Rodney Harrison is the biggest hitter in the biggest game.
In the Super Bowl on Sunday between the violent defenses of the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, nobody will be more respected, reviled or ready to “rip somebody’s head off” than the Patriots safety from the South Side of Chicago.
“I play with an inner rage,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t know what it is. I play with a chip on my shoulder. Ever since I was 7, I have played the same way.”
Maybe it was seeing his mother, Barbara, raising three kids by herself, spending $40 to sign her youngest up for football at 7. “She had a light bill due. It was 40 bucks,” Harrison said. “We didn’t know if the lights would be cut off or not. “
Maybe it’s trying to prove himself because the San Diego Chargers released him after his ninth season.
“They fired me,” he said. “Didn’t think I could play anymore.”
Maybe he wants to show all the colleges that failed to recruit him out of Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights. Only Western Illinois offered him a scholarship. “They said I was too small, too slow, too weak to play in the Big Ten,” Harrison said. “Western gave me the opportunity to get away from the streets.”
Maybe he wants to show rookie safety Eugene Wilson the way.
Wilson grew up in Merrillville, Ind., and went to the University of Illinois. Drafted as a cornerback, Wilson was switched to safety after the Patriots lost their opener 31-0 to Buffalo. “I didn’t get any tips about hitting people from Rodney, but seeing him hit people makes you want to go out and hit guys like that,” he said.
Maybe Harrison and Wilson are both simply emulating the 1985 Bears. “I always wanted to play for the Bears,” Wilson said.
Harrison said: “Gary Fencik, Dave Duerson, Mike Singletary, Walter Payton. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played. It was awesome, man. You never get a true appreciation until you’re older. They brought a championship to Chicago when we desperately needed one.”
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
