Low Profile Is Just Right for This Player : For Offense to Block 5-Foot 5-Inch Eric Parker, First It Must Find Him

The Pacific 10 Conference will have a sizable representation on the San Diego Section all-star football team when it plays the Los Angeles City Section at 7:30 Saturday night at Mesa College:

Lincoln Kennedy, Morse defensive end, 6-feet 9-inches, 320 pounds, bound for the University of Washington.

Tyler Batson, Torrey Pines linebacker, 6-6, 235, Stanford.

Bill Clem, Mira Mesa defensive lineman, 6-4, 230, Washington State.

Israel Stanley, Point Loma linebacker, 6-4, 235, Arizona State.

But forget for a moment the big players. The most noticeable defender for San Diego Saturday night will be the one in the middle.

He’ll get down on all fours on every play, then charge into the center of the Los Angeles team, hoping to squirt around, under or through into the backfield.

He’s the guy whom San Diego defensive line coach Frank Norman of Morse High hopes will be double-teamed shortly after kickoff.

But mainly, Mt. Miguel’s Eric Parker will be the most noticeable defender on the field because of his size.

He’s 5-feet 5-inches .

“I think the ( Los Angeles) players are going to think I’m not any good because of my size,” said Parker, 18, who weighs 185 pounds. “(Opponents) see me, and they think I’m nothing. The first play, I prove to them that I’m a worthy opponent.”

He proved it as a two-year varsity starter for Mount Miguel. He was the Grossmont League’s player of the year as a junior and last season helped lead the county’s stingiest defense, which allowed an average of just 4.9 points over 10 regular-season games.

“My advantage is that most linemen I come up against are slower than me, and it’s easier for me to use my quickness to get around them,” Parker said. “My main job (Saturday night) is to control the center and make sure the center doesn’t control me. And to get double-teamed. They feel if I’m getting double-teamed, that frees up the linebackers. If I’m getting double-teamed, I’m doing my job . . . but my job is also to make tackles.”

“Stay down, Eric,” Norman tells him during one-on-one drills with much larger offensive linemen. “That’s what I mean, stay down.”

Norman says that for Parker to do his job, he must stay within himself.

“He’s a small individual in a large man’s world, and he feels he has to play up to their particular level as far as their height is concerned,” Norman said.

“And I’m saying, ‘Hey, no, you’ve got it all wrong. They’ve got to play you. You’re a defensive ballplayer, and they’ve got to come down to your level. And stay down on your level. That’s where your strength is. And just do what you’re supposed to do instead of trying to get up in their face and use your upper body strength, because you’re not going to win if you use your upper body strength against these taller guys.’ And he adjusted to it very well.”

As he has to a lack of college football scholarship offers. He understands that unlike a number of his teammates, he does not have NCAA Division I size.

“He’s got the biggest heart I’ve ever seen,” Clem said. “If he was 6 feet, he could go anywhere in the country.”

Parker said he plans to play at Grossmont College, and later, if he still wants to play football, he would like to attend Chico State, a Division II school.

“Chico’s a small school, and it would be great for my size,” Parker said. “I think it will be good for me to go to Grossmont for a year to evaluate if I want to play football anymore. I want to play, and kinda I don’t. I guess I’m getting bored with it. I love the contact, but I can do without the running and the conditioning and all that.”

It seems that a small player like that could be scared by larger players’ Division I credentials.

“I’m not intimidated by them,” Parker said. “Most of the guys who are going to those schools I’ve played with, and I know that I can play with them.”

For this game, Norman wants to make sure the nose guard on his five-man defensive front understands his role.

“Don’t get frustrated,” the coach told him. “We want you to get in there and make tackles. And if you make tackles, then they’re going to have to double-team you, and . . . that’s what we want them to do.”

Added Norman: “That’s what he’s got to understand, that he is still doing his job.

“He doesn’t have to worry about anything else. He is here because he is a good ballplayer.”