The Flagship of the Rams’ Defense Comes With Sackful of Surprises

Ram linebacker Kevin Greene, the National Football League’s sack leader with 10, has planted the fear of rib damage into the mind of every quarterback he’s bumped into this year.

Still, it can’t compare to the jelly-legged feeling the fraternity jocks must have had back at Auburn, where mean Kevin Greene starred for 3 years in the university’s intramural flag-football program.

Imagine for a moment: You’re Joe Schmoe, accounting major and card-carrying Sigma Alpha Epsilon. You’ve got two strong legs and a Psych 101 class at 1 p.m. But first you get to block Greene during lunch, only to discover that you’re lunch .

“Only animals play this game anyway,” Greene says of football. “A linebacker is ugly, slobbery, drooling. Hey, I’m him.”

To suggest that Greene literally rose from flag football to the NFL is only slight exaggeration.

Greene was an undistinguished, 185-pound outside linebacker at Granite City High School in Illinois.

“I was honorable mention all-conference,” Greene said.

Not a college in America had Greene on its mind after his senior season. Greene went to Auburn only because it was the school his brother, Keith, was attending.

In fact, Keith and Kevin Greene played for 2 years on the same ROTC intramural team. A year later, Kevin joined his dorm squad.

After years of terrorizing underweight undergraduates, Greene was advised, strongly, by friends and enemies to march into the football offices of the Auburn Tigers and demand a tryout.

Greene, who through weightlifting had bulked to 220 pounds, gave it some thought. Much thought.

“It took me a year of thinking about walking on,” Greene said. “Just to get mentally prepared and motivated.”

Greene finally found the courage and charged in to see Coach Pat Dye. But he settled for a subordinate.

“I talked to the assistant to the assistant to the assistant athletic director,” Greene said, in all seriousness. “He said ‘Well, you pass the eyeball test. You look like a football player.’ ”

Auburn had just the walk-on program for intramural players such as Greene. It began in the dead of winter at 6 a.m.

“That’s where they weed people out,” Greene said. “Most people quit.”

Greene didn’t. Instead, he joined about 90 other hopefuls for spring practice. At first, scholarship players jeered Greene, lovingly referring to him as “the musclehead from the downtown gym.”

Greene knew there was small margin for error for walk-ons. He remembers lining up against Auburn tight end Ed West, now with the Green Bay Packers.

In the true spirit of spring practice, teammates encouraged West to knock the upstart Greene back to the land of Lincoln.

“But I jacked him a couple times,” Greene said, his eyes widening. “Suddenly, the oooooohs started dying down.”

Greene didn’t play much that year, but returned the next fall as a fifth-year senior. He quickly proceeded to the back of the playing line.

Ahead of Greene at linebacker were, among others, Gerald Robinson, a future first-round draft pick with the Minnesota Vikings, and Aundray Bruce, the first player selected in this year’s NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

“I was the very last guy,” Greene said. “I was behind all incoming scholarship freshmen. Oh, yeah, it was tragic. This is a Cinderella story out of nowhere. But I couldn’t quit.”

At the time, Greene thought running downfield on kickoffs for the Auburn Tigers was thrill enough. Gradually, Greene opened more eyes.

With 5 games left in his senior season, 1984, Greene got to start at outside linebacker. After that, they couldn’t get him out of the lineup. He finished the season with 11 sacks.

The Washington Redskins came down to work Greene out. Greene ran a 4.53 40-yard dash. Greene said the scouts literally jumped for joy.

“They were singing this little song, ‘We found him! We found him! We found him!” Greene remembered.

The Redskins may have found him. But the Rams drafted and signed him. The late Charlie Hall, a former Ram scout, had also seen Greene and reported his findings to Coach John Robinson.

Just before the 1985 draft, Robinson tried to telephone Greene. He found him--surprise--in an Auburn weight room.

Robinson told Greene he would be the team’s first pick in the fifth round.

Greene remembers the conversation.

“I said, ‘Yes sir, yes sir,’ and, ‘I won’t let you down, sir.’ ”

Robinson said he knew Greene wouldn’t.

And he hasn’t. After just 6 years of contact football after high school, Greene has become one of the best outside pass rushers in football. He has more quarterback sacks this season than Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White or Mark Gastineau.

Only yesterday, it seems, Greene was chasing flags. Sunday, he’ll be zeroing in on Joe Montana.

“It’s gone by so quickly,” Greene said of the time. “But I don’t want to get cocky. I need to keep producing. I can’t be satisfied with 10 sacks in 6 games. I want 10 more, 20 for the year. And I’m looking you in the eye and telling you I’m going to get them. I can fall into 1 sack a game.”

Now, the irony. In last week’s 33-0 victory over Atlanta, Greene turned in a 3-sack, 1-interception performance.

It amounted to 3 sacks and 1 interception more than the only famous former Auburn linebacker in the game--Aundray Bruce.

Ram Notes

Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Anaheim Stadium officially became a sellout before Thursday’s 1 p.m. deadline, meaning the local television blackout will be lifted.

Expect a decision soon on the future of wide receiver Ron Brown. Brown, who retired last spring to pursue a track career, may return to the Rams for a tryout. Since the team didn’t trade him before last Tuesday’s deadline, Brown’s only options are to sit out the season or return to the team for $220,000, a 10% increase of last year’s salary. Brown’s agent, Steve Arnold, said he would speak today with Ram management. Coach John Robinson said Brown’s return would be treated no differently than any other tryout. “If he comes, great,” Robinson said. “If not, we’ve gotten along OK without him.”

Linebacker Mel Owens is still questionable with an ankle injury. Robinson said there’s “real doubt” whether he’ll play Sunday against the 49ers. If Owens can’t go, he will be replaced by Larry Kelm. . . . Tailback Greg Bell (shoulder) returned to practice Thursday and is probable for Sunday’s game. . . . San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana is listed as questionable with a rib injury, but he is expected to start against the Rams.