How best for a linebacker to tackle Curtis Enis?
“I’d tell him to bring eight or nine of his buddies,” said Enis, Penn State’s junior tailback. “I don’t fear anybody.”
Enis chuckled. He wasn’t trash-talking, certainly wasn’t bragging.
In fact, Enis was describing the tack two teams have taken so far this season in trying to stop the No. 1 Nittany Lions’ running attack.
“If I was a defensive coordinator,” Enis said, “I would do the same thing.”
So far, it’s a strategy that’s had mixed results:
– While Pitt and Temple tried to throttle Penn State’s running attack with almost every defensive scheme imaginable, the Lions are 2-0–by a combined score of 86-27.
– Although Pitt was mostly successful in the season opener, holding the Lions to 107 yards on the ground, Temple saw 10 Lions ballcarriers accumulate 307 yards.
– Perhaps the triumph of these run-obsessed defenses came solely in keeping Enis in check. In 36 carries, he has 166 yards, three touchdowns and a per-carry average of 4.6 yards. His longest run is 18 yards.
Not exactly the stuff that keeps a tailback on Heisman lists.
Enis knows this. But he doesn’t care.
Quarterback Mike McQueary calls Enis “very unselfish.”
“He does whatever the team needs him to do to win ballgames,” McQueary said.
That, to Enis, is the ultimate compliment.
“I’ve never been on a championship team,” Enis said. “I just want to go out there and do my part. If it’s as a decoy, I want to be the best decoy in college football. That’s all that matters to me, doing the best that I can for the team to win.”
Enis also deflected the notion that he is discouraged by numbers that could be considered disappointing.
“I’m not frustrated,” Enis said. “I love to play football. I’m having fun.”
He sees the Lions’ passing game, which has emerged as both a surprise and a threat this season, as a positive. He believes the relative youth on the offensive line is also a plus.
And, Enis said, he has not been perfect. He has missed blocks. Maybe, he suggested, he missed a block that would have sprung fullback Aaron Harris for a big gain.
“We’re all at fault and I think we’re all going to get better,” Enis said of the Lions’ running game, which is averaging 217 yards a game and 5 yards a carry.
“It’s been shocking for my boys up front,” Enis said of the line. “They’re seeing so many different things coming at them. But they’ve done an outstanding job and they’re getting better and better each game. I’m not frustrated with them. They’re seeing things they’ve never seen before. They’re learning and they’re seeing things that will make them better in future games.”
Enis said he and Harris are bound to break out soon. That opportunity could come Saturday at Louisville.
Enis will have plenty of support at Cardinal Stadium. His sisters, who live in Mississippi and Alabama, will see him play college ball for the first time. His brothers and parents will also be there; Enis’ home of Union City, Ohio, is less than three hours from Louisville.
Enis was recruited by the Cardinals and has been to their stadium, which is in its final year before being replaced by a newer, bigger facility. The turf, according to some accounts, is not good.
Enis doesn’t mind.
“I just like to play whether it’s on concrete, grass or AstroTurf,” he said. “It’s going to be fun.”
It is suggested that Enis would have a lot more fun if he could break a long run, put together a statistically impressive afternoon.
“I don’t think that one bit,” Enis said. “I just try to do the best I can, try to take any advantage that’s out there.”
