CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, October 28, 2005 7:00 pm
He might be a changed man, but the violence still rages in Oklahoma fifth-year senior defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek. Just ask Nebraska coach Bill Callahan.
“He’s just your classic nose tackle that wants to mix it up. Loves fighting. Every double-team, every reach block, you just see him working hard to make a tackle, a play,” Callahan said. “He’s got relentless effort. It’s going to be a chore for all of our three (inside) guys to block him.”
Sometimes that happens with a guy who gets an unexpected second lease on life and his college football career.
Thirteen months ago, on Sept. 12, 2004, the 6-foot-3, 298-pound Dvoracek, an All-Big 12 performer in 2003, put a childhood friend in intensive care with his alcohol-fueled fists. No charges were filed, but after allegations of previous violent behavior came to light, coach Bob Stoops dismissed him from the team.
Dvoracek figured his days as a Sooner were through, but after completing anger-management and alcoholism counseling programs, he was granted another year by the NCAA based on alcohol addiction.
Stoops followed suit and allowed him back, then later endorsed him being voted a team captain.
No wonder Dvoracek has played like an uncontrollable force for a team he expected to be better than 4-3 entering its game at Nebraska. His 11 tackles for loss places him first nationally among defensive tackles.
“The way he’s embraced me to come back and how he wants some of this stuff for me, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Dvoracek said of his coach to The Oklahoman. “The way I let him down last year, and for him to have me back and believe in me, I just thank him for his trust in me. It’s just awesome.”
Dvoracek, an honor student scheduled to graduate in December and a top prospect for the NFL draft, doesn’t discuss details about his previous off-field problems. He’s given up alcohol with the belief that decision will help keep him from repeating past behavior.
“Everyone has made some mistakes,” Dvoracek said. “It’s what you do with those mistakes, how you turn them around. You have a choice. You can either fall and lay on the ground, or you can get back up and stare it right in the face and overcome it.
That’s also how he looks at the Sooners’ plight.
Ranked No. 7 in the preseason, Oklahoma dropped its opener to Texas Christian, lost at UCLA in the third week and then had a five-game winning streak against rival Texas came to a crashing halt in a 45-12 defeat.
Last week in Norman, to get above .500 for the first time this season, OU had to fend off Baylor, which has won just one Big 12 Conference road game in 10 seasons, in double-overtime.
“We’re going through hard times,” Dvoracek said. “But it’s not gonna be about what happened in the first five or six games. This team is gonna be remembered by how we finished the season, if we stared adversity in the face and tackled it, if we win these games and keep getting better.
“That’s kind of like my situation. That’s why it’s easy for me to lead this team.”
Dvoracek was with the Sooners the last time they played at Nebraska, in 2001 when the Huskers executed a throwback pass to quarterback Eric Crouch to fuel a 20-10 victory.
“It was a battle the whole game. They got that pass at the end. … It
hurt to lose,” he said.
Walking off the field, Dvoracek was amazed at the graciousness of NU fans, whom he labels as the best he’s seen beyond the Sooners’ stadium.
Of course, he’d like to challenge the well-wishers’ sincerity a little more during his final shot at Nebraska in Memorial Stadium today.
“A lot of people say this is a bigger game than the OU-Texas game, historically,” Dvoracek said. “It’s two of the greatest programs ever. They are going to be a really good team and come to play hard, and it’s the same with us. More than anything, it’s going to be really good football and it’s going to be fun.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.