BACKING IT UP

All it takes is the slightest opening, like bouncing off tackle and running to daylight. The moment reporters pause, the instant they hesitate to ask another question, Dorsey Levens is on the move.

“I just jump out of my seat,” he said.

Displaying the quickness that made him a Pro Bowl selection in his first season as starting halfback for the Green Bay Packers. Employing the agility that could make him a decisive factor against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII on Sunday at San Diego.

“On one play I could spin, on the next I could stiff-arm you and try to beat you around the corner,” Levens said. “The next play I might just try to run you over.”

Gone. Out of the interview room, dodging his way through Super Bowl hoopla. The reluctant Packer is doing his best to remain in the shadows, happy to play the flip side to Bronco star Terrell Davis.

“He can have all the attention he wants,” Levens said. “Some guys love it. They live for it. But that’s just not me.”

Not that Levens is taciturn or moody. He is, in fact, an articulate young man. But fame seems to have sneaked up on him.

His first three years with Green Bay were spent incognito, shifting between fullback and third-down specialist. Even after he became the featured runner, after Edgar Bennett ruptured an Achilles’ tendon in the exhibition opener, Levens cloaked himself in workmanlike performances.

Ninety-one yards at Philadelphia, 79 against Minnesota, 100 at New England.

Numbers like those don’t attract much attention when you play in the same division as Barry Sanders. Or when you play on the same team as Brett Favre and Reggie White.

But things started going sour, anonymity-wise, with a 190-yard, three-touchdown outburst against Dallas in November. Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren began relying more heavily on his halfback and, by regular season’s end, Levens had climbed to No. 4 on the NFL rushing chart with 1,435 yards.

Follow that with consecutive 100-yard games against Tampa Bay and San Francisco in the playoffs and it becomes impossible to hide his emergence as a key to the Green Bay offense, both as a weapon and a decoy.

Just listen to Favre: “When you can hand the ball off on third and five and get a first down, the next time you get in that situation, the defense can’t pin its ears back and come after you.

“We used to [call the play-action pass] when we couldn’t run the ball and everyone just laughed. Now, we can fake and people actually react to the run and it opens up the downfield throws.”

The running game could prove crucial against Denver, which features the NFL’s fifth-best defense and a pass rush that accounted for 44 sacks this season. To truly unleash Neil Smith and his line mates, the Broncos must force Favre to throw by stopping Levens.

Green Bay will probably look to mix the run and pass early, when Favre can be erratic. Later in the game, they will let their 230-pound halfback hammer away with his bread-and-butter play, “92 Lead,” straight up the gut between the center and guard.

That particular favorite has answered a lot of questions about Levens’ durability as an every-down back. It also could go a long way toward determining his financial status when he becomes a free agent in the off-season.

Levens wants to stay in Green Bay--and General Manager Ron Wolf has said he wants to keep his new star--but questions remain.

Would Levens be willing to split time, once Bennett returns?

“That would be tough after you have a taste of success,” he said.

Can the Packers afford him?

Levens did not need his business management degree to realize that the $17.6 billion in television contracts the league signed last week will raise the salary cap. His current $785,000 deal figures to be turned into a multiyear, multimillion-dollar package, either in Green Bay or elsewhere.

“A new era of contracts is about to begin,” he said. “This is definitely a perfect example of perfect timing.”

The enormousness of it all--the changes in his life from just a few months ago--can be overwhelming at times.

Remember, this guy had to transfer from Notre Dame to Georgia Tech just to get a shot at playing. When Green Bay picked him in the fifth round in 1994, ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. called Levens the most overrated player remaining in the draft.

“Remember, this guy has been playing second fiddle and waiting his turn,” said San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci, a Green Bay assistant when Levens came to the league. “Some guys just need a chance.”

Now that Levens has proved himself, he must live with the consequences. Reporters want to know about his personal life and his teammates, they want to compare him to Terrell Davis in terms of running style.

“I have no style,” Levens said. “I just go with the flow.”

Even the fans are beginning to get on his nerves. Even in loyal Green Bay.

“I think the fans are a little spoiled,” he said. “A couple years ago, when I first got here, a win was a win. This year we were 9-3 but we had a lot of close games and they weren’t satisfied.”

So how would he fare if free agency took him to a true snake pit, like New York?

“I’ve heard horror stories about New York.”

What about the Super Bowl crush, the jumble of cameras, the gantlet of microphones and note pads he must run through to get to the game?

“I love playing football and it comes with the territory,” he said. “You just have to take a deep breath, suck it up.”

And be ready to jump from your seat the first chance you get.