Mowry Prefers Getting Top Billing on the Field

If Tahj Mowry had his wish, he’d rather appear on ESPN than “Entertainment Tonight,” which helps explain his mission in life to play college football instead of settling for being a teenage heartthrob.

Mowry is a 17-year-old senior at Westlake Village Westlake who has pulled off the rarest of accomplishments, going from being a well-known child actor to a standout high school football player, then fulfilling an even more unlikely goal, earning a football scholarship to Savannah State, an NCAA Division I-AA school in Savannah, Ga.

“I don’t think it’s ever been done before,” Mowry said.

Adding to his list of achievements is that Mowry shattered the stereotype that he was too small to play football. At 5 feet 8 and 165 pounds, he rushed for 1,432 yards and scored 19 touchdowns for a 14-0 Westlake team that won the Southern Section Division IV championship.

His speed and ability to take a hit were key factors in convincing college recruiters to give him the chance to play at the next level.

“Here’s a kid that can definitely get it done from a standpoint of holding on to the football and running between the tackles,” Westlake Coach Jim Benkert said. “There’s something about a back who’s very shifty running behind a big offensive line and finding openings among the trees. He’s a kid who plays with a lot of heart.”

From the time he was a 5-1, 115-pound receiver on the freshman-sophomore team at Lake Balboa Birmingham, Mowry has dealt with the skeptics who never believed he’d be big enough or strong enough to handle varsity competition.

“I knew I could do it and it happened,” he said. “I had no doubt at all. It never goes away. My whole career, for as long as it goes, I’ll be hearing it. That will just keep me driving harder.”

As if the size factor wasn’t an obstacle, so was his acting commitment. He was the star of the WB Network sitcom, “Smart Guy” that aired from 1997 to 1999. He has continued to star in Disney movies and is the voice of Wade in the Disney animated series, “Kim Possible.”

During the 2002 season, after a game against Santa Paula, Mowry had to give his jersey to another player as a diversion to escape a group of girls. The team bus was briefly blocked.

But each football season, acting has been put on hold because playing football is what he wants to do.

“It’s like I love it,” he said. “It’s my life. Maybe [acting] later down the road, but football is my thing.”

Mowry qualifies to try stunt work based on his seemingly unbreakable body. Watching him in person or on tape endure the many hits and falls on the football field causes onlookers to cringe. And yet, he’d quickly get back up, as if there were never any pain.

“The main thing why I always got up and it really didn’t hurt at all was because I was going full speed,” he said. “If you’re going harder than they are, you’ll knock them back. I wanted to hurt them more than they thought they could hurt me.”

Not that Mowry doesn’t realize he’s smaller than most. He just doesn’t let that affect him.

“I knew my legs had to be strong and my whole body had to be strong,” he said. “I knew what I was up against. Just walking on the field and seeing the other teams, ‘Dang, they’re big.’ I had to put in my mind, ‘Run your hardest.’ I had no fear. I didn’t see their height. I saw the end zone.”

For Mowry to be signing a letter of intent Wednesday with Savannah State is a tribute to the respect he earned from other schools. He was discovered when a Savannah State recruiter heard about him from another high school coach.

Mowry went on a recruiting trip last month to Savannah and committed.

“They’re looking for me to start my freshman year,” Mowry said.

And Mowry has already been warned that the local media might have some interest in his television background.

“The coach told me to be ready for getting a lot of publicity,” he said.

On his recruiting visit, several Savannah players figured out he was the same person from the “Smart Guy” TV show.

“Is that really you?” one said. “Wow, I didn’t know you played football.”

This fall, if Mowry gets mentioned in Sports Illustrated instead of People magazine, he’ll be in sports heaven.

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Tahj Mowry on the Screen

*--* Title Year(s) Role “Disney’s Kim Possible” TV series 2002-03 Wade (voice) “The Proof Point” 2001 Eddie “Hounded” 2001 Jay Martin “Seventeen Again” 2000 Willie “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” 1999 Ollie “Smart Guy” TV series 1997 T.J. Henderson “Disney Sing-Along Songs” TV series 1994 Kid Clown “Sonic the Hedgehog” TV series 1993 Young Sonic (voice) “Full House” TV series 1991-95 Teddy

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.