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Small Men Rising—Don’t Count Dexter McCluster Out

Is it me, or is there a trend starting in the NFL: small guys making the biggest impact on the field. Anyone who watched the Pro Bowl might have realized that the stars were Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, DeAngelo Williams and DeSean Jackson. The NFL is a game of trends and when I started to take an interest in the game in 1981, George Rogers was receiving Rookie of the Year honors, leading the league in rushing with 1,674 yards at 6’2” and 228 pounds. My favorite player at the time, John Riggins of the Washington Redskins, tipped the scales around 230 and stood at 6’2”, earning every nickel, while being known as the “Diesel”.

Half of the top running backs in rushing per game that year (1981) were six feet tall or more, with big bruisers like Earl Campbell and Chuck Muncie leading the way. In my mind, guys seemed bigger back then, which led me to go “Inside the Numbers” and compare those backs to 2009’s leading rushers.

So back to 1981, I went to see how big these guys were compared to today’s athletes, who train year-round and have a GNC store in their fridge and kitchen cabinets. What I discovered was that today’s top backs are shorter by about two inches…but would you believe that today’s running back weighs in just a tad more than the men who played before them? The chart below shows the top ten backs in rushing per game from the 1981 season.

Jump ahead 29 years and look at how the running backs have changed since 1981. Amazing that there are only two running backs standing above six feet and even more astonishing, is that four of these running backs stand at 5’9” or shorter. But as eye-opening as those numbers are, the fact that the 2010 group weighs a tad more than the 1981 group makes the comparison even more intriguing.

Has that sunk in yet? Six guys over six feet tall in 1981 and four guys at 5’9” or less in 2010… and they weigh close to the same.

Now, I’ll bet you’re saying to yourself, “What does a few inches matter?” Well, I guess that’s where this story really begins. When Dexter McCluster arrives in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine in a few weeks, ask him if a few inches matter…or ask the scouts watching him if a few inches matter. The answer would be a resounding, YES!

On February 25th college players with aspirations of becoming NFL stars will descend on Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Scouting Combine, and be poked, measured, weighed, etc., to determine if they will have future success in the NFL. The way players’ bodies are studied today, it kind of reminds me of putting a Formula 1 race car in a wind tunnel to see how the aerodynamics play out.

Think about Percy Harvin, if he was 6’1” he would have been a top five pick in the NFL draft last season. How about adding a few inches to Jones-Drew’s height? He would have found himself comfortable in the atmosphere of the Draft’s green room back in 2007.

McCluster—the first SEC player to rush for 1,000 yards and have 500 yards receiving—isn’t even being ranked with the running backs by some in the draft industry. Talking with Dexter after the Cotton Bowl and at the Senior Bowl, I can tell you a one thing—don’t underestimate what is in a man’s heart. Standing at 5’8” (which he was quick to point out when I mentioned that he was 5’7”) and 165 pounds, he said that “getting stronger and getting more weight added on” is part of his combine training. He began that training at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas the day after the Cotton Bowl, on January 2, 2010.

McCluster has a swagger and bit of a chip on his shoulder. His motions go hand-in-hand with what he said, “Keep telling me I’m too small. Keep telling me I can’t do it. Because in the log run I’m going to do it”. After carrying the ball 37 times on his way to a 2010 Cotton Bowl MVP award, the “undersized” sparkplug was nothing but smiles saying, “I’m a little sore but could still go out and play”.

McCluster isn’t worried about playing running back or wide receiver, he tells teams, “No matter where they put me I’m going to give 110%” and that he feels “confident in both”. Could McCluster turn into everything that Reggie Bush never did? The Ole Miss running back compares his game to Chris Johnson’s adding, “He’s a little bigger than me”. But in the end McCluster said, “He’s a playmaker. That’s what I motto my game after…a playmaker”.

With his powerful, positive attitude this athletically gifted young man is going to surprise those who underestimate him. To those who write him off because of his small body mass and fail to take into consideration how big his heart is, McCluster says, “I won’t let them down”.

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Photo Courtesy of Zach Green