Making His Second Run at Greatness : Rams: Six years after knee injury nearly halted Marcus Dupree’s career, running back hopes to complete a storybook comeback.

The last time he got to the top, it was so fast and easy that Marcus Dupree didn’t have time to understand it, much less enjoy it, before his knee blew apart and the ride was over.

His body was strong and quick and made to run the football. Everyone could see that. And the ground shook when he took it into his hands and blasted up field. He didn’t exactly know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it worked.

Whatever it was, the easy life was over in 1985, when his body couldn’t run anymore, when his left knee was torn apart in a USFL game and Dupree was told he would never play again.

This time, six years after the injury and one full, sweat-stained year after deciding to mount a storybook comeback, Marcus Dupree understands every moment of it. And, through the daily regimen of weightlifting, running and drills, yes, enjoying it.

This isn’t fast and easy. The second trip to the top is the tortuous one.

After his triumphant entrance into the NFL last year with the Rams from his injury-induced oblivion, this off-season has been Dupree’s time to get himself back. Last season was to prove he could get into the NFL.

This is the season to make an assault on greatness again. That’s why, when he might have been basking in his accomplishment back home in Mississippi, Dupree, who had never been known as a workout warrior, has been at Rams Park, working out every day, all day, gearing up for that moment he knows is right around the corner.

“I just want to be great,” Dupree said Thursday, after the Rams’ mini-camp workout. “I want to be the ultimate. Everybody has a profession; I want to be a great running back. That’s what I want. That’s what this is all about.”

Just Thursday, in this two-week mini-camp, Dupree said he began to feel the work coming to fruition. He lined up as he always lines up, straight and still, bounced left to take the handoff, snapped a cut inside the linebacker, then charged up field the way he used to.

“I hit the hole and cut and went up the field quick and . . . it was back, “ Dupree said. “After a play like that, (the coaches will) come up and tell me that’s a great run. That’s you. “

Ram Coach John Robinson, who doesn’t hide his affinity for Dupree on the practice field, now says Dupree and Cleveland Gary, last year’s starter, will compete fairly evenly for the starting tailback spot.

Before, Robinson had always cautioned patience with Dupree, warning that no one should expect him to march into the lineup after a five-year layoff. He always said Gary was the team’s tailback for now and into the future.

Robinson isn’t saying that anymore. Not after watching Dupree chug along by himself almost every day of the off-season, not after seeing him zip through the defense like a 235-pound gazelle.

“He’s extremely dedicated to making it all the way back and he’s doing everything a man can do, and he’s having great results,” Robinson said.

How close is Dupree to being the Dupree everybody remembers from his brief but unforgettable Oklahoma career? “Damn close,” Robinson said.

“I see (Dupree and Gary) both playing a lot. How that works out I don’t know, but they’re both going to play. I mean, when we play Atlanta in Jacksonville (to open the preseason), those are the two starting tailbacks. . . . Damn right there’s a competition.”

Dupree says he won’t be disappointed if he remains a backup behind Gary this season--he gained 72 yards in 19 carries in spot play last season--but it’s clear he has bigger plans.

“I know I’m going to get the ball a lot,” Dupree said. “Coach is expecting me to get the ball, and he’s expecting me to go out every day and work hard.

“I want to play, I want to be the starter and everybody’s looking for me to be the starter, people across the country, I guess. They think that’ll be a big deal.”

This time, if Dupree makes it all the way back, you had better believe he will be able to appreciate it. Before the knee injury, running past people was easy, something that came naturally. Now, it is something he dreams about and desperately works toward.

He is working on his cutting, he is working on catching the ball, he is working on reading defenses, understanding what hole to take when the ball is in his hands. He never used to do those things, not when 50-yard touchdowns seemed a birthright.

“You’ve got to do the extra things to be a a great player,” said Dupree, 27. “You just do it. I worked (in the past), but I didn’t work as hard as I’m working now.

“I’m getting older and wiser. Back then, you just took your athletic abilities for granted.

“Living at Rams Park, that’s basically what I’ve been doing for the last year, living here. I should move all my stuff over here. I wouldn’t have to leave home.”

Said Ram conditioning and strength coach Garrett Giemont, who has supervised much of Dupree’s regimen: “I don’t think it’s a surprise because the man wants to play football again at the level he was once at. And when you want to do something, you put your heart and soul into it.

“I think he has passion to play this game and he shows that by what he does. He works and he works and he works.

“He’s an interesting person.”

Dupree began his comeback May 1, 1990, weighing 260 pounds and not having stepped onto a football field in five years. All he had was his memories and the desire to be dominating one more time.

Now, he’s surrounded by players who were still in high school when he was a superstar. Dupree has plans to open a restaurant near Rams Park with his friend and mentor, Walter Payton, as a partner, a place that would serve New Orleans-style food and be a place his teammates could feel comfortable in.

“I feel a whole lot different,” Dupree said. “I feel stronger, I feel quicker, just relaxed now, letting my body do things.

“Last year, I was too anxious. You’ve got to settle down and let things happen and react off of what happens. I was trying to make things happen last year.

“Last year, I was just trying to make sure that I could get back taking the licks again, get my body used to running the ball again. This year, I’m going to be more elusive and just use my instincts and run past people, get farther down the field.

“It’s a big difference. This time last year, it was, ‘Can I really do this?’ Now this time this year, I’m sitting here. . . .”

Now this time, he’s sitting here, pushing himself toward what he once was, fending off movie and book deals--”Now’s not the right time”--and waiting for his moment to come.