Bountiful's Brooks Bahr is smart enough to have done something else.
He didn't have to keep pounding his head against the odds of making it in college football.
A junior at Utah, Bahr already has a degree and is beginning a master's in business, delaying medical school until football's done. He wants to become a dermatologist because skin cancer is such a killer and because dermatologists can often have weekends off with their families. He doesn't have a family yet — he says he's still "totally eligible" — but he will someday, and he's already looking out for them.
He admits he's had a "B" grade in football at Utah, but coach Ron McBride is still happy to have him because he keeps the team average up; last year's 3.94 GPA made Bahr academic All-MWC.
And because, says defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, Bahr is exactly the kind of player he wants to coach: smart, motivated, overactive work ethic and a good athlete, too, fastest of the linebackers. "A self-made guy," Whittingham calls him.
Utah's undersized "stud" linebacker will be a key element Saturday at 1 p.m. in Fort Collins when the 5-1, 2-0 Utes take on defending-champion Colorado State, 3-4, 2-1.
At 6-foot-3 and 219 pounds, Bahr's assignment is to control the Rams' 6-3, 255-pound All-Mountain West tight end Jose Ochoa. CSU "will be (Bahr's) biggest test," Whittingham says.
Bahr's friends call him "the skinniest stud in America." "I don't think that's true," he says, "but I have to work to keep my weight up."
Noseguard and stud linebacker are cornerstones of Utah's 4-3 defense; the stud must at least neutralize the tight end and "control that edge of the defense," says McBride.
The position rarely accumulates statistics. "The stud is the unsung hero. They do the dirty work. What he does is so critical," Whittingham says. "He's got to be able to whip the tight end on a consistent basis."
It's so important the Utes moved all-conference roving linebacker Kautai Olevao to stud last year and planned to move MWC freshman of the year Jason Kaufusi from rush end to stud this season, at least in run situations. Bahr started the first two games, with Kaufusi taking his spot against the runs. While the team was practicing for the now-postponed Air Force game, that was still the plan.
But after that week of practices, Bahr learned the job was his. Kaufusi went back to full-time end.
Bahr is finally living his dream as a starting college football player, a lightweight in a tough position — the one he wanted all along. "It's a pretty important spot. I look at it as a blue-collar spot. You don't make so many tackles, but I love to be in the mix. I love hitting," Bahr says.
He succeeds with great natural leverage. "He's so good with his hands, and his technique is so good. His strength is no weaknesses," says Whittingham.
Bahr had no scholarship offers, other than academic, coming out of Bountiful High, one of 14 children of A. Lee and Carol Ann Bahr. He "gray-shirted" at Utah the first term because he wanted to play all four years following his LDS mission.
An initial walk-on, he redshirted, then had what should have been a career-ending knee injury in his third game as a freshman. He received a football scholarship in January but missed spring ball with the knee injury Whittingham calls "as bad as it gets."
He played every game of his sophomore year on special teams and some at linebacker, and now he's carved out the most-important niche in the linebacking corps.
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com