Oct. 23, 2008

Donna Turner

Associate Athletics Director / Communications

These days, Northern Illinois senior Larry English is an imposing figure. On the football field, the 6-3, 255-pound defensive end has made a habit of bringing down quarterbacks and throwing opposing runners backwards. In the weight room, his chiseled frame powers through workouts, and in interviews, his deep timbre voice provides an air of certainty to each of his answers.

Watching Northern Illinois defensive end Larry English today as a focused, intense and dedicated leader of the Huskie defense, no one would guess that his athletic career began as a self-proclaimed "chubby kid".

When Larry's mother, Susan, first signed him up to play football at the local youth league in Aurora, the current NIU All-America candidate was too heavy to play with his fourth-grade classmates. Instead, the 125-pound nine-year old was assigned to a team of 12-year olds; his dream of becoming a ballcarrier seemed dead.

Even through his first two years of high school, the burgeoning football and basketball standout was "chunky."

"I had some muscle," English says. "But I was chunky. I weighed 245 pounds as a junior, but after my junior football season [at Marmion Academy in Aurora], I started paying attention to what I was eating. I started my senior year at 200 pounds."

By then, the All-Area and all-state linebacker and fullback - yes, he did get to carry the ball - had attracted the attention of college football recruiters throughout the region. Most of the schools of the Mid-American Conference came calling, offering scholarships. But the team that captured his imagination, the place he seemed to "fit" was right near his home, in DeKalb.

"To be honest, the first thing that attracted me was the 2003 season," English said of the 10-2 campaign that began with an upset of 12th-ranked Maryland and continued with a win at Alabama. "I followed that team all year long. I came to the Tennessee Tech game on a visit and it was a great atmosphere. I had a choice of most of the MAC schools, but Northern Illinois was at the top of my list from the start."

English felt comfortable with the team and the coaches, so much so that he stuck with his commitment to NIU even after Iowa offered him a scholarship and a chance to play in the Big Ten.

The results of his decision have been paying dividends for Northern Illinois, and for English, ever since.

"I can't say enough good things about him," said first-year Huskie head coach Jerry Kill. "I've coached some great players and great people; he is right at the top of the list. His work ethic, the way he trains, how he carries himself - there is not a coach on this staff who doesn't have great respect for Larry."

That respect carries over to the rest of the Mid-American Conference, as evidenced by his selection last year as the winner of the MAC's Vern Smith Leadership Award. League coaches vote on the award, which is presented to the player who is deemed the Most Valuable Player in the conference. English became the first defensive player since 1982 - when future pro Ray Bentley won the honor in the inaugural year of the award - to be named MAC MVP, and was the first player from a losing team selected for the honor.

Ironically, since winning the Vern Smith Leadership Award, the leadership element of English's personality has only expanded, according to defensive line coach Jeff Phelps, who is in his third season working with the Huskie defensive line.

"He was a great leader [last year], but he has continued to get better and better," Phelps said. "He has taken on the responsibility of helping our young players out and getting them to go in the right direction. He teaches them a little of everything: what it takes to be a successful defensive lineman at NIU; how to be a young guy and still be a leader; some tricks of the trade of a defensive lineman, and how to work hard and come prepared every day."

While his leadership is most evident in how he carries himself, how hard he works on and off the field, and the focus he brings to every task, even English admits that he has become a more visible and vocal leader in his senior season.

"I think your role changes during your time here," English said. "When you come in as a freshman, you have a lot of questions and you are just doing what you can to get on the field. You try to take the coaching well from all aspects and try to improve.

"The next level, you step up and take care of your own business. Then, you start to realize that other players are watching you and how you do things and you want to respond in a positive fashion."

English said that while mentoring Northern Illinois' young defensive linemen this season, he has emulated former Huskie defensive end Travis Moore, who was a senior at NIU during English's freshman season of 2004.

"He was someone who cared about winning, but with all of us freshmen, he did a great job of developing us and making sure that we got the maximum out of ourselves," English remembered. "So, I really try to be there for all of [the current freshmen]. A lot of guys are looking to me for leadership and I try to be there."

Kill, meanwhile, has some simple advice for his current rookies.

"If you are a freshman defensive lineman here, you'd be dumb not to follow Larry English around," Kill said. "Anytime you have a player of his caliber, kids look up to that."

By the time English finishes his Northern Illinois career later this year, a lot of names will be looking up to his in the Huskie, and Mid-American Conference, career record book. English enters the Toledo game with 27 career quarterback sacks for 198 yards in losses to rank eighth on the MAC all-time list. He needs four sacks to tie Cary Caliendo (1987-90) for the NIU school record in that category. In terms of tackles for loss, English already owns the Northern Illinois all-time mark with 54, costing NIU opponents 251 yards in negative yardage, and is 11th on the MAC career charts in TFLs.

English leads all current NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players in career quarterback sacks, career sack yardage and tackles for loss yardage.

But stats do not begin to tell the English story and like most defensive linemen, it is not his stats which impress NFL scouts and opposing players and coaches.

"The first thing other coaches, scouts, and especially his teammates notice that Larry doesn't take plays off," Kill said. "He plays with his motor running all the time. "Defensively, I've told [the team], if you play as hard as Larry English, we will win a lot of games. And they have accepted that and gone out and played hard. A lot has to do with Larry."

Stats are not important to English either. After winning the MAC MVP honor and compiling a career-best 20 tackles for loss as a junior while playing 98 percent of the team's defensive snaps, he is happy to get a few more chances to "rev his motor" on the sidelines in 2008.

"I'm about winning," English said. "The biggest goal for me is this team doing well and us winning football games. This year is not about one individual, and that's why we have the potential to be good. People are truly selfless and we are putting the best players on the field."

There's no question English is at the top of the list when describing Northern Illinois' best players. Even Phelps, who has spent the past three years reviewing English's "greatest hits", is occasionally amazed at what his pupil can do.

"His quickness and athletic ability are the things that jump out when you watch the film," Phelps said. "His ability to see the play, react to it and know exactly what he's supposed to do [are amazing]. Then there are his pass rush moves and how he uses his hands. He'll do a move that he hasn't done much or used a lot and we'll joke that he's got more `tools in the cupboard' that he's just waiting to bring out."

English showed some of those moves in a stellar performance at Tennessee when the Huskie defense limited the Vols to just one touchdown, 69 rushing yards and three third down conversions in 13 tries. He tallied a season-best two-and-a-half quarterback sacks for minus 26 yards and forced UT quarterback Nick Stephens to fumble, giving NIU the ball at the nine-yard line.

But even when English's tackle numbers don't appear impressive, he's contributing to the success of the overall defensive line as opponents devote extra men to stopping him, freeing his teammates to make plays.

"Opponents double team him," Phelps said. "They always have a running back or another lineman on him. They'll slide the protection over his way. He's such a team guy that he knows if they are sending guys his way, it helps the other defensive lineman."

For English, who has battled back from several significant injuries during his career and still takes medication for asthma, which he developed in childhood, dealing with double teams is easy. In the last two years alone, he has come back from a serious knee injury suffered during the 2006 Poinsettia Bowl game with TCU and from a torn pectoral muscle that he sustained last January during offseason workouts. That injury forced him to miss 2008 spring drills.

Not surprisingly, he has used those experiences to mature and grow.

"All of those things have made me strong," English said. "The key is to realize it's a marathon, not a sprint. Adversity is going to happen, things are going to happen. It's about how you respond. I'm better this year [at dealing with adversity]. It motivates me.

"My maturity level has grown, obviously, a lot over the past few years and even more so this past year. It has come with time, experience and age."

Not to mention the support of a large and enthusiastic family. At every Northern Illinois game, home and away, a contingent of English's relatives, including his parents, Susan and Larry, Sr., his sister, Monica, as well as aunts, uncles and grandparents, make their presence known in the stands. They wear his number 51 jersey and greet their favorite player after every game, win or lose.

Over the years, they have helped fill that "chubby kid" and "chunky" teenager with a confidence he has used to become a dominating athlete.

"I've always had confidence I could be good, but at the same time, I felt like I have had to prove myself ever since I started playing," he said. "The support of my family has always meant a lot to me. They've always been there."

And for the last four years, English has been there, and much, much, more, for Northern Illinois.

Northern Illinois University Football

Printer-friendly format	Email this article