WILD AND CRAZY : Cornhusker Linebacker Broderick Thomas Is Talking Less but Playing Even More Aggressively

Don’t call Broderick Thomas crazy. Just call him linebacker, which in his mind carries the same meaning.

“You have to be a different person to be a linebacker,” said the Nebraska senior, who will line up Saturday evening against UCLA at the Rose Bowl. “You have to have about 12 different moods. Some days, you don’t want to be touched. Some days, you don’t want people breathing around you.

“You ask any linebacker. They all have those feelings. Sometimes, you just wish you didn’t have to talk to anybody.

“That’s how linebackers are. They’re just different.”

What further sets Thomas apart is his ability as a linebacker.

The 6-foot 3-inch, 244-pound Thomas is said to have the speed of a man 25 pounds lighter.

National Football League scouts call him the best outside linebacker in college football.

Thomas calls himself the Sandman, because when he hits somebody, it’s lights out.

Ask him what he enjoys about football and he waxes rhapsodic.

“The hard hits,” he said. “The sweat running down your face. The desperation time when it really gets hot out there. It’s like I’m playing for my life, like I’m hanging on the edge of a cliff and just scraping and trying not to fall.

“It’s hot and you’re giving everything you’ve got. You’re not using athletic ability. You’re going on just your heart and will.”

Thomas has seemingly thrown himself over the edge in the past by running his mouth.

Before the Cornhuskers played LSU in the 1987 Sugar Bowl, Thomas told reporters: “I don’t know who their quarterback is, but I pray to God that he lasts two quarters. He will get punished. LSU expects to get hit. I won’t disappoint them. I will bring the wood. If I don’t get blocked, bring out the stretcher because somebody’s going to need it.”

LSU quarterback Tom Hodson made it through the game uninjured, but Nebraska won, 30-15.

Afterward, Thomas said: “The 1987 Raisin’ Hell Tour has begun.”

Thomas and the Cornhuskers raised hell through their first nine games last season, until they found themselves up against Oklahoma.

Undaunted by Oklahoma’s unbeaten status, Thomas said that Sooner quarterback Charles Thompson, who was filling in for the injured Jamelle Holieway, “hasn’t seen a defense nowhere near as fast as ours. It might scare him.”

He also said he would have Keith Jackson, Oklahoma’s All-Ameri- can tight end, “talking to his kneecaps.”

Oklahoma won, 17-7.

This season, Thomas isn’t talking as much, or as outlandishly.

“He’s learned to internalize his feelings,” said Nebraska assistant Tony Samuel, who coaches the outside linebackers. “He releases out on the field what he’s been keeping inside.”

That can only mean bad news to Cornhusker opponents.

“It’s made him a little more aggressive and a little more tenacious out there,” Samuel said.

Thomas was already aggressive enough and tenacious enough last season to be named All-America and, for the second consecutive time, All-Big Eight. He led the Cornhuskers with 41 unassisted tackles and had 6 1/2 sacks.

Over the summer, he was more fully dedicated to a weightlifting program. Daily workouts with Alonzo Highsmith of the Houston Oilers opened his eyes.

“In the NFL, fullbacks are almost my size,” he said. “I look at these guys and say, ‘If I don’t get serious, it’s not going to last long.’ I want to make sure this (season) isn’t the end of the road.”

Thomas scored highest in a strength test conducted by the Nebraska coaching staff last month.

“Broderick has new, explosive upper-body power available to him,” said Boyd Epley, the Cornhuskers’ strength and conditioning coach.

Said Thomas: “I’m just trying to perfect my game. I’m rated as one of the top linebackers, but I didn’t think I was achieving anything. I was just sitting back, playing basic football.

“Now I’m putting the screws down. It boils down to just getting serious about my work.”

Isn’t that a little scary?

“I don’t care,” Samuel said. “I’m his coach. I’m tickled pink. You kidding me?”

Thomas’ uncle is linebacker Mike Singletary of the Chicago Bears, but Thomas patterns his style of play after Wilber Marshall of the Washington Redskins and Carl Banks of the New York Giants.

“If there are any linebackers I like to watch, other than myself, it’s those two guys,” he said.

“But I just basically like watching linebackers. As long as I know a linebacker is going to put the screws to people, I’ll watch him all day, until it’s my turn.”

Thomas this week is eager to see UCLA linebacker Carnell Lake.

“I want to make sure he knows I’m on the field and he’s going to make sure I know he’s on the field,” Thomas said. “Instead of going to sit on the bench, I’m going to watch him. He’s a great linebacker.”

Still, as much as Thomas enjoys football and comparing himself with the best in the game, his first love is drag racing.

His father, William, raced pro stocks in Texas. Thomas plans to race funny cars after his football career has ended.

“It excites me,” he said. “I see the cars tense up and then all that beauty flies down the strip. At the end, the clock lights up and everybody just says, ‘Wow!’ ”

Thomas wants to generate the same reaction on the football field, so it’s probably best to stay out of his way on the day of a game.

“It’s pretty rough,” he said. “I don’t say much. I listen to my Public Enemy tape and tense up every now and then. I might holler at somebody.”

The Public Enemy song, “Don’t Believe the Hype,” is probably not among his favorites.