OCR Text |
Show Frosh player 'just like a normal person' lIUOl I PIW7 3 - decided to give it a try in my junior miles twice a week a ,oar I like it." liftina threp t;m. . by CRIS COLEMAN Chronicle Staff A lot of people think that football players think they re speciaL.or great, or something like that. Thafs what people thin of us Thafs not true. We're just like a normal person. Anybody can see "hat" said Robert Ladouceur halfback for this year's freshman Tdouceur said that he had am into a couple of people who think that football players come college for no other reason than to play footbalL.that they're here just for a joy ride. He explains, They re all here for the same reason as any other people-to get an miles twice a week a lifting three time. , Al! th Ashmen I required to attend as: every night for two h0u.( there "there's nothing1 but study, which is lp ,Therefis dfeSL Playing football, howev ft finds that he doesn't ha!'"'' for himself. "fs fo and studying andthe : bed. Even then, he do? : to mind it-because season is over he hasw' other things in life. Robert hasn't decided on. yet, but as far as foote'; cerned, he doesn't wanttant' football. He would fat0 an all-conference back in ris year. ''Everybody wants something like that." ' decided to give it a try in my junior ear. I like it." Came for mountains Robert came to Utah, partly because Utah runs pretty much the same style offense as his team djdthe wishbone-T triple option. The other reasons were the mountains, snow, scenery and people. "When I came here for a recruiting trip, all the people were really friendly. I miss home, but wanted to come here to meet new people and make new fnends." Ladouceur doesn't always play football, however. He spends much of his "spare" time studying to bring his grades up. "My grades aren't hurting, but I just try to bnng them up from where they are. And I try to keep in shape by lifting weights and running a little bit." By a little bit, he means about two Robert Ladouceur... top frosh runner. . . . ,j anv nnnd. education." , Robert may look like anybody else on campus when he's in his street clothes...in fact, he may even act like everybody else; but put him in a uniform, and he's all football player. Surprised at performance The speedy halfback, who has run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds (fastest, along with wide receiver Mike Spencer), ran for 133 yards in only eleven carries last Friday against Snow College. This averages out to almost 12.1 yards a carry. And he only played in a little over half the game. Included among the three touchdowns he scored was a 61-yard run down the sidelines. In all due modesty, Robert said that he was surprised at his performance. "After the game, it hit me, I go 'Wowl' I was really surprised. I didn't expect to do that." Nervous all week Commenting on his attitude before a game, Robert says, "I really don't try to think about the game until about a day before the game because you're nervous all correct blocKS, mistakes, blocking the ends right. I picture myself doing the right job. Then I think I'll do it in the "when he does get the ball in a game, he says that his first thought fsto get to the sideline where can turn his speed on. He does well. His longest run was a 79- yarder during his high school career. From California Ladouceur graduated from San Ramone High School in Danville Calif in 1972, where he also played halfback. In 1971 his team went undefeated for the regular season but lost in a play-off game. Robert said he didn't play football dunng his freshman or sophomore years in high school because he was kind of small and. really wasn't that interested. in-terested. "But I started lifting weights in the summer, and I started getting a little bigger. So I 1 |