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People have been telling Anthony Madison all his life about what he can't do.

They told him he couldn't play in the SEC. They told him he'd be lucky if he even qualified academically to get in school. They told him he was too small for the NFL. And Madison's response has always been one that would make Barack Obama proud — "Yes, I can."

The former Thomasville High and University of Alabama star feeds on doubt, revels in it, uses it as fuel. Now it has driven him all the way to football's ultimate stage.

"I love it," the Pittsburgh cornerback said this week from Tampa, where the Steelers are preparing for Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday night against Arizona. "Tell me I can't do it. That's what I want you to do."

At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, the guy who was once thought too small to play major college football has made himself into one of the NFL's top special teams players. On Sunday, when the Steelers kick off their seventh Super Bowl appearance, Madison will be sprinting downfield to make the tackle.

"I think any kid growing up playing football, your ultimate goal is to make it to the big show," Madison said. "Growing up in Thomasville, I really didn't think it was going to happen, but I guess God had a plan for me. I just took every opportunity I had and ran with it."

Taking advantage of opportunities is something Madison has done all his life. Those who know him best say the fact that he has been ready to make the most of them is a testament to his work ethic.

"He's probably the hardest-working kid I've ever been around," said Sweet Water football coach Stacy Luker, who coached Madison at Thomasville. "When Alabama first came to see him, (former Crimson Tide coach Dennis) Franchione got there and sent the secondary coach, Chris Thurmond, and Anthony didn't know they were coming. It was 10 in the morning and they caught him running bleachers. That was their first sight of him."

Madison was driven at an early age, according to his brother-in-law, Wheeler Jackson.

"He always had a great work ethic," said Jackson, who with his wife Velma raised Madison from age 9. "When he was in junior high, he loved to work out. Everything he did, he went at full speed. He wasn't the most talented kid coming up, but he had the most heart."

That determination is part of his personality, but it was also molded by tragedy. Madison, the youngest of 12 children, saw two of his siblings pass away at young ages — including his twin sister, Angie, at 11. Her loss left a lasting mark on Madison, who found it among his earliest sources of motivation.

"When you lose your sister, you don't know what to think," he said. "I just basically took that grief, channeled it and worked hard, and good things ended up working out for me."

Madison did a little bit of everything for Luker at Thomasville, playing quarterback, running back, wingback, cornerback, receiver and kick re turner, racking up more than 4,000 yards of total offense and 14 interceptions on defense. During one game his senior year, he returned three kicks for touchdowns and had more than 400 all-purpose yards. Luker said he knew as early as Madison's sophomore year that he could be something special

"He always took his role and played it," Luker said. "I can see why he's excelled at special teams (in the NFL). He takes a lot of pride in what he's doing."

Madison had to work at more than just football to get to Alabama, however. He had a lot of ground to make up in the classroom in order to qualify academically but he made it in as a partial qualifier, practicing but not playing with the Crimson Tide as a freshman.

Knowing the only way he'd get that year of eligibility back was to graduate with his class in four years, he did even better — he earned his degree in marketing in 3cm HALF years.

On the field, he was written off by many recruiting analysts as too small and too stiff to play cornerback in the SEC. He left Alabama as a three-year starter, leading the Crimson Tide in interceptions as a junior with four.

The same work ethic Jackson saw in Madison as a child and Luker saw in him as a high school player was evident to Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines in 2005, Madison's senior year in Tuscaloosa.

"He eats that weight room alive," Kines said then. "He takes care of business every day. There's absolutely no foolishness for him."

Despite renewed questions about his size, Madison joined the Steelers as a free agent in 2006 and worked his way up from the practice squad onto the active roster, playing in 13 games. He was cut, however, by Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin toward the end of the team's 2007 training camp, and then again by Tampa Bay without ever appearing in a game for the Buccaneers.

But he never lost confidence, and Tomlin called him back in October, asking him to come back to Pittsburgh.

"It was part of the business," Madison said. "I always knew I could play. It was a matter of getting an opportunity to do so. There are some guys who can do what I'm doing. I'm just one of the blessed ones to have the opportunity and I took advantage of it."

This opportunity has led Madison to Tampa this week for the biggest game in football and one of the biggest events in the world.

"There's media everywhere," Madison said. "They ask you the darnedest questions, from, 'What's your favorite color?' to one guy actually asked me if I wanted to win the game."

Such questions may be irritating, he said, but they beat the alternative — not being at the Super Bowl. "At the end of the day," he said, "if I want any kind of problem, I want it to be that."

Madison is one of three former Alabama defensive backs on the Steelers' roster this week, joining Deshea Townsend and Fernando Bryant. Other Steelers with Alabama ties are offensive guard Kendall Simmons, an Auburn alum who is injured and will not play Sunday, and Mobile native John Mitchell, the Steelers' defensive line coach.

Three Cardinals have ties to the state: Fullback Tim Castille played at Alabama, while linebacker Karlos Dansby and cornerback Roderick Hood are Auburn alums. Steelers offensive guard Jeremy Parquet played at Southern Miss.

The fact that Madison is there is a source of pride for Thomasville, which plans to honor him with an Anthony Madison Day on Feb. 19.

Madison says he hasn't done it alone. He credits his faith in God and the support and encouragement of his family and friends back in Thomasville for helping him through. His family and friends, however, say Madison's success can be traced mainly to his own dogged determination.

"I guess we just sort of knew once he got to college, if he ever got a chance he'd probably make it," Luker said. "A guy like Anthony Madison, all he needs is a chance to put his foot in the door and you'll never get him out."

As for the naysayers, they can keep those doubts coming. It's just that much more fuel.

"You know how people are: a lot of them said he wasn't going to make it at Alabama," said Jackson, who left for Tampa with several other family members on Thursday. "Then they said he was going to be too small (for the NFL). Look at him now. When he comes home and sees them now, he says, 'I'm still there.'

"That's what really motivates him — when people say he can't."