Small Size, Big Moves : Slight Stature Doesn’t Keep Footman From Gaining Ground

The way Esperanza senior Dahrin Footman sees it, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders opened the holes. Now all he has to do is run through them.

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Before Smith and Sanders exploded into the NFL, undersized running backs didn’t have much to look up to. But now Footman, who stands 5 feet 8 and weighs 185 pounds, has someone to follow every Sunday.

“Sometimes I’ll watch Barry Sanders on television and then go out and try some of his moves in my back yard,” Footman said. “Those guys have had success and they’ve been my role models. But even though I admire those guys and look up to them, I don’t copy them. I still do my own thing.”

Footman, a three-year starter at tailback, did his thing against Indio last week to the tune of 105 yards in 16 carries. He also returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

The yards might come a little tougher tonight when the Aztecs play host to No. 2-ranked Mater Dei at 7 p.m. But Esperanza offensive assistant Rick Haulenbeck expects Footman will be ready.

“Whatever happens against Mater Dei, Dahrin will be able to handle it,” Haulenbeck said. “He’s not the type of kid that will all of a sudden lose his confidence after one bad game. He’s worked too hard to get where he is.”

Haulenbeck said no one works harder than Footman.

“I’ve never seen a kid in 18 years here run as hard as Dahrin in practice,” Haulenbeck said. “He might be the best-conditioned athlete on the team. He’s always in the weight room working out on his own.”

Along with the hard work, there is some natural talent there too. Footman runs a 4.4 40-yard dash and he set a school record last by running 10.9 in the 100 meters. He also holds the football team record in his weight class for squatting with a lift of 500 pounds.

Footman’s speed, strength and balance have started to attract attention. UCLA, California, Nebraska and Colorado have shown interest in recruiting Footman as a running back.

Dick Lascola of the Scouting Evaluation Assn. went to Valencia High Sept. 8 to scout Footman for several colleges.

“He has some assets people will look at,” Lascola said. “He has some talent.”

But Lascola isn’t convinced Footman has enough for the Division I level.

“Do you sell the farm on him being a success in Division I?” Lascola said. “Probably not. I don’t think he’s got the physical frame to take the (Division I) type of pounding you get when you carry 20-25 times a game.”

But Bill Pendleton, Esperanza’s defensive coordinator the last 10 years, disagrees and says Footman’s compact frame will work to his advantage.

“The type of backs that have flourished lately have been the smaller, stronger backs,” Pendleton said. “In fact they’ve almost become the prototype back, especially in the (one-back) type of offense. They run so low to the ground that you really have to stay down to tackle them. You’re off-balance trying to tackle them and they’re not.”

But if Footman plans to do more than attract scouts, he must improve on his performance of last season. His rushing total fell off from 1,134 to 751 yards and his average gain per carry dropped from 7.2 to 4.9. Maybe not coincidentally, Esperanza’s victory total also fell off from 12 in 1992 to seven in 1993.

“I had no blocking,” he said. “It was really frustrating.”

Pendleton said Footman’s frustrating year was beyond his control.

“The holes weren’t there for him,” Pendleton said. “People were stacking the line of scrimmage and the blocking wasn’t good enough to overcome it. Dahrin would have to break two or three tackles just to gain eight or nine yards. But this year, the line is the best we’ve had in a long time.”

And Pendleton says the offensive scheme will play more to Footman’s strengths too.

“We ran a Wing-T last year and that offense eventually ran its course,” Pendleton said. “This year we have three wide receivers and we’re much more spread out. It’s great for a running back because there’s so much open space to work with.

“This is the kind of offense that gets the one running back plenty of carries, so Dahrin should get plenty of chances to show what he can do.”

MATER DEI VS. ESPERANZA

Featured Game

When: 7 tonight.

Where: Valencia High.

Records: Mater Dei (1-0); Esperanza (1-0).

Rankings: Mater Dei No. 2; Esperanza No. 3.

Noteworthy: The Monarchs’ high-powered offense will be tough to stop, but Esperanza did it last year, winning, 33-7.