Rookie Force

Only occasionally does Jonathan Vilma act like a know-it-all.

But he plays like one all the time.

Vilma, the brainy kid who had to beg his dad to let him play football, has blossomed into one of the best young players in the NFL. He plays middle linebacker for the New York Jets, who face the Pittsburgh Steelers today in a divisional playoff game, and earlier this month was chosen Associated Press defensive rookie of the year.

To see him making all the calls and directing his teammates this way and that, it’s hard to imagine Vilma is less than a year removed from the University of Miami. He was the 12th player selected in last spring’s draft -- one spot after Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the offensive rookie of the year -- and was promoted to the starting lineup when Sam Cowart sustained a sprained knee in Week 2. Cowart has healed, but Vilma isn’t going anywhere.

“We made a commitment in the off-season to get younger and faster on defense,” Jet Coach Herman Edwards said. “Jonathan was obviously a big part of that. He’s a guy that is mature beyond his years, both on and off the field.”

Fritz Vilma can attest to that. He and his wife, Nally Banatte, were Haitian immigrants who came to the United States as teenagers, and they raised Jonathan and his sister in an academics-first environment. Fritz is an accountant; Nally is a social worker.

“The emphasis has always been education,” Fritz Vilma said in a telephone interview from his Miami home. “Sports was always a hobby. I always told him, ‘You do well in school, you can always play sports. If there are any problems, the first thing to go is the sports.’ Luckily, there were never any problems.”

Well, that isn’t exactly true. There was the not-so-small issue of Jonathan’s dropping soccer, his childhood passion, to play football. That required a bit of pleading with his dad, who was concerned the sport was too rough, especially for a kid who didn’t have a big growth spurt until late in high school. He wanted to play as a freshman.

“When he first asked me, I dismissed the idea altogether,” said Fritz. “He waited two weeks and asked, ‘Daddy, can we have a dialogue?’ He said he still wanted to play football, and I asked him why. We had been watching it on TV since he was 7. ... When he talked to me about it, that’s when I really sensed it was something he wanted to do. My role was to encourage him.”

And, oh, Jonathan was encouraged. He woke his father at 7 the next morning and asked him to go buy weights. Dawdling wasn’t this kid’s style.

“That’s when I realized I’m in trouble,” Fritz said. “There was no way out of this one.”

It didn’t take long for the father to second-guess his decision. In Jonathan’s first junior varsity game, the middle finger on his left hand was bent so far back it nearly touched his wrist. Snap went a couple of ligaments. Jonathan could almost hear his parents keel over in the stands.

“They hated it,” he said. “They were like, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Ever since, they know [injuries are] part of the game. I’m not going to say they’re used to it. But they know it’s part of the game.”

Then again, Vilma is among the lucky ones. He was relatively injury-free throughout his career at Miami, where the Hurricanes went 46-4 during his four seasons, three of which he started. Typically, Vilma stayed on top of his schoolwork, earning a degree in finance and academic All-American honors. He has always been incredibly disciplined and goal-oriented, his father said, as well as a little stubborn.

“There was a time in sixth or seventh grade when I was helping him with his math homework,” Fritz said. “At one point he said, ‘Dad, why don’t you wait for me to ask a question before you start giving me the answers?’ ”

Not only did he go on to become a math whiz, Jonathan studied German from the third grade on and now speaks it fluently, the better to communicate with his cousins who live in Germany.

A middle linebacker must be a master communicator, a traffic cop charged with making sure the defense is aligned correctly before the snap and everyone knows his assignment. It’s rare that a rookie can shoulder that responsibility. Rarer are rookies who elicit comparisons to All-Pros. But lots of people say Vilma plays like a young Ray Lewis, a fellow Hurricane alumnus and his football mentor.

“During the off-season I spent a little time with him and talked with him,” Vilma said. “Last summer I went up to Baltimore and really just, I’m not going to say I picked his brain, but I just wanted to know everything there is to know. When it comes from one of the greatest linebackers that’s played, you really take it to heart and really respect it.”

Vilma will happily listen to those answers. Whether he asked for them or not.

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Middle of Change

With Vilma at middle linebacker, the Jets have been tough against the run. A look at how their 2004 regular-season averages per game rank in franchise history:

Total yards: 304.9 (fewest since 2000)

Rushing yards: 97.9 (fewest since 1993)

Rushing (YPC): 3.6 (fewest since 1993)

3rd-down pct.: 38 (lowest since 1998)

Sacks: 37 (most since 2000)

The Jets’ rushing defense improved significantly in the second half of this season, including the playoffs:

*--* First 8 Last 9 Rushing yards/game: 108.5 88.7 Rushing yards/carry: 4.06 3.18 Rushing touchdowns: 5 3 10-plus-yard rushes: 25 15

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Source: STATS Inc.