Quick Six

Are you ready for the nation's most explosive RB!?


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SPEED READER
Size doesn't matter for a burner like the Cougars' Anthony Alridge, who is fast making a career of finding the gaps with blistering quickness. He's hoping the momentum he built to close out the 2006 season has him primed to pen a thrilling final chapter


By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Anthony Alridge still clearly remembers the moment when he realized that he was fast. Not just fast, because Alridge -- and just about everyone else who knew him -- always knew he was fast.

But fast.

The kind of vapor-trail speed that would one day have NFL scouts rechecking their stopwatches with unbelieving stares. The kind of speed that would allow him to come out of nowhere last season and lead the nation in yards per rush. Cartoon speed, like the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote.

For Alridge, that realization didn't come on one of his turf-blistering touchdown runs during last season's Conference USA-championship campaign, like the 87-yard romp he dropped on Tulane or the twin 77-yarders he broke off at SMU, three examples of why just about everyone calls him "Quick Six."

And it didn't come on the track, where Alridge has run a wind-aided 10.07 in the 100 meters. No, the realization came half a lifetime ago, when Alridge, 10 at the time, absolutely needed to be fast.

"I saw some puppies and started barking at them," said Alridge, laughing at the memory. "I was just playing around, but then the momma dog came out and started chasing me. And it was one of those big, scary Rottweiler dogs.

"I took off running, and that's when I knew I was fast because that dog couldn't catch me, and I was wearing sandals. I swear. I never really had a reason to run like that because I wasn't into anything competitive until I got to high school. But when that dog started chasing me, I was out of there.

"That's when I figured that I might be fast."

Fast also describes Alridge's ascent last year from anonymous wide receiver to breakout -- and breakaway -- running back, despite his relatively slight 5-9, 175-pound frame.

Alridge also studies tapes, not only of his all-time favorite player, Emmitt Smith (which is why he wears No. 22), but also of guys like LaDainian Tomlinson, Warrick Dunn and Reggie Bush. Anything to give him an edge on the field.

"I always knew he would be a great running back," said Alridge's father, Vincent. "Is he small? Yes. But is he quick? Oh, yes. You have to catch him if you want to tackle him."

Catch 22? It seemed that nobody could last season.

Indeed, just as much as Kevin Kolb's arm, Vincent Marshall's hands and coach Art Briles' brain, Alridge's fleet feet were major factors in the Cougars' march to their first C-USA title in a decade.

The promise of a championship seemed to be slipping away after a three-game losing streak dropped them to 4-3 entering a key stretch of conference games. But that's when Alridge started getting the ball. With Alridge off and running, so were the Cougars.

Starting with the second half of the UTEP game, when he gained 68 of his 73 yards, and ending at SMU, where he went for 225 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, Alridge was unstoppable. When the dust settled, he had piled up 565 yards and six touchdowns in that four-game stretch, and the Cougars were back on track.

"He can do that because all he needs is a little hole," said Philip Montgomery, the Cougars' running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator. "With that speed, once you get him out in open space you can start the band up."

But not the bandwagon.

No, despite the amazing numbers he put up last season, including a national-best 10.1 yards per carry, Alridge is an overlooked star.

While no one really expects Alridge to get any Heisman hype, even the low-level buzz that surrounded Kolb last year (papa Alridge says his son would "love to at least be mentioned since he's been talking about winning it since he was a kid"), one would think he'd at least pick up some preseason all-conference honors. But instead it was UCF's Kevin Smith and Southern Miss' Damion Fletcher landing the C-USA's first-team spots at running-back.

Alridge shrugged off the slight, insisting that what really matters is what happens on Saturdays, starting Sept. 1 at Oregon.

"I know it seems crazy," he said, "but I'm an entertainer who doesn't like the spotlight, but likes the spotlight. You know what I mean?"

Vincent Alridge knows exactly what he means.

"We've always taught him to stay grounded," he said. "We don't have to have the spotlight, and we've always taught him that. It's not something that we have to stay on him about. I don't care if he's a No. 1 pick (in the NFL Draft); he's going to be grounded."

Being grounded means that while Alridge has an electric personality to match his running ability, his ego is perfectly in check. He's a locker-room cutup and Class-A motormouth, but on the field Alridge doesn't demand a certain number of touches and never complains when the game plan doesn't revolve around him.

"It's never about getting the ball. It's always about winning," said Alridge, who rushed for 959 yards on 95 carries last season. "If we're winning, I really don't care who gets the ball. I can get it three times, while (wide receiver) Donnie (Avery) gets the ball 15 times and scores six touchdowns. If those six touchdowns get us the win, then I'm all for it."

But ...

"I definitely feel that if somebody needs to make a play, why not give it to me?" he said. "I feel I can make a play as well as anybody, and by that I mean anybody -- Reggie Bush or whoever.

"If you want a big play, I want the ball. If the game is on the line, I want the ball. Especially this year, I don't want the game to be in the quarterback's hands. I want it to be on my shoulders."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/fbc/5094315.html