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Another Rocky Mountain Reclamation
For 11 seasons the Denver Broncos have been transforming unheralded running backs into NFL stars. Now after a year of waiting and watching it seems to be former Heisman Winner Ron Dayne’s turn.
Every November college football’s Heisman Trophy race begins to heat up. Every fan and expert in the nation has an opinion on who they think the frontrunners are for the coveted trophy. In 1999 the overwhelming frontrunner was Wisconsin Badgers running back Ron Dayne. Dayne plowed over the competition that year rushing for 1,834 yards and 19 touchdowns (breaking Ricky Williams all-time rushing record in the process) while leading Wisconsin to a 9-2 record. After winning the Heisman in a landslide, three weeks later Dayne’s Badgers won the Rose Bowl over Stanford to complete his ascent to college football’s mountaintop. There was no doubt Dayne would be chosen in the first round of April’s NFL Draft and he was going 10th overall to the New York Giants. Ron Dayne seemingly had everything going for him, but he quickly learned that accomplishments in college mean little in the pro game.
Dayne had a decent rookie year in 2000 rushing for 770 yards and 5 touchdowns, and he teamed with running back Tiki Barber to provide the Giants with a fast and powerful backfield, but he struggled late in the season and didn’t even appear in the team’s Super Bowl XXXV loss to Baltimore. Things began to fall apart for Dayne in 2001 and 2002 as his carries and yards dropped, and to make matters worse he incurred head coach Jim Fassel’s wrath and took heavy criticism for his lack of mobility, failure to lose weight, and mono-directional running style. The situation escalated to the point where Dayne was inactivated by Fassel for each of the Giants games in 2003. In 2004 Dayne had yet another disappointing season under new coach Tom Coughlin, and he was released after the season.
After 5 years in the NFL Ron Dayne’s career was in ruin. He was labeled a bust and everyone attributed his success at Wisconsin to racking up rushing yards in the second halves of games due to a large offensive line which pounded teams unmercifully. To NFL teams he was damaged goods, they saw him as an overweight tweener who was too fat and slow to be a featured running back and too weak at blocking to be a fullback. Just when it seemed that the name Ron Dayne would go down in the annals of pro football along with Ki-Jana Carter, Curtis Enis, Rashaan Salaam and countless others as disgraced, over-hyped, overrated backfield busts Dayne received a call from Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, who is renowned in the NFL for being a resurrector of running backs.
During his tenure in Denver Shanahan has turned the Broncos into a perennial playoff team and two-time Super Bowl champion with his trap blocking schemes designed to misdirect, move aside, and cut-off opposing defensive lines rather than traditionally blocking them which creates bigger holes in a shorter amount of time thus resulting in the success of the Broncos running backs over the years. Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns, Tatum Bell, these are the names of the men who became household names in the Broncos backfield since 1995 and they all came to Denver with a stigma surrounding them. Whether it was being too old (Anderson), injury-prone (Davis and Bell), too-slow (Droughns and Gary), or overrated (Portis) there was always a prevailing excuse as to why other teams passed on them. All they have done since is produce a combined 10 1,000 yard rushing seasons, an average of over 4.5 yards per carry while leaving a trail of defenders and critics in their wake.
If you have reservations or have even forgotten who Ron Dayne is right now, you’re in good company. Save for one 55 yard run in overtime of a Thanksgiving game against Dallas that set up the game-winning field goal last season Dayne spent most of his time on the bench watching Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell combine for 1935 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns to lead Denver to the AFC Championship Game. Despite the lack of playing time Ron Dayne has stated in various interviews that after losing 30 pounds he has never felt better plus he has the complete confidence of the Denver hierarchy as evidenced in their releasing of 1,000 yard back Mike Anderson at the beginning of the 2006 offseason.
Ron Dayne started a team minicamp on July 6th with the starting running back spot being his to lose. He is only 28 and displays the appropriate one-cut downhill running skills that are necessary to thrive as a primary back in Denver. Dayne and incumbent Tatum Bell will attempt to provide the Broncos with a “Thunder and Lightning” attack much like last season that will keep defenses off balance and set up Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer and their productive play action passing game. At this point it’s impossible to tell how Ron Dayne’s 2006-2007 season will turn out. There might be injuries, inconsistent play or other unforeseen occurrences but in this time-tested Denver offense it wouldn’t be wise to bet against him.
Yesterday was a big day. Most of the morning I spent recovering from the night before, and getting prepared for the Fox News interview. We shot the interview downtown Denver around 3 pm, and wow, I have new respect for people who shoot satellite interviews. It's crazy awkward. You have an earpiece in one ear, and are instructed to speak straight into the camera. There wasn't a monitor for me to look at, so I had no idea when I was on camera or wasn't. And the funny thing I found was how much you miss from a conversation when you can't read a person's body language, in my case, the host Kimberly Guifoyle. All in all it was a cool experience, and it aired last night on The Lineup at 9 pm EST. I have not seen it yet, but based on the MASSIVE flooding of online book orders and people wanting workshops in their ares, I'm assuming it turned out well.
Next up was speaking at Johnson & Wales last night. This was my kickoff college gig of the tour, so a lot had built up to this. What a fantastic crowd, and SO supportive. It was several hundred freshman, half guys & half girls, and man did we have a blast. The first 100 women in attendance enjoyed their bag of free beauty samples, donated by the official tour sponsor, Bed Head. Below is the crowd showing off their killer boundary setting skills.
Several of my CAMPUSPEAK friends came out to see the gig, and we took some fun pics afterward. Below is me and the Exec. Director of CAMPUSPEAK, Tracy Maxwell. For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know she's a dear friend of mine and is battling ovarian cancer. We thought it would be appropriate to dedicate a picture to "Baldies Fight Back!"
Overall, I can't think of anything else that would have made yesterday a better kick-off to my book tour. Today I shall enjoy Denver and play in the mountains, only to be on the road again tomorrow...
Denver Broncos Schedule
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