NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor should break loose for a long run in Sunday's AFC championship game against Tennessee, he wouldn't be surprised to be caught from behind by Titans' rookie defensive end Jevon Kearse.
Rewind the clock to August 1995 when Kearse reported to the University of Florida as a freshman. Taylor was already there, a sophomore running back beginning to make his mark."The first day of practice, I see this 6-4, 230-pound freshman, and everybody is talking about his athletic ability," Taylor recalled of Kearse. "We hung out together a few times, and he showed me one of his high school highlight films. He was playing safety, brutalizing other teams. He played receiver for a few snaps, he played running back for a few snaps. You could tell he had it in him to be a special player."
Taylor discovered what the National Football League learned this season when Kearse was named the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year. Kearse is an athletic marvel who many football experts are certain is the next coming of Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor.
Kearse became the first rookie ever to lead the AFC or NFC in sacks with 14 1/2, and he led the NFL in forced fumbles with 10. He also was the first rookie defensive end in the AFC and the second in NFL history selected as a Pro Bowl starter.
All this for a guy who was taken No. 16 in the first round of the draft, the second lineman chosen behind LSU's Booger McFarland, who was picked No. 15 by Tampa Bay. One of the reasons Kearse dropped in the draft is he played a lot of different positions for Steve Spurrier's Gators, and unsure scouts never got a clear read whether Kearse could stop the run.
"I wanted to prove something to all those teams that passed me up and didn't draft me," said Kearse, who had 85 tackles starting all 16 regular-season games. "I really thought this year would be hard, that everybody would be much better than in college. But my coaches kept telling me to 'Keep coming, no one can block you.' When I started believing them, I started picking it up. Our coaches just let me play my game. They don't complicate things for me."
The most amazing thing is Kearse is playing off raw ability. Here's someone 265 pounds who can run a 4.43 40-yard dash, who's tied with Deion Sanders for the fastest first 10 yards of the 40 in NFL combine history, who has a 40-inch vertical jump, who has a wing span of 86 inches and who has 4 percent body fat.
It's why his nickname, "The Freak," has been with him since his college days, and he lovingly accepts it. Titans' cornerback Denard Walker said that Kearse "looks like someone you go in a lab and create." His teammates don't disagree.
"In training camp when we were doing our vertical test in this room, Jevon jumped up and touched out at about 12 feet," Titans' wide receiver Kevin Dyson said. "He jumped so high he put his hand through the ceiling. They should have moved that test outside."
A few days later in camp, Kearse rushed the quarterback who completed a pass to quick Chris Sanders on a slant pattern. Kearse turned and caught Sanders from behind 30 yards downfield.
Once the season started, such unbelievable plays became the norm. He tracked down 49ers running back Charlie Garner after a 53-yard gain, Baltimore running back Priest Holmes after a 72-yard jaunt and Oakland running back Napoleon Kaufman after a 27-yard sprint. Against St. Louis, he forced Rams' offensive tackle Fred Miller into five illegal procedure penalties and a holding call.
"The way Jevon runs down guys from behind, I expect him to pop up and tear away his shirt to see a big 'S' on his chest," fellow Titans' defensive end Kenny Holmes said. "Offenses have totally turned their whole line toward him to try and stop him, and he's still making plays. And because he draws double teams, it makes you play that much harder because you feel you can get to the quarterback."
It took just a few days of minicamp after the draft for Titans' coach Jeff Fisher to feel as if the team made like bandits in stealing Kearse.
"You just can't coach the things Jevon does," Fisher said. "You can't coach his speed. You can't coach his change of direction. All we've tried to do is put him in position to make plays. We've had to fight the temptation to move him around. We've basically just lined him up and turned him loose."
After he was named the league's Defensive Rookie of the Month in the season's opening month of September, it didn't take long for word (and game tape) of Kearse's prowess to spread. Opposing offenses began using a tight end to double-team Kearse along with a tackle, then began shading a running back toward Kearse as a final blocker protecting the quarterback.
" . . . I hope they put all the attention on me because all I care about is winning. I've seen a lot of things this year, and I'm still having success."