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Bob Sturm / Contributor
Over the weekend, my colleague, Norm Hitzges interviewed former Cowboys defensive coordinator and North Carolina head coach, Butch Davis about Bruce Carter - the Cowboys 2nd Round pick. Here is a transcript of their discussion:
Davis: I think the Cowboys have gotten a phenomenal not only football player but a really great kid.
We recruited Bruce four years ago, and in high school coming out - this will give you an indication of what kind of athlete - in high school he was a safety and a Quarterback. An excellent athlete and a terrific kid.
He comes into the program in the second game of his true freshman year, he starts. And he has started every game over the subsequent four years. And here are the things that I have told people and Tom Ciskowski who I have communicated an awful lot about this kid in previous weeks.
Bruce is one of those unique rare linebackers that you never have to take out of the game. He can play Sam, he can play Mike, He can play Will and he can play in all of your nickel packages. Because he has great speed and great ability to cover. He can blitz and he can come off the edge. He is probably the career leader in blocked kicks at Carolina.
Early in his career as he was earning his reputation, he got three blocked kicks against the University of Connecticut in one ball game. And NCAA-wise, he blocked kicks in 3 consecutive games to help us win.
And this is a kid who is a great worker in the weight room and I think he will have an outstanding career in Dallas.
How is the knee?
Davis: I think it is very good and I think he is on track to start training camp when the collective bargaining agreement stuff goes right. I saw him working out in the weight room a week ago, and he was basically doing just about everything. Not 100%. When he tore the knee, it was a partial tear of the ACL in the NC State game, so he misses the rest of the game, misses the Duke game, and obviously the bowl game. The decision we made at that time - and he wanted to try to continue to play - was in the best interest of his career and to go in early and get it fixed.
It was a real reward for him and I think he got almost a two month jump start and is that far ahead of schedule.
Did the Cowboys seek your exact impressions of where he should go?
Davis: No, not necessarily. I think all teams - the Cowboys being one of them - all teams want to make an honest true assessment of every individual. Their character, their work ethic, what kind of athlete he is, how he will fit their scheme... And, they do their homework as well as anybody in the National Football League.
One of the things that we try to do is pride ourselves in our program. And this is one of the things I tried to do at Miami as well, be honest. Tell them the truth. There are no smoke and mirrors in our program. The flaws our kids have, people know about them. And the strengths they have, everybody is going to know about them, too.
I just think the Cowboys really liked this kid's versatility. Because when you look at the draft and I did in the 10 years I spent in the NFL. A lot of times when you are talking about linebackers it is usually, "well this guy can play on 1st and 2nd down, but then you got to get him out of there on 3rd down". And the game has evolved so much to where there are so many guys and so many personnel groupings and a lot of misplaced personnel. And that is something you never have to worry about with Bruce Carter.
I don't care if it is covering the tight end or a running back or if they have to put him outside the formation and the wide receiver comes inside. He can cover those guys equally as well.
Over the weekend, my colleague, Norm Hitzges interviewed former Cowboys defensive coordinator and North Carolina head coach, Butch Davis about Bruce Carter - the Cowboys 2nd Round pick. Here is a transcript of their discussion:
Davis: I think the Cowboys have gotten a phenomenal not only football player but a really great kid.
We recruited Bruce four years ago, and in high school coming out - this will give you an indication of what kind of athlete - in high school he was a safety and a Quarterback. An excellent athlete and a terrific kid.
He comes into the program in the second game of his true freshman year, he starts. And he has started every game over the subsequent four years. And here are the things that I have told people and Tom Ciskowski who I have communicated an awful lot about this kid in previous weeks.
Bruce is one of those unique rare linebackers that you never have to take out of the game. He can play Sam, he can play Mike, He can play Will and he can play in all of your nickel packages. Because he has great speed and great ability to cover. He can blitz and he can come off the edge. He is probably the career leader in blocked kicks at Carolina.
Early in his career as he was earning his reputation, he got three blocked kicks against the University of Connecticut in one ball game. And NCAA-wise, he blocked kicks in 3 consecutive games to help us win.
And this is a kid who is a great worker in the weight room and I think he will have an outstanding career in Dallas.
How is the knee?
Davis: I think it is very good and I think he is on track to start training camp when the collective bargaining agreement stuff goes right. I saw him working out in the weight room a week ago, and he was basically doing just about everything. Not 100%. When he tore the knee, it was a partial tear of the ACL in the NC State game, so he misses the rest of the game, misses the Duke game, and obviously the bowl game. The decision we made at that time - and he wanted to try to continue to play - was in the best interest of his career and to go in early and get it fixed.
It was a real reward for him and I think he got almost a two month jump start and is that far ahead of schedule.
Did the Cowboys seek your exact impressions of where he should go?
Davis: No, not necessarily. I think all teams - the Cowboys being one of them - all teams want to make an honest true assessment of every individual. Their character, their work ethic, what kind of athlete he is, how he will fit their scheme... And, they do their homework as well as anybody in the National Football League.
One of the things that we try to do is pride ourselves in our program. And this is one of the things I tried to do at Miami as well, be honest. Tell them the truth. There are no smoke and mirrors in our program. The flaws our kids have, people know about them. And the strengths they have, everybody is going to know about them, too.
I just think the Cowboys really liked this kid's versatility. Because when you look at the draft and I did in the 10 years I spent in the NFL. A lot of times when you are talking about linebackers it is usually, "well this guy can play on 1st and 2nd down, but then you got to get him out of there on 3rd down". And the game has evolved so much to where there are so many guys and so many personnel groupings and a lot of misplaced personnel. And that is something you never have to worry about with Bruce Carter.
I don't care if it is covering the tight end or a running back or if they have to put him outside the formation and the wide receiver comes inside. He can cover those guys equally as well.
