Urlacher grows into bruiser role

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

After leading Lovington High School to a perfect 14-0 record and New Mexico Class 3-A title in 1995, Brian Urlacher didn't exactly have the phone ringing off the hook with college scholarship offers.

"Texas Tech wanted me to walk on," Urlacher said. "And New Mexico was the only school to really offer me a scholarship."

Four years later, there must be a lot of schools kicking themselves for not recruiting the hard-hitting 6-4, 240-pounder a tad harder.

Urlacher, who led the nation in 1998 with a school-record 178 tackles, is a nominee for both the Jim Thorpe and Bronco Nagurski awards, which recognize the nation's best defensive back and defensive player, respectively.

Urlacher already has 95 tackles in New Mexico's first six games of 1999 heading into Saturday night's game with UNLV. And in spot duty on offense, he is a perfect four-for-four at wide receiver: four catches for four touchdowns.

Little wonder that Lobos head coach Rocky Long says that Urlacher will be playing on Sundays next year.

"In our opinion, he's a first-round draft pick," Long said. "Whether he is in (the NFL's) opinion. ... I'm getting conflicting reports from them. But he's going to get taken on the first day (first three rounds), that's for sure."

Urlacher has excelled in the same rover-type position as Shaun Williams, a first-round pick of the New York Giants, did for Long at UCLA and Reggie Tongue, a second-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, did for him at Oregon State.

"He is as good or better than they are," Long said. "He's bigger and he probably hits harder than they do and he runs faster than they do. He probably doesn't cover as well as those other two, but he does everything else favorably. He could have started as a sophomore at all those other places I coached at."

UNLV coach John Robinson is well aware of the problems Urlacher poses for his squad on Saturday night.

"He can hit you, boy," Robinson said. "If he measures you up, he can tag you pretty good. He's a great big guy."

Urlacher, who set a school record with a 380-pound power clean, has been timed at 4.5 in the 40. Because of his size, he will likely wind up playing outside linebacker in the NFL.

"He could probably play (in the secondary), but I think he'll be a really good linebacker in our league," Don Delach, director of scouting for the Seattle Seahawks, recently told the Albuquerque Tribune. "I like him a lot. Whoever gets him will get a quality player and they'll get a lot out of him."

Urlacher says he's trying to concentrate on finishing his senior year on a strong note and not get too carried away with what NFL scouts are saying about him.

"I try not to (think about the NFL), but there are scouts here just about every day," he said. "I still have five more games to play here. I'm just trying to focus on those right now."

* REBEL NOTES: Robinson seemed a little more optimistic about the chances of starting tailback Jeremi Rudolph (strained groin) playing on Saturday night. "I have a little more hope now for Jeremi," Robinson said after a Tuesday night practice that Rudolph watched in shorts. "I think he's feeling better. But I'm still not very positive he'll play." The key will be whether Rudolph practices on Thursday. "If he does, he'll play," Robinson said.