SAN ANTONIO – Former UTSA and Judson running back Sincere McCormick has won the starting job for the Las Vegas Raiders.

McCormick had been on the practice squad for most of the year until Week 12 when the Raiders’ top two backs Alexander Mattison and Zamir White were out with injury.

In that week 12 game against the Denver Broncos, McCormick had five rushes for 33 yards and showed Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce enough to warrant more carries.

In weeks 13 and 14, McCormick had 27 carries for 142 yards — averaging 5.6 yards per carry. On Wednesday at Pierce’s press conference, he was asked if Sincere would continue to be the lead back even when Mattison was healthy again.

Yep. He deserves it,” Pierce responded. “The last three games he has run his tail off.”

McCormick chalks it up to his relentless work ethic that he has made it this far and won the job.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, the journey doesn’t stop,” McCormick said in an interview with SBG San Antonio’s Matt Roy on Thursday. “Just continue to pave the way and continue to put in that hard work.”

Of course, everyone in San Antonio knew that McCormick has this in him. He is basically Judson and UTSA royalty.

“Going to Judson high school, it was a type of energy,” McCormick said. “It was hard work and grind and you’re going to earn your reps and that’s just kind of what carried all the way to where I am now.

As a senior at Judson in 2018, McCormick was named first-team All-District 26-6A, rushed for 1,489 yards and 22 TDs on 145 carries, and led team to a 13-1 record, a district championship, and the Class 6A Division I quarterfinal.

He chose to stay home and go to UTSA with his good friend and Judson teammate Rashad Wisdom.

“Even through college and just knowing that UTSA was an up-and-coming program, only been around for 10-11 years, me and Rashad Wisdom, we was like, that’s my boy so shout out to him, we decided to come together and we was like ‘we are going to change UTSA.’ And we did just that,” McCormick said.

And boy, did they ever.

McCormick is now the most prolific running back in the history of the school with 20 school records to his name – including being the schools all time leading rusher.

UTSA went 4-8 in McCormick’s freshman season in 2019. But by 2021, the ‘Runners were a force to be reckoned with. He led the team to a 12-2 record and the program’s first Conference USA title, as well as being tabbed as the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.

Despite all of these accomplishments, he did not get drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft. He signed with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent. But just three weeks into his first NFL contract, he tore his ACL and would be on injured reserve for the entire season.

“I didn’t let that stop me,” he said. “I had a great support system. My mom, my grandmother, everyone I talked to kept me in good spirits and I just kept working my butt off knowing that this was not the end of all. So, I just continued to work and continued to progress until the opportunity came… and that’s how I got here where I am today.”

Where he is today is an NFL running back. He even got to see his ‘ol buddy Wisdom, who is on Tampa Bay’s practice squad, last week when they played the Buccaneers.

“I was able to have the opportunity to sit down and eat with him, chill with him a little bit before the game and then after the game do our little jersey swap and where we came from, our journey speaks for itself,” McCormick said.

Getting the starting gig is one thing, keeping it is another. On that front, McCormick says the work and the grind ain’t stopping anytime soon.

“It’s the same hard work and dedication,” he said. “It’s the same grit. Every time I get the ball, I run with a chip on my shoulder and the same attitude I run with like it’s your will against mine and I am always going to punish the other person on the other side of the ball and continue to show my progress each and every day.”