Oklahoma picks for Da Bears

[Sweetness_34 0]

According to Bob Stoops, Dusty Dvoracek is better than Tommie Harris.

 

And a great article on Runnels too. This guy could be the next Mack Strong or Lorenzo Neal. Watch out for Bears RBs for the fantasy drafts this year (if only there was a clear cut starter). It will be wierd though for an Oklahoma FB blocking for a Texan RB (Benson)

 

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Article 1:

 

Down the road when we look back on the career of Dusty Dvoracek we will all see a career that is one of the best in Sooner history. Dvoracek played in the Sooner defensive tackle rotation for all four years and earned first team All Big-12 honors twice.

 

OU Head Coach Bob Stoops said that Dvoracek played defensive tackle better than any other player of his coaching era in Norman. And that is saying something when you consider that first team All-American Tommie Harris also played during that era.

 

Dvoracek predicted to this reporter that the Bears would draft him, and he didn’t have to wait long for that to happen as Chicago took Dvoracek in the second round. Since that selection, Dvoracek has been going 100 milers per hour, but he slowed down just enough to talk to OUInsider.com for the Two Minute Drill.

 

JH: You go to the Chicago Bears, who already have Tommie Harris and Mark Bradley on the team and then they draft you and J.D. Runnels. Life doesn’t get any better than that for you does it?

 

DD: “No, it doesn’t James. I am so excited that life has been awesome. Getting a chance to go up to a place like Chicago with the tradition that they have, and then getting a chance to be with my teammates and play with Tommie again is like a dream come true. It could not have worked out better than the way it did.”

 

JH: You had an idea that you would go to the Bears, didn’t you?

 

DD: “Yeah, they had talked to me and told me that if I was around then that they were going to take me. And sure enough they did. They basically run the same defense that we do at Oklahoma and I fit their scheme perfectly. I don’t know, it just all worked out and I think they know how well Tommie and I complement one another and how successful we were.

 

"I just think they wanted to bring that to Chicago. Talking to Coach Lovie Smith, he said that he just loves the way I play football with great passion and attitude. He thinks that is something that the Bears need. He thinks that I have that attitude or that toughness that can put them over the edge to be one of the best teams in the NFL.”

 

JH: That puts you and Tommie back together on the defensive line, so how do you feel it will all work out? Will you play the nose?

 

DD: “I don’t know. I have no idea. They pay those NFL coaches big money and I am just going in there and work my butt off. Wherever I fit in I am sure I will play. I have to go in there and work my tail off and fight like a dog to make an impact there. I want to be a starter next September. I will fly out there Thursday and get going. I can’t wait.”

 

JH: Considering who you are and your personality, one of the perfect teams for you are the Chicago Bears aren’t they? I mean, the Monsters of the Midway and Dusty Dvoracek just seems like a perfect fit?

 

DD: “I agree. It does seem like a good fit. It is funny I was talking to my dad and family last night, and in Chicago they have all those Eastern European people and all the Polock’s and stuff. The name Dvoracek up in Chicago just seems to fit perfectly. It is kind of a storybook ending. Or I guess it is the beginning of a story, but for it to work out so perfect is amazing. It is just awesome.”

 

JH: The first day it is snowing and you are wearing your Bears jersey with short sleeves and your long hair coming out of your helmet is just going to fit in with the Bears, don’t you think? You already have your built-in image?

 

DD: “Yeah, I agree. Plus, playing in that North Division, it is the Black and Blue Division. That is the kind of football that I play and that is what I am all about. It is crazy. Everything just seems to be a perfect fit.”

 

JH: Did you watch the draft at all?

 

DD: “I went and played paintball with my family and I got back home about 6:50 and they were at around their 55th pick. I just sat down and watched the rest. I got a phone call about two picks before from my agent and he said that Jerry Angelo of the Bears had called him and said that they might take me.

 

"He said it was between me and another guy, so I called my dad to tell him that the Bears might take me. And while I was talking to my dad the Bears were calling my dad’s house looking for me. He answers the other phone and he gives them my cell phone number and they call me. Coach Lovie Smith called me and said, ‘Dusty, you are a Chicago Bear.’ It was music to my ears. It was awesome.”

 

JH: How much did it help you that you played your college football at OU?

 

DD: “I think significantly. I think that these teams know what kind of program that we come from and they know what kind of hard workers that we are helps so much. Oklahoma is so well respected and they are going to take a chance on a player from OU. They know how hard we work here and that is going to transcend to the NFL and their team.

 

"I think they know that Oklahoma produces quality players and quality people, and I think NFL organizations want to be involved with people like those produced at OU. I think the same thing goes for Clint (Ingram) and Travis (Wilson), who went right after I did. NFL programs want players from quality programs like Oklahoma.”

 

JH: All that coaching from Coach Shipp and all those techniques that he has been drilling into you will now pay off, won’t they?

 

DD: “Words can’t describe how much I appreciate what he has done for me. Just the man that I have become and the football player that I have become, I owe a lot to him. He is a great guy and everything that I have learned at Oklahoma is due to him. I am 10 times the football player now than when I first got to OU.

 

"I am real fortunate that I had the chance to be around such good people. OU had such good fans that I couldn’t have picked a better college to go to. I could not have been drafted by a better team. It has been a really good weekend, just awesome.”

 

JH: When do you leave for Chicago?

 

DD: “Thursday morning I am flying out. We have mini-camp this weekend.”

 

JH: Dusty, good luck to you. There are many Sooner fans that are going to buy Chicago Bears jersey’s and start pulling for the Bears.

 

DD: “Yeah, I think the Sooner Nation should turn into Chicago Bears fans!”

 

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Article 2:

 

Jason White would sit in the film room, watching replays of the Sooner offense, taking note of his reads and his receivers’ movements. But then his concentration waned.

 

As the tape would rewind, White’s eyes would fixate elsewhere. He would zero in on No. 38. White would go from student to fan.

 

A fan of fullback J.D. Runnels.

 

“I watch for him, to see who he’s cleared out,” White said.

 

White was not in danger of being chastised. Focusing on Runnels is a common crime among Sooners.

 

“All of us do,” said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. “I’ve never seen anybody like him.”

 

Runnels’ blocking has taken on legendary status. In three years as the Sooner fullback, Runnels has become a Stoops favorite. Stoops constantly politicks the media to create a fullback slot on its all-star teams and consistently lists Runnels as the most overlooked great player on the OU roster.

 

“You have no idea — I’m not blowing smoke — how valuable he is,” Stoops said.

 

Steve Owens knows. In 1969, Owens won the Heisman Trophy and made a celebrity out of his fullback, Mike Harper. Owens credited Harper for leading the way to daylight in three record-breaking seasons. Owens took Harper with him to New York for the Heisman ceremony.

 

Harper was an old-fashioned blocking back — a player with a backfield address but a lineman’s mentality. A player in position to carry the ball but commissioned to clear the way for others.

 

That’s Runnels’ description, too. He has conditioned his attitude to accept the role of servant. He has embraced the blue-collar position of fullback. He has become the Sooner slobberknocker.

 

“I have to, in the offense I’m in,” Runnels said. “It’s no disrespect to me. We have so many other guys on the field in the skill positions, there are not enough balls to go around. I’m just happy to be on the field. I try to play every play 110 percent. I practice really hard.”

 

Can Runnels mimic Harper and block Adrian Peterson to a Heisman in 2005? Well, Runnels almost did it last season, when Peterson was the Heisman runner-up.

 

"The sky is the limit for this kid, it really is,” Runnels said.

 

Of course, Peterson will be without his quarterback, White, and much of the fleet of receivers that took pressure off the running game. And three senior offensive linemen that helped clear the way.

 

But Peterson will have his sidekick, Runnels, who in three years as the OU fullback has helped set a smashmouth tone. Tailback Quentin Griffin reaped the benefits in 2002 and Peterson in 2004.

 

No Sooner, offense or defense, is more physical than Runnels.

 

“In high school (at Carl Albert in Midwest City), I was real physical,” Runnels said. “Played tight end. I did similar stuff to what I do now. I try to have a physical presence on the field. I want people to know I’m out there.”

 

The Kansas State Wildcats knew it last October. White tells the story of mammoth KSU defensive end Kevin Huntley asking Runnels to give him a break during the game.

“J.D. loved it,” White said. “What’s amazing, you’d think a guy hitting like that would be dazed. He comes back, he’s wide open.”

 

Runnels pleads guilty.

 

“I’m a hard-nosed SOB,” Runnels said. “I try to be such a nice guy off the field. But I think all great players have a light-switch in their head. My light-switch was on that day at Kansas State.”

 

Maybe that’s why Stoops is so partial to Runnels. Stoops was hard-nosed himself, as an Iowa safety and as a defensive coach. Stoops has taken on some CEO characteristics, but at the core he remains the feisty kid from the sandlots of Youngstown.

 

“Coach Stoops loves hard-nosed players,” Runnels said. “He loves players that will stick their head in a dark hole.

 

“I really appreciate everything he says about me. Makes me feel I’m a key part of the team. I really feel like I’m doing something.”

 

Part of Runnels’ attachment to Stoops stems from his recruitment. Runnels was not considered the bluest of blue-chippers. He was a sub-6-foot tight end at Carl Albert, not a big demand for those in Big 12 football.

 

But Stoops eventually offered a scholarship, a phone call that still inspires Runnels.

 

“It all started that first day I heard his voice,” Runnels said. “I’m doing everything I can to pay him back.”

 

Consider the debt paid in full.

 

Runnels figured out that a guy 5-foot-11 1/2, 230 pounds wasn’t going to impress coaches with suave moves. Somewhere around his sophomore year at Carl Albert, Runnels said he developed an aggressive, physical football personality.

 

“I think J.D. knows that this is what fits (his) talent and physical abilities,” Stoops said.

 

And thus Runnels has crossed the great divide for running backs. He is more than an honorary member of the OU offensive line; he is a full-fledged member.

 

Runnels says Sooner linemen Kelvin Chaisson and Davin Joseph call him “The Pulling Guard.”

 

“I try to get in good with the offensive line,” said Runnels. “Jammal Brown’s blocking was phenomenal. That’s what I want people to say about me.

 

“Everything starts up front. I want those guys to know we’re a unit.”

 

Don’t worry, J.D. They know it. And there’s no better evidence than Runnels’ career carries.

 

One. That’s right. Three years, one carry, in the Rose Bowl three years ago against Washington State Runnels gained two yards and was ecstatic to get them.

 

“I can’t lie, I love to have the ball in my hands,” Runnels said. “But I like to open holes for Adrian or Kejuan (Jones), or pass protect for Jason. I try to find glamour in whatever I do.”

 

The Sooners aren’t adverse to putting the ball in Runnels’ hands. He has 31 catches, four of them for touchdowns, in his career. But a running play to Runnels isn’t even in the playbook, according to White.

 

That puts Runnels on a different plane than even his blocking-back brother. Harper, almost 40 years after the fact, still can recite his carries by year: 11 as a sophomore, 83 as a junior and 53 as a senior, which were fewer than Owens had against Oklahoma State alone (55). That means Harper has a 147-1 edge in career carries on Runnels.

v “I was a good blocker, I guess,” Harper said. “But it was nice every once in awhile to get the ball. (Runnels), he’s a good player. Blocks really well. I try to watch him.”

 

He’s not the only one.

 

Runnels’ teammates and coaches sit amazed as they watch him on tape. What they see is more than just the Sooner slobberknocker. They see a player good on his feet. Runnels’ blocking has an element of artistry.

 

“That’s where guys of his stature don’t get credit for being a great athlete, the way he can adjust and make his move,” Stoops said. “A lot of times, people out there are doing their best to get out of the way; you usually don’t get but a small piece of the (defensive) guy.”

 

Runnels’ stock isn’t likely to dip after college. The National Football League has embraced the blocking back concept for more than a decade. Many an NFL fullback never carries the ball. They just open the holes for the high draft picks and award winners. And love every minute of it.

 

Sounds like right up Runnels’ alley.

 

“I hope so,” Runnels said. “I’d love to play football for a living. I hope the NFL does respect what I do.”

 

Why wouldn’t pro football? Oklahoma and Bob Stoops certainly do.

[MahSoonerz 0]

Congrats on having a coach who knows talent when he sees it.

 

But now maybe you can guess why I let go of my subscription to Sooners Illustrated. Now I don't expect them to push anything critical or salacious (like Dvorcek's rage problems, which for your sake I am hoping he has figured out, early indications are positive considering he hasn't kicked somebody's ass while in a drunken stupor for over two years now), but dear God could you get any more fawning?

 

Q: Wow, you are so great, aren't you?

A: Yes I am. It's pretty cool.

Q: How does it feel to be so great?

A: Well, to be honest I only know I'm great because Coach Stoops tells me I am.

Q: Remember that play you made against Texas? That was great.

A: Yeah, Coach Stoops and all the guys were real happy about that.