Former Amat Star Beats Off Tacklers--and Doubt About Size

When he was a prep football player at Bishop Amat High in La Puente, questions about running back Eric Bieniemy’s size persisted.

Sure, he had manufactured great statistics in high school. But at 5-6, was he big enough to produce the same results in college?

It has taken the 19-year-old Bieniemy less than two seasons at the University of Colorado to answer the skeptics in resounding fashion.

Through eight games this season, the sophomore has rushed for 1,104 yards and 9 touchdowns--the first Colorado player to surpass the 1,000-yard barrier since 1977. He is fourth in the NCAA and second in the Big 8 Conference in rushing yardage and fourth nationally with an average of 138 yards a game.

That should put the questions to rest, once and for all, but Bieniemy says it still provides him with plenty of incentive to succeed.

“I still feel I have some proving to do,” he said in a phone interview. “I think every time I go out there I have to prove to people that I can play on this level. I think I’m starting to prove it, and each week when I go out there that’s my motivation.”

No, he has never been blessed with exceptional size, but the secret of Bieniemy’s success cannot be found with a measuring stick. It has more to do with desire.

“Not only does he have the speed, the moves and all those other things that you need,” said Mark Paredes, who coached Bieniemy at Bishop Amat. “I don’t think there are too many players that have the desire that Eric Bieniemy has. He will never let an injury keep him out of a game.”

It doesn’t hurt that Bieniemy runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and has enormous strength in his 190-pound frame. But Bieniemy said his success is more a credit to his intense desire to win, which started when he was in high school.

“I just hate to lose,” he says. “When I go out on the field, I always give 110% every time. If you don’t go all out you don’t deserve to be playing, and that’s what I learned at Bishop Amat.

“Without the help I got at Bishop Amat I would never be where I am today.”

Although Bieniemy’s success may have caught a few people by surprise, Paredes is not one.

“I always felt that Eric was one of the best running backs in the nation when he was in high school,” Paredes says. “He’s one of the best running backs I’ve seen.”

Judging from the Bishop Amat record book, he is certainly the best runner the Lancers have seen. Bieniemy finished his prep career as the school’s all-time leader with 4,882 yards rushing and 64 touchdowns, earning All-Southern Section and all-state honors in the process.

Despite the success and accolades in high school, Bieniemy says it was not the easiest transition to college football when he arrived at Colorado last year. He said it was partly because he was unfamiliar with the wishbone formation of the Buffaloes.

“That was an adjustment for me because I wasn’t used to lining up in a three-point stance or running out of the wishbone,” he said. “But I just worked hard at it because I wanted to play.”

With that in mind, Bieniemy wasn’t exactly displeased with his first-year rushing totals of 508 yards and 5 touchdowns in 104 carries.

But it wasn’t until Colorado switched to the I-bone formation this season that Bieniemy began the emerge as one of the top rushers in the nation.

“It was a little adjustment for me last year with the wishbone because I played tailback in high school,” he said. “With the I-bone we still use the same plays, it’s just a different formation. But they’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on the tailback and they’ve put a lot of faith in me. When they need someone to carry the ball, they usually give it to me.”

That has made Bieniemy a prime target of opponents, nothing new to him.

“Everybody is after me now,” he said. “It’s just like high school all over again. But I’m used to it. It just makes me work that much harder.”

As difficult as the adjustment has been on the field, Bieniemy admits it was even more difficult getting used to going to school a long way from his home in West Covina.

“In school I had to ease into it a little more,” he said. “It was kind of a culture shock at first. It was kind of a tough adjustment at the beginning but it was no different than moving from New Orleans (where he was born) to California.”

Bieniemy said it was the close, friendly nature of the players and coaches that attracted him to Colorado.

“When I went for my visit I noticed that everybody was real close,” he said. “They were like family and when I was here as a freshman they (the players) treated me like a regular teammate. They didn’t make me feel different.”

He also liked picturesque surroundings of the campus in Boulder, which is nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

“I liked the scenery,” he said. “It’s beautiful out here. It’s not like the big city.”

“The only things I miss (about Southern California) is the beaches.”

Well, you can’t have everything. But Bieniemy said closeness with teammates has helped negative aspects of going to school in Colorado.

“The team’s real close,” he said. “When you have a letdown (in a game), you feel like you’re not just letting yourself down; you’re letting the team down.”

Bieniemy admits he still experiences feelings of loneliness.

“It was really hard at first,” he said. “I was homesick all the time. I was calling home a lot, but I’m pretty much adjusted now. I still get homesick. I can’t wait to get home for Thanksgiving. But I’ve overcome that.”

He is also excited about the future prospects of football with the Buffaloes, who are 6-2 and appear to have a program on the rise.

“The program is in the right direction,” Bieniemy said. “We have so much talent on this team, it’s unbelievable. We just have to put the little things together. I think in the next couple of years people will have to watch out.”

Bieniemy says he is still disappointed about the fact that, despite his success at Bishop Amat, his team never was able to win a CIF Big Five Conference title. He has high hopes that things will be different at Colorado.

“Winning the Big 8 is everybody’s dream here,” he said. “We’re sick and tired of having Nebraska and Oklahoma win each year, and we just want to make a run at the Big 8 title.”

With Bieniemy in the lineup for another two years after this season, the dream may be closer to reality for the Buffaloes.