Jello Biafra
7/30/2006, 09:22 AM
both dvorcek and runnels have signed and show no attitudes so far......
365 days after ced enters the league and eh thinks he did nothing wrong.....
1700 yards in the black and blue division? he's not only ignant, he's delusional as well.
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Looking down as he pondered the question for nearly 20 seconds, Bears running back Cedric Benson's mind raced back over the last 12 months.
He was asked whether, given the chance, he would have done anything differently last summer. At this time last year, a contract stare down cost him five weeks of preparation and virtually wiped out the first half of his season.
A lot of cocksure athletes answer such inquiries before the question is finished, but Benson gave real thought to the holdout that he knows turned the opinions of many against him.
"No,'' he replied, finally looking up. "I wouldn't change anything because the struggles I had through the decisions I made -- coming in and being behind, stuff like that -- I'm very thankful for the hard times in life because the hard times are what make you better and make you grow as a person.
"That situation showed me a lot of things, showed me what I need to do to be successful on this level. I think it helped me mature.''
The running back roles are reversed almost completely this summer at Olivet Nazarene University. Thomas Jones, the man who rushed for 1,335 yards last season and was the lifeblood of the Bears' offense, is the one who has been absent this time around, skipping the offseason program and now on the sidelines with a minor hamstring pull.
Benson has taken a crash course in the playbook and has been lauded for his dedication, something some wondered about at this time last year. Now he stands as the man to beat for the starting job, with speculation that Jones is being dangled on the trade market.
If it's competition Benson must endure to keep the job, he has done it before. And when he has won, there has been no looking back.
John Parchman, Benson's coach at Lee High School in Midland, Texas, remembers it vividly. Benson was a quiet sophomore in 1998. He had shown enough before the season to earn some playing time, but senior Autry Pryor was the man until he suffered a sprained ankle in the fifth game. Benson got his shot the next week, and Lee rolled.
"That was the break Cedric was looking for,'' Parchman said Friday from his football office at Cisco (Texas) Junior College. "He never relinquished the thing, and we won three [state] titles in a row. I wasn't really worried about how it was going to work out, although you're always a little concerned about throwing a sophomore to the wolves. Sometimes they sink, and sometimes they float. He did so well, the other kid never set foot on the field again.''
In fact, Pryor was so angry that he quit.
"That was all she wrote,'' Benson said. "I've been in this situation I'm in right now on every team I've played on.''
When he arrived at Texas in 2001, three older players were ahead of him -- Victor Ike, Ivan Williams and Sneezy Beltran. Benson got a playing little time in the first half of that season, but he didn't play in the fifth game, a 14-3 loss to Oklahoma in which the Longhorns rushed for 27 yards on 25 carries. Coach Mack Brown promoted Benson the next week, and he ran for 131 yards on 31 carries in a 45-17 victory against Oklahoma State.
"I never looked back after that game,'' Benson said. "They were good players, but they couldn't hold on.''
Ike wound up transferring, and the others had nondescript careers for the Longhorns.
"Ced should have played from the beginning,'' said Bears receivers coach Darryl Drake, who was an assistant at Texas at the time. "That was just the philosophy at that particular time that they had for a freshman back. Playing in that magnitude of a game [against Oklahoma], although he was ready for it, we didn't play him.
"It taught him some patience, although most great running backs don't have much patience -- and they shouldn't. But it taught him that sometimes you have to wait for good things. He's ready for it [here].''
Benson has set goals that can be described as fantastic, namely rushing for 1,700 yards. He thinks he will be one of the NFL's elite runners, as the Bears hoped when they used the fourth overall pick on him in the 2005 draft.
"I truly believe those situations prepared me for the situation I'm in now,'' he said. "And what we're in now is on a much bigger stage. You've got to set your goals high because you want to be an overachiever.''
But can the fourth pick in the draft truly overachieve?
"That's a heck of a question,'' Benson said. "I think we can all overachieve -- from me to the president of the United States. There is always another level that can be reached. You just have to set your goals high and work hard. I didn't say I would rush for 1,700 yards, but that's my goal. Some people are OK being OK, and that's fine. I'm not one of them.''
Benson's laid-back attitude off the field often confuses people. Running backs coach Tim Spencer said he has seen the difference and knows Benson has the fire.
"That's the way he is, laid-back,'' Spencer said. "But on the football field, it's different.''
Whatever perception fans have of Benson, he's not concerned. He knows the only thing he can do to change any negative attitudes is to perform.
"So many people make an assumption on the first thing they hear,'' he said. "It's easy to do. You can be very easily misunderstood, but you'll never know a person until you sit down with them.''
The chance for Benson to prove his talent to everyone is upon him now. He has looked good through two practices, but Spencer admitted you can't tell anything about a running back really until the action is live. He said Benson has enough moves to make him elusive and enough size -- at 5-11 and 220 pounds -- to punish would-be tacklers.
"I don't know how it works [in the NFL], where it's a big deal,'' Parchman said. "But it may be hard to get him out of there.''
If Benson doesn't win the starting job, it won't be for lack of focus. When he unpacked his BMW on Thursday, he carried a duffel bag large enough to fit maybe two days of clothing and a garment bag into the dormitory. That's it. No television. No DVDs. No computer. No video games. He was asked what he was going to do in his free time.
"Study my playbook,'' he said with a smile. "I just need to stay focused and show everybody on this team I'm for real about being the No. 1 guy. It's important for them to feel comfortable with me out there in the huddle. It's about accountability.''
365 days after ced enters the league and eh thinks he did nothing wrong.....
1700 yards in the black and blue division? he's not only ignant, he's delusional as well.
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Looking down as he pondered the question for nearly 20 seconds, Bears running back Cedric Benson's mind raced back over the last 12 months.
He was asked whether, given the chance, he would have done anything differently last summer. At this time last year, a contract stare down cost him five weeks of preparation and virtually wiped out the first half of his season.
A lot of cocksure athletes answer such inquiries before the question is finished, but Benson gave real thought to the holdout that he knows turned the opinions of many against him.
"No,'' he replied, finally looking up. "I wouldn't change anything because the struggles I had through the decisions I made -- coming in and being behind, stuff like that -- I'm very thankful for the hard times in life because the hard times are what make you better and make you grow as a person.
"That situation showed me a lot of things, showed me what I need to do to be successful on this level. I think it helped me mature.''
The running back roles are reversed almost completely this summer at Olivet Nazarene University. Thomas Jones, the man who rushed for 1,335 yards last season and was the lifeblood of the Bears' offense, is the one who has been absent this time around, skipping the offseason program and now on the sidelines with a minor hamstring pull.
Benson has taken a crash course in the playbook and has been lauded for his dedication, something some wondered about at this time last year. Now he stands as the man to beat for the starting job, with speculation that Jones is being dangled on the trade market.
If it's competition Benson must endure to keep the job, he has done it before. And when he has won, there has been no looking back.
John Parchman, Benson's coach at Lee High School in Midland, Texas, remembers it vividly. Benson was a quiet sophomore in 1998. He had shown enough before the season to earn some playing time, but senior Autry Pryor was the man until he suffered a sprained ankle in the fifth game. Benson got his shot the next week, and Lee rolled.
"That was the break Cedric was looking for,'' Parchman said Friday from his football office at Cisco (Texas) Junior College. "He never relinquished the thing, and we won three [state] titles in a row. I wasn't really worried about how it was going to work out, although you're always a little concerned about throwing a sophomore to the wolves. Sometimes they sink, and sometimes they float. He did so well, the other kid never set foot on the field again.''
In fact, Pryor was so angry that he quit.
"That was all she wrote,'' Benson said. "I've been in this situation I'm in right now on every team I've played on.''
When he arrived at Texas in 2001, three older players were ahead of him -- Victor Ike, Ivan Williams and Sneezy Beltran. Benson got a playing little time in the first half of that season, but he didn't play in the fifth game, a 14-3 loss to Oklahoma in which the Longhorns rushed for 27 yards on 25 carries. Coach Mack Brown promoted Benson the next week, and he ran for 131 yards on 31 carries in a 45-17 victory against Oklahoma State.
"I never looked back after that game,'' Benson said. "They were good players, but they couldn't hold on.''
Ike wound up transferring, and the others had nondescript careers for the Longhorns.
"Ced should have played from the beginning,'' said Bears receivers coach Darryl Drake, who was an assistant at Texas at the time. "That was just the philosophy at that particular time that they had for a freshman back. Playing in that magnitude of a game [against Oklahoma], although he was ready for it, we didn't play him.
"It taught him some patience, although most great running backs don't have much patience -- and they shouldn't. But it taught him that sometimes you have to wait for good things. He's ready for it [here].''
Benson has set goals that can be described as fantastic, namely rushing for 1,700 yards. He thinks he will be one of the NFL's elite runners, as the Bears hoped when they used the fourth overall pick on him in the 2005 draft.
"I truly believe those situations prepared me for the situation I'm in now,'' he said. "And what we're in now is on a much bigger stage. You've got to set your goals high because you want to be an overachiever.''
But can the fourth pick in the draft truly overachieve?
"That's a heck of a question,'' Benson said. "I think we can all overachieve -- from me to the president of the United States. There is always another level that can be reached. You just have to set your goals high and work hard. I didn't say I would rush for 1,700 yards, but that's my goal. Some people are OK being OK, and that's fine. I'm not one of them.''
Benson's laid-back attitude off the field often confuses people. Running backs coach Tim Spencer said he has seen the difference and knows Benson has the fire.
"That's the way he is, laid-back,'' Spencer said. "But on the football field, it's different.''
Whatever perception fans have of Benson, he's not concerned. He knows the only thing he can do to change any negative attitudes is to perform.
"So many people make an assumption on the first thing they hear,'' he said. "It's easy to do. You can be very easily misunderstood, but you'll never know a person until you sit down with them.''
The chance for Benson to prove his talent to everyone is upon him now. He has looked good through two practices, but Spencer admitted you can't tell anything about a running back really until the action is live. He said Benson has enough moves to make him elusive and enough size -- at 5-11 and 220 pounds -- to punish would-be tacklers.
"I don't know how it works [in the NFL], where it's a big deal,'' Parchman said. "But it may be hard to get him out of there.''
If Benson doesn't win the starting job, it won't be for lack of focus. When he unpacked his BMW on Thursday, he carried a duffel bag large enough to fit maybe two days of clothing and a garment bag into the dormitory. That's it. No television. No DVDs. No computer. No video games. He was asked what he was going to do in his free time.
"Study my playbook,'' he said with a smile. "I just need to stay focused and show everybody on this team I'm for real about being the No. 1 guy. It's important for them to feel comfortable with me out there in the huddle. It's about accountability.''