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Show Wednesday, . The Dally Vtak Ckroaide s Jane 4. '997 CHRONICLE 'If would have stayed at quarterback, we would have been undefeated' I Harold Lusk V that God has given me the talent to make plays that are "I feel in unmakeable." Harold Lusk always have a sour spot for the Utah." University Harold Lusk "I will Chuohcu JVcitd Danny La BRANDON WINN Chronicle Sports Writer I I "If was on the outside looking in, probably umildn 't like me either.'-Ut- ah free safeLusk. Harold ty Moments after the University of Utah football team ended its 1996 WAC season with a loss to BYU, Harold Lusk felt about as alone as any man could. He knelt, all by himself. Tears streamed down his face. He looked around, waiting for the kind hand of a teammate to smack him on the back and say, "It's OK, Harold. Get up." That hand never camc-fro- m anybody in red, anyway. BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian walked over and said, "You have nothing to be ashamed about, Harold. You played a hell of a game." Sarkisian was followed by other Cougars. K.O. Kealaluhi. Chad Lewis. Itulu Mili. One by one, they came. All dressed in blue. Nobody in red came. Lusk had just played his final home game at the University of Utah, yet no one seemed to care. Teammates strolled into the locker room, passing by the dejected Lusk. But no one stopped. "I was the only one in tears after that game. Everybody else just stopped caring," said Lusk. "I thought that everyone had the same burning intensity that I had to win, but I guess not." This was the final, but most devastating, blow Lusk would endure all season. It hurt more than tackling Wisconsin's Ron Daync in the Copper Bowl. "It hurt a lot that die only players to console me after the game were BYU mini-cam- p Lusk's That's philosophy. Unfortunately, his teammates didn't share his feelings. His teammates resented and shunned the All WAC safety. There were times Lusk would come to practice and End that his equipment had been vandalized and that money was missing from his locker. Nobody seemed to know who was doing it It happened three times. Lusk told coach Ron McBridc, but as Lusk puts it, "He didn't do a thing. He could have done something about it, but he didn't Not one thing. "It hurt McBridc was like my dad, but he didn't do anything. I still went to practice; I played my butt off because I thought I owed that to him. I owed it to the team. But for Mac to not do anything, that hurt" Maybe Lusk pushed others away because of his admitted arrogance and flashy style. Maybe others were just jealous of Lusk. It all depends on who you're asking. Comments like, "If I would have stayed at quarterback (the position at which he was recruited), we would have been undcfcated..Cod gave me the talent I could run like a running back, catch like a wide receiver and had a cannon of an arm. What would unmakeable. If I don't use that talent God gave me, then why play?" He was a Me player who, instead of celebrating for the team, would thump his chest, take off his helmet and gloat into die camera. He thought he was a lot better than he really was, and his teammates obviously resented that Lusk didn't even get in the defensive huddle. Instead, he stood about 10 yards back, showing off his Nike shoes, socks, gloves and wristbands to the crowd. It was all about image. He was our little Deion. Lusk: "111 admit, I wanted to look good. It goes back to what my mom told me a long time ago. If you feel good about the way you look, you'll feel good about the way you play. You look good, you feel good, you play ; good. That's what it comes down to. "."Players would get mad that Iv would talk to the media. They were " jealous. I always tell things, like they are without holding back anything. That made them mad.:"That's OK with me. The way I see it, if they (the players) don't have enough guts to tell it like it is, then they need to get but of J v.--' the game. ; ; "Everytime I tried to do something positive, it ended up being interpreted as negative. It just wasn't fair. I gave my alT Lusk was counted on as being a leader, a person who others could rally behind when things got tough. Instead, he was ignored and disliked by many of his teammates. This was dear when the team selec- a defensive coordinator have done to stop me?" don't help his popularity. To outsiders, Lusk appears unapproachable. He's cocky, a talker and a showboat Most who have seen him play agree that Lusk was a problem. On May 8, the Chronicle published a column blasting Lusk. At the time, Lusk was participating in the as Indianapolis Colts' first an undrafted free agent Lusk heard of the article and felt cheated, and a little offended, that he was not allowed to defend himself. So Lusk and the Chronicle arranged a meeting in which he could respond to some of the opinions expressed by the column and many other sources, both of his playing style and overall charac- guys," said Lusk. lost a game where I just off. But nobody else butt played my seemed to give a damn." That feeling of aloneness haunted Lusk all season long. Lusk has never been one to keep his mouth shut, and he knows it. His teammates know it, his coaches know it and the media knows it But sometimes that mouth got him into some trouble. "I tell it like it is," said Lusk. "If you don't have the guts to tell it like it is, then you need to get out of the game." "We had ter. The following statements that appear in bold are clips from the column, entitled, "It's OK, Ute Fans-T- he Cancer Has Spread to Indy." Following' the clips are Lusk's " responses. Lusk was a gambler who usually bet against the. odds and usually lost Whether it was going for an interception when he should just make a tackle, trying to pick up a fumble and run with it or trying to catch a punt on the fly in traffic, Lusk always gambled. Lusk:. "I think people misinterpret who I really am. The reason that I'm a gambler is because if the game's on the line, my attitude is, Bring it to me. The reason that that's my attitude is not because I think I'm the greatest player to ever play the game, but because I think that I'm one of the greatest players that could ever play the game. I know that's saying a lot, but if I don't believe in myself, then 111 never become a great player. "J feel that God has given me the talent to make certain plays that are - . " ted ; r- captains for the Copper Bowl-a- nd Lusk's name was nowhere to be seen. Lusk: "The selection of the Copper Bowl captain, well, something was funny about that I was told that (only three people voted) for me, but mat's not true because I knew six people who voted for me alone. I don't think that it's fair and I don't appreciate the slander I took from the coaches and other players. "In my opinion, after all I have r senior, I given to the U., as a don't think it was" fair in my grand finale, in my last game, in a bowl game, I couldn't walk out on the field and be a captain. That bothered me. I felt that I had earned enough respect and done enough for the program to be able to do that" A player like this, who puts himself first, is like a cancer. It slowly spreads and begins effecting the rest of the team. The Lusk disease hurt, but thankfully, it has been treated and that malignant tumor is now with the Indianapolis Colts, as they signed Lusk last week. Lusk: "People only see the spotlight on me and think I only care about myself. It's not like that I have dreams for myself. I have goals I have set I would like to be one of the best football players that ever played at the University of Utah. And in my opinion, I think I have been. "I think the main problem last year was there were too many players worried about what Harold Lusk was doing and not worried enough about what they were doing. "I can't change a person, though. I can only change myself. Everything comes back to you. You reap what, you sow. If they could have put their personal gripes away when dicy stepped on the field, we would've gone undefifth-yea- feated. , I don't know why the players didn't like me, and frankly, I don't care. I just thought if I could give 1 10 percent, so could they." Lusk sees die future of the Utcs in kcc "Lti.sk" on page 14 |