Incognito

[Eric the Red]

Incognito has grown up

 

BY STEVEN PIVOVAR

 

 

 

 

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

 

He's a guy with a checkered past who describes his new gig as being the difference between playing backgammon and chess.

 

 

Richie Incognito spent two seasons on the sidelines at NU because of behavior problems and injuries. He's now in the NFL, where he starts at center for the St. Louis Rams.

 

Let us reintroduce you to Richie Incognito, NFL center. The one-time Nebraska bad boy has overcome a series of setbacks to land on his feet with the St. Louis Rams. He opened the season as the team's starting left guard, then moved to center after the first week.

 

Incognito hadn't played center since his redshirt freshman season at Nebraska. Yet, he embraced the opportunity after Andy McCollum, the Rams' starter for 155 consecutive games, went down with a knee injury against the Denver Broncos.

 

"Center," Incognito says, "is a thinking man's position."

 

Incognito has had plenty of time to think the past two seasons. There were times when he feared his dream of playing in the NFL may never materialize. This season's opening game was Incognito's first since he helped Nebraska defeat Michigan State in the 2003 Alamo Bowl.

 

That was his last appearance as a Husker. He was banished from the program before the start of the 2004 season after being found guilty of misdemeanor assault stemming from a fight at a party. He already had been suspended for a variety of indiscretions, including getting kicked out of a game for fighting.

 

Incognito transferred to Oregon but wasn't eligible to play. He eventually left that program to begin preparing for the 2005 draft. He went to the NFL scouting combine in the winter of 2005, but suffered a broken kneecap during the workout.

 

The Rams still took him in the third round with the draft's 81st pick. He missed the first month of the season because of a contact dispute, then wound up on the non-football injury list when it was decided that he hadn't fully recovered from the knee injury.

 

The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Incognito came back last spring to make a strong impression during mini-camps and won a starting job this summer.

 

"It hasn't been a lot of fun going through this," Incognito said. "Even though I was around the team all of last season, I felt like an outsider looking in. Here I was, my first year in the NFL, and I'd be sitting at home on Sunday when we were on the road watching games on TV.

 

"I'd go back home to Arizona, and people would ask me how things were going. It was difficult telling them I wasn't playing but it just made me want to work that much harder in order to get back to where I could play."

 

In some ways, Incognito's 2005 season was similar to his redshirt season at Nebraska.

 

"The big difference was that I couldn't practice," he said. "As a redshirt, I could practice and I dressed for the games. It made me feel like a part of the team even though I knew I wasn't going to play.

 

"This was totally different but it did allow me to hang out and get to know the system. I picked up a few things last year that helped me learn this system a little quicker."

 

Incognito has no desire to rehash his Nebraska past, which included good times and bad. The Glendale, Ariz., native was the first freshman offensive lineman to start a season opener. He earned freshman All-America honors in 2002 and was a first-team All-Big 12 pick as a sophomore in 2003. He was a devastating blocker, but his inability to control his temper eventually led to his dismissal from the squad before Bill Callahan coached his first game.

 

Incognito politely declined to talk about Nebraska, but said everything he's been through has helped prepare him for the rigors of playing in the NFL.

 

"It's been a long haul to get here, and you learn what's important is just taking care of yourself day by day," Incognito said. "That's how I've gotten through everything to this point. I've just tried to stay positive and keep moving forward day by day."

 

St. Louis coach Scott Linehan and Incognito's offensive line mates have liked what the 23-year-old rookie has shown through the first six games. Linehan considered a number of options when McCollum went down but decided to go with Incognito.

 

"We have to do our best as coaches to get our best five out there," he told reporters prior to making the move before the Sept. 16 game against San Francisco. "He certainly had to prove a lot since he was drafted by us. There were a lot of questions about his past and his youth. He's grown up a bunch as far as I'm concerned.

 

"He comes to work every day. He competes hard, and he's very coachable."

 

Incognito brings plenty of energy to the offensive line, Rams All-Pro tackle Orlando Pace told Rams.com.

 

"Sometimes we have to wind him down a little bit," Pace said. "He's a little high-motored. He's a physical guy, and he works hard."

 

Incognito is growing comfortable with the center position. He's had to refine his snapping ability as the Rams often line up in shotgun formations. He's had to study hard during the week so that he can make the correct line calls.

 

"When you show up at the beginning of the week, there's always two or three pages of notes waiting for you about the upcoming opponents," Incognito said. "There's definitely a lot of thinking involved."

 

That's where the chess-backgammon analogy comes into play. Center, Incognito said, is like playing chess compared to the less-mentally stressing position of guard.

 

"At guard, I had a guy lining up two or three feet away from me," he said. "At center, it's more like three inches. You can be more physical at guard. You have room to work and you can just roll the dice sometimes and hit someone. At center, you always have to be thinking. I still have a lot to learn but it's coming."

 

Incognito and his teammates are idle this week after last week's nail-biting loss to Seattle that dropped the Rams to 4-2 and a half-game behind the Seahawks in the NFC West Division. Seattle pulled out a 30-28 win on a 54-yard last-play field goal by Josh Brown, a former teammate of Incognito's at Nebraska.

 

"I knew we were in trouble when they got across midfield because Brownie is a big-play guy," Incognito said. "We've won some games like that this year, but that loss was definitely tough to digest. But here, you just have to put it behind you, move on and get ready for the next opportunity."

[ccm420]

good for him!

 

i always knew he would be in the league starting.

[Touchdown Tommie]

The talent is defintely there...he just needs to keep his mind straight....best of luck Richie!!!!