San Diego Holiday Bowl 2 days to go : Lineman Plays It Loose for Tight Arkansas Defense

Off the football field, Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield and redshirt sophomore nose guard Tony Cherico differ on a lot of things. Cherico says Hatfield is a straight arrow, and Hatfield flat out says Cherico is a “loose wire.”

However, Hatfield and Cherico agree on one thing:

They’re happy that Cherico did not attend the Air Force Academy. While coaching there, Hatfield recruited Cherico, but Cherico opted to go to Arkansas. Now, the two are reunited on a Razorback team that will play Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl on Sunday.

“I’m not sure he was ready for the military,” Hatfield said. “Actually, there are no ifs, buts or maybes. He wasn’t ready for the military.”

Cherico’s fraternity brothers at Arkansas would get a good laugh at the thought of their colleague saluting anyone.

“I was looking hard at the Air Force Academy because I thought a small guy like myself might get to play right away,” Cherico said. “And my best friend in high school, Brian Knoor, was their quarterback at the time. But I didn’t want to go to a military academy. Basically, I hate being told what to do and when to do it.”

Cherico lives by his credo. He may be fifth on the team in tackles, but he is first in pranks.

How about the time earlier this season when Cherico persuaded his teammates to go to an nonexistent team meeting?

“Our defensive linemen are gullible,” Cherico said.

Can’t you just picture a group of linemen seething when no coaches showed up at the meeting?

“I enjoy football,” Cherico said, “but it can get to be real old. I try to keep the team loose and maintain a positive attitude. When football is not fun anymore, I’ll quit. I love having a good time. You have to get crazy every once in a while.”

Mostly, Cherico dishes it out the jokes. But he even gets a kick out of being on the receiving end. After the nonexistent meeting, his teammates had Cherico arrive at a real team meeting 15 minutes early so they could tie him to a goalpost. Tied up for the meeting, Cherico had to run bleachers for being late.

“They got me that time,” Cherico said.

In a considerably more serious vein, Hatfield really got to Cherico when he suspended him for a week because beer cans were found in his room, which he shares with running back J.R. Brown. Hatfield is a strict disciplinarian, and rules are rules. Cherico and Brown missed the team’s game against Texas Christian, which Arkansas won, 41-0.

Simply put, Cherico said a bunch of friends came to his room on a Sunday afternoon to watch football. They brought a six-pack of beer and left the cans in his waste basket.

“Being suspended was pure hell,” said Cherico, who also has a serious and emotional side.

“TCU beat us my freshman year and they shouldn’t have. I was looking forward to playing them and beating them. I had a long talk with Coach Hatfield at the time. He did what was right. Now I can look back and laugh at it, but at the time I couldn’t.”

Cherico and Hatfield have an interesting relationship. Chercio was born in Fresno and is comfortable with a California lifestyle. Hatfield is at home at a military school.

“It’s weird,” Cherico said. “We are almost totally opposite in all directions. He’s a great guy, but sort of straight, and I’ve always been a drummer to a different beat.”

Hatfield has a great deal of admiration for Cherico’s guts and talent, and Cherico credits Hatfield with turning around his career.

Under Coach Lou Holtz, Cherico had redshirted after an unhappy freshman season at Arkansas.

“Coach Holtz and I didn’t like each other,” Cherico said. “It was a down year. People took football as a job and everyone was dreading the season.”

Holtz tried to mold Cherico, a lineman in high school, into an offensive guard by having him gain weight. Cherico, who relies primarily on his quickness, quickly gained 18 pounds.

“I got pretty big and it wasn’t good,” Cherico said. “Then Coach Hatfield came in, he put me back on defense, and I went down from 248 to 230. My speed came right back.”

So did his enthusiasm.

“Coach Hatfield pumped a lot of excitement into the team,” Cherico said.

Cherico quickly became an integral part of Arkansas’ defense, which allowed only 11.7 points per game overall. In 1984, his freshman season under Hatfield, he was the Southwest Conference defensive newcomer of the year. This season he was named to the All-Southwest Conference team. The Razorback defense has allowed only 11.7 points a game and hasn’t given up a rushing touchdown in eight games in their run-oriented conference.

“He’s the man in the middle who makes things happen,” Hatfield said. “He’s aggressive and quick, and there are not many his size in college football. Maybe his size is an advantage because opposing players don’t have people that size to practice against.”

Cherico is 6-feet, 235 pounds, but he is dwarfed by linemen at a school like Texas, where the offensive line averages 285 pounds.

“When I see 6-3, 305-pound, Gene, Gene, the Coke Machine of Texas line up against me,” Cherico said, “I say, ‘Tony, you’re in trouble.’ ”

Cherico usually says a lot more. Known for his chattering on the field, Cherico sometimes shows a lack of tact in dealing with bigger linemen.

“I’m an emotional-type player,” Cherico said, “but fortunately, I have a great group of seniors who try to keep me out of trouble.”

But staying under control on the field and in Fayetteville, Ark., hasn’t made Cherico forget his vision of California fun.

“The first thing I looked for when I got off the plane was blondes,” Cherico said Wednesday night when the team arrived in San Diego. “Blondes and the beach.”