DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:Sea Kings’ Folks uses anger to his benefit

Throughout the week, the rage builds, yet remains bottled up for Tom Folks. There’s not much room in that 5-foot-7, 155-pound frame, so the aggression is consuming him in the days leading up to a game.

He loves this game of football simply because he can’t get enough of the hitting. During practice he can’t be himself. But on game days, he can be seen delivering crushing blows on defense or lowering his shoulder into someone’s chest as a ballcarrier. That’s all Folks.

“I like going out there and making kids cry,” said Folks, a senior tailback/outside linebacker for Corona del Mar High. “Football is the only sport where you could do that. It’s the only sport where you can unload all your anger. You have a lot of anger and a lot of rage to get out, especially on defense. It’s perfect.”

Keep Folks away from the basketball court. He doesn’t have the flair for a crossover dribble and a finger-roll layup. Baseball? No way. He doesn’t have the patience to wait out a fly ball.

“I hate those sports,” Folks said. “Basketball and baseball, that’s way too confined for me.”

Because of his physical style of play Folks usually has a difficult time playing on offense.

“It’s definitely a lot more finesse than defense,” Folks said. “That’s not my style.”

Folks’ style is more rugged than pretty boy. Think Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy,” without the absurdness. Folks loves to hit. He yearns to take out his anger on the football field. It’s a rage that doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere in his life.

He has always been a live wire. When he was 4 he had to wear a mouthguard at night to keep from grinding his teeth so much in his sleep.

“I don’t think twice before I hit, no matter how big the other person is,” Folks said. “I’ve been playing for seven years and I never thought twice about hurting myself.”

The only thing that hurts Folks is actually playing offense, he said. Being the main ballcarrier for the Sea Kings has taken away from his stellar play on defense. But that’s the challenge for Folks now: to balance the two. Unleash the aggression on defense and quiet the anger on offense.

Yet, Folks can’t shut down that feeling. It’s like Zack de la Rocha once said, “anger is a gift,” a lyric in a Rage Against the Machine song, “Freedom.”

“When he steps foot on the field, he has one thing on his mind: to demolish everything that comes his way,” said Mike Conway, the Sea Kings’ outside linebackers and running backs coach. “I’ll never say that he wants to inflict pain on a kid, but he loves to be physical and he loves to hit.”

Conway said he noticed Folks had always played the game with anger and passion, but in their three years of working together Folks has matured and become a leader for CdM.

“It’s been an honor to coach him over the years,” Conway said. “I’m really proud of what he’s accomplished on and off the field. He’s definitely going to be missed when he moves on.”

Conway and Folks have had a close relationship, one that almost resembles that of brothers. They joke together when they watch film, yet become serious when they discuss the game plan.

“I’m on him all the time,” Conway said. “There isn’t five seconds that go by at practice that I’m shouting out his name. I have so many nicknames for him. Touchdown Tommy when he’s good and Timeout Tommy when he’s bad.”

Folks must have been Touchdown Tommy on Friday night, though he went in for only one score. He rushed for 205 yards on 24 carries in CdM’s 44-40 victory over Estancia in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Southern Division playoffs.

Folks said he felt drained at times during the game, playing offense, defense and special teams. But he said he didn’t want Friday to be his last game. He also wanted to maintain his reputation.

“Pound for pound, he’s the toughest football player we’ve ever had,” said CdM Coach Dick Freeman, who’s in his 11th year. “The way he hits and how hard he hits, it’s awesome.”