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Tribune Archive: Brian Urlacher

People within the University of New Mexico football program talk about Brian Urlacher as if he were a science-lab experiment gone terribly . . . right.

Each time Urlacher makes a play on the Lobo practice field, you half-expect his thrilled coaches to yelp, in their best mad-scientist voices, "It . . . is . . . alive!"

Urlacher isn't exactly Frankenstein, but he might very well be a new breed of linebacker at UNM.

If nothing else, Urlacher is a human orange barrel, creating traffic jams, detours and havoc wherever he goes. He also happens to be stronger than cheap cologne.

But here's the scary part. Urlacher, whose buzzed blond hair and thick neck make him look even more imposing, is getting bigger. Maybe much bigger.

"Really," he says, looking down at his size-13 feet, "I don't know how big I'm going to get."

For the record, the Lovington native is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, but that's up seven inches and 60 pounds from just four years ago. While still in high school, Urlacher broke his wrist, and a doctor back home told him his bones' growth plates indicated he might be 6-7 before it's all over.

"Brian might eat himself into being a defensive end," UNM head coach Dennis Franchione says with a smile.

For now, Urlacher is bivouacked at inside linebacker, listed as a second-stringer behind seniors Blake Irwin and Bart Barnard, but UNM linebackers coach Mark Parks says Urlacher's improvement could create a three-man rotation that would give the Lobos more pop -- and rest.

That's for the short term. In the long run, Urlacher has the "ability to be as good or better than anyone who's been here before," Parks says.

Take one look at Urlacher, and it's obvious why Parks has such high expectations. Although Urlacher came to UNM as a receiver-busting safety, his instinct for contact and that buffed frame made him a natch for linebacker.

He still has things to learn -- "Someone's always on my butt," Urlacher says wearily -- but his coaches yell at him knowing that he can be prodded to bigger and better things.

"When we recruited him, we liked his intellect for the game," Franchione said. "You could tell he had that quality. And he just confirmed those things."

Urlacher's freshman season was spent doing special teams work. Franchione occasionally wishes he'd been able to redshirt the kid, but says quickly, "Brian was too good a football player not to have out there."

Four years ago, it was Urlacher's love of the game -- not his physique -- that made him a player. As a sophomore he was a garden-variety 5-9 and 160 pounds, playing receiver and safety for the Wildcats.

But something funny happened during the next two years. Urlacher kept getting bigger and better. By the time he was a senior, he was an all-stater on both sides of the ball and led Lovington to the '95 state Class AAA championship.

"I came here," he says, "and they told me I could go to any position meeting I wanted."

Now that Urlacher and his coaches have decided linebacker works best, he has gone about living up to his potential. That sometimes isn't easy. As a safety, his first instinct was to take a step backward; linebackers usually charge ahead. The transition has sometimes been confusing.

Still, he runs a 4.6 40-yard dash, and thinks he can go faster. He loves to practice. He knows he can get better.

"I don't want to get all cocky about it," Urlacher says of his coaches' high hopes. "But it does stay in my head."

Which means Urlacher is going to stay in opponents' faces. Maybe his teammates', too.

"Hey, Chris," yells Parks to Chris Shelton, the Lobos' starting fullback and certified tough hombre. "What about Urlacher?"

"He's a monster," Shelton replies without breaking a stride.

Monster. Urlacher. Remember the combination.