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TOCCOA, Ga. — To find the Tauren Poole who can run between the tackles, absorb defenses where 22 eyes are glaring at him, and carry community pressure, look to Nina Poole, his mother.

She’s tougher than a week-old steak, and will do everything in her power to prevent her only son from turning down the wrong road.

Nina, who learned she was pregnant with Tauren the same week she was to play in a high school basketball all-star game, admits that she is as “mean as a rattlesnake” but she explains that it’s out of love for her three children.

“Everyone knows that I’m this way,” Nina said. “I feel like I’m playing the role of mother and father because I’m raising a man to be in society on his own. My son will not be another statistic.”

Nina is hard on Stephens County’s 2,000-yard running back because she saw the road her son’s father traveled. Todd Rucker, Nina said, spent 11 1/2 years in federal prison.

Rucker re-entered Tauren’s life seven years ago on the day of his release from prison.

“I wasn’t surprised because he had wrote letters,” Nina said of Rucker. “I always told (Tauren) who his daddy was. ‘I had you in October, your dad went to prison in September.’ He was looking forward to meeting his only son, and I was looking forward to protecting my only son, no matter the cost.”

Everyone close to Tauren Poole said it’s his life off the field that is more impressive than the 5,519 rushing yards and 79 rushing touchdowns he’s produced the last three seasons for the three-time defending Region 8-AAA champions. Poole said his mother often reminded him about setting goals and being a provider for his own family someday.

“I didn’t want to end up having that same life, I took the whole approach that I wanted to have something in my life,” said Poole, who will start classes this week at Tennessee after committing to the Vols as part of the 2008 signing class. “Everything she went through, I didn’t want to be the same young man that a lot of these other young men are. I just wanted to make her happy one day.”

Poole said he talks with his father fairly often, and Rucker, who now owns a clothing store and works in Florida, has attended a few Indians games.

Along with staying on the straight and narrow, Tauren two years ago took an active role around the house. Since Nina works third shift at U.S. Engine Valve, Poole takes a leadership role with his 12-year-old sister, Tametha, when it comes to meals and homework in the evenings.

“There were plenty of times I came home,” Nina said, “I was so tired, he would look at me and say, ‘You didn’t sleep today,’ and I would say, ‘I tried, but I couldn’t.’”

Added Tauren, “Just being mature about my little sister, because she’ll one day be going off to college, and I just wanted to show her the things to do, and take things the mature way. Mom works all the time, she needs someone to help her out, and I wanted to be there to help her any time.”

So Poole tried his hand at cooking, although it’s still a work in progress.

He would sometimes turned the oven to 500 degrees thinking that it would cook the food faster, Nina said.

“She works so hard,” Tauren said. “And she comes home tired sometimes, and I take that role. Sometimes she didn’t have to say anything, I could see it in her eyes. I just wanted to show her that I wanted to do something with my life.”

Stephens County coach Travis Noland said he’s noticed that maturity spill over to football, which has provided a leadership example for the Indians’ underclassmen.

“For him to do what he does in today’s society for his sister, in my opinion, shows how unselfish a person he is,” Noland said. “He’s missed out on a lot of things personally that maybe could have been more fun, or more in Tauren’s favor for Tauren, that he’s given up for her benefit.”

Teammates like junior fullback Dustin Royston have been the beneficiaries of Poole’s unselfishness.

In a game this season at Franklin County, the Indians trailed 3-0 in the third quarter. Poole got the ball 11 straight plays on an 86-yard drive. But just outside the goal line, the coaches called a play for Royston to score the touchdown.

“Tauren said, ‘Hey man, it’s you,” Royston said. “Just hold on to the football, and I’ve got your back.”

Royston has blocked for Poole as a tight end last season, and a fullback this year. Royston said Poole’s vision helps those blocking for Poole because he doesn’t need a lot of room.

“It doesn’t have to be a great block,” Royston said. “It’s just pin your guy for half a second, really, that’s all it takes.”

Not many may remember the Cartersville playoff game two years ago in all the chapters of Poole’s career. But Noland does, and considers it an important turning point in what every Indians fan now remembers as an illustrious career.

The Indians won 21-15 that night in the second round of the playoffs. But a second-half fumble by Poole revealed body language that led Noland to believe No. 5 didn’t know how to rebound from it.

“I could tell by the look in the eye, he wasn’t sure,” Noland said.

And because of that, Noland put DeShawn Scott in to finish the game in the backfield, because the coach wasn’t sure Poole wouldn’t fumble again.

Last year, in a 35-14 win over Carver-Atlanta, Poole fumbled in the playoffs again. This time, though, Noland noticed something different.

“It was a whole different look in his eye,” said Noland, who noticed that it carried over into this season. “He realized that this was his senior year and this was his team, and he was going to assume more of the (leadership) role. For him to realize that now he’s got to take a vocal role with that hard work, I think it really started that play.”

While Poole figured out how to be a leader after following in the leadership steps of Scott and Keaton Thompson, he also mulled college choices. His first move in recruiting was one Nina jumped on him for, and quickly tried to restart the process as much as possible.

Poole verbally committed to Tennessee about a year and a half ago, long before he could assess all of his college options with his mother.

“He called and told me what he did,” Nina said. “I fussed him out simply because he was too young, and he should keep his options open, but he said, ‘Mama they treated me good,’ and I said, ‘But that’s what they’re supposed to do.’”

Soon after that conversation, Poole’s commitment became known as a “soft verbal,” which in recruiting lingo means he intends to look at other schools even if he’s committed to the Vols. After they looked at the half dozen or so ACC and SEC schools that offered scholarships, Poole again settled on UT, and by enrolling next month, can participate in spring practice.

Yet when UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe agreed to be the head coach at Duke earlier this month, some of Nina’s original questions returned. And she said it concerned her that Cutcliffe’s replacement would have to learn everything about her son all over again.

“What impact is this going to leave on Tauren playing as a true freshman?” Nina said. “I’m going to want to talk to him, meet him.”

Poole explained that one reason he pulled back on his commitment was because UT recruited seven players who were listed as a running back in high school. That crowded depth chart led Poole to wonder about playing time. Many of those players have since moved to other positions, which the coaching staff told him could happen. After those moves came to fruition, Poole said he was more comfortable with the staff.

“Recruiting is about decision-making and those guys, they’ll tell you anything, and it all comes down in the end, you’ve got to make one strong decision,” Poole said. “And that’s what I feel like I did. I looked around a little bit, but, wherever your heart’s at, that’s where you’re going to go, and I think my heart’s been at Tennessee ever since I committed.”

Added Noland, “As time unfolded and he saw that those guys truly had been moved to different positions. It also made him trust them more, that they weren’t just telling him that. Trust is a big thing in Tauren’s mind. He wanted to see if they really were who they said they were.”

The move to Knoxville could be difficult for Nina, Tauren and Tametha, the mother and son readily admit. But Nina said she and Tametha plan to move to Atlanta soon to be closer to family. And Nina said she could move to Tennessee one day if she feels that Tauren needs her direction.

Meanwhile, Tauren is focused on his getting a college degree and playing for the Vols.

“It’s so hard for her to let me go,” Poole said of his mother. “Because I’ve been with her my whole life, it’s just been me and her. I haven’t been away from her for too long. But I told her, one day it would come, I told her I’m going for a better cause and I’m going to do great things, and she believes in me.”