal before the college season that he wanted to get up to 200 pounds for the combine. When he set this goal he was listed at 6’3, 187 pounds. The combine has happened and he has measured in at 6’3, 190 pounds. He did not reach his goal but was it because of the sauces? Did he ditch the sauces?

That question is still yet to be answered but all we know is that scouts project Sauce to be a great corner one day. An impressive 4.4 40 time has gotten scouts’ eyes on him.

A lot of analysts around the league are projecting Sauce to go early in the first round and to be the second corner off the board on Thursday, April 28. NFL.com’s highest regarded analyst, Daniel Jeremiah currently has Sauce going 10th to the Jets in his newest mock draft.