The collisions started occurring when Rich Larsen sent his youngest child onto the Pop Warner practice field with some simple advice.\"I said, 'Spence, you look for the guy with the wrong color shirt, and you just knock him down,\" said the father, who ended up feeling sorry for the youngster on the receiving end of his son's first jarring hit.\"He just drilled this kid.\"Almost two decades later, Spencer Larsen is still at it.Media following the Denver Broncos began buzzing about the play of a special-teams rookie about four weeks into the 2008 National Football League season. A headline in the Colorado Springs Gazette read \"Larsen turns heads with his big hits\" after the University of Arizona product collided with a Kansas City kick returner, knocking his helmet off and sending it rolling across the turf.Success — some of it improbable — continued to follow Larsen throughout his first year in the NFL. But for those who have witnessed his commitment to faith, family and the game of football, Larsen's standout season comes as no surprise. Unlike the players on the receiving end of those hits, they saw this all coming.\"He set his goals and he just would not let go,\" Rich Larsen said.
Professional football has been in Spencer Larsen's plans since those Pop Warner days.\"I always saw myself playing in the NFL,\" said the now 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker.He didn't get there, however, in a conventional manner. Larsen had to make adjustments along the way and endure some difficult — and even tragic — circumstances.Raised in Mesa and Gilbert, Ariz., Larsen accepted a scholarship from the University of Arizona after graduating from Highland High School in 2002. During his first year in Tucson, he played alongside future NFL All-Pro Lance Briggs and started several games as a freshman. But the promising linebacker put his career on hold to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile from 2003-04.It's a commitment he went back and forth on initially, but realized he'd regret not making.\"I knew if I didn't go on my mission, there would be something missing,\" Larsen said. \"I knew I'd be OK walking away from the game.\"In just his second practice after returning from his mission, Larsen tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, forcing him to miss a portion of the 2005 season.But Larsen, who used to work construction jobs with his father, quickly worked his way back onto the field, and by the time his career at Arizona was over, he was named first-team all-conference. He was also the Pac-10's scholar athlete of the year in 2007.Despite his college credentials, Larsen had to contend with questions about his speed after posting an unimpressive time in the 40-yard dash, one of the key tests used to evaluate pro prospects. Arizona assistant Tim Kish, who coached linebackers during Larsen's final three years in Tucson, advised scouts that his former player would find his way onto an NFL roster.\"It (was) a no-brainer that he was going to be a success at the next level,\" Kish said. \"You can't measure the heart of a football player with a stopwatch.\"Getting drafted, however, required some adjusting. On the second day of the NFL Draft, then-Denver head coach Mike Shanahan called Larsen and asked if he would be willing to play the fullback position. Larsen said yes, and minutes later, the Broncos selected him with their sixth-round pick.\"At that point I was willing to do anything,\" he said.Once he arrived in Colorado, however, Larsen experienced an emotional upheaval. Instead of participating in the first day of Broncos training camp, Larsen returned home to his family in Arizona after his 2-year-old niece accidentally drowned.\"He was distraught,\" said his mother, Teri Larsen.One week later, on the day of his niece's funeral, Larsen left camp for the second time when his wife, Ann, gave birth to their second child. Some newspaper columnists in the Denver-area media told the family's story.\"What's really hard is putting so much importance into something when there's people grieving so much,\" Larsen told the Rocky Mountain News. \"Myself included.\"Teri Larsen said her son \"carried on.\" He eventually made the Broncos' roster, and subsequently began making plays on special teams. The highlight of his season came on Nov. 16 in Atlanta, when he started at both fullback and linebacker, becoming the first player in franchise history to start on offense and defense in the same game.\"It was a big deal around the league,\" Larsen said. \"The way people reacted to it, I didn't expect.\"With his first season in perspective, Larsen hopes he's established himself as \"a dependable player who's willing to do whatever (the team) needs.\" Though he'd prefer to play linebacker in the future, he ended the year listed as the Broncos' starting fullback.Kish, a 33-year coaching veteran, said Larsen has \"great character,\" and he's not surprised the former Wildcat was willing to set aside his first love of playing defense.\"Spencer is going to do whatever it takes to make his team successful and not pout about it,\" Kish said. \"I think the best is yet to come.\"
Throughout his career, the big-hitting linebacker's commitments to team, faith and family have made an impact beyond the football field.After Larsen began gaining notoriety for his on-field play, Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star wrote that \"the Broncos have now discovered what the UA learned in Larsen's four wonderful seasons: He plays winning football and is a one-of-a-kind, positive and engaging locker-room presence.\"Kish called Larsen a \"team-first player from the get-go\" who helped \"bond\" the Wildcat defense during his time in Tucson.\"He was just such a positive person and just never let anything get him down,\" said Kish.Being a Mormon and a returned missionary added to the persona.According to his parents, one of the reasons Larsen chose to play at Arizona was to be an example for his church. During his career, reporters tended to gravitate toward him, said Rich Larsen, who added that his son's interpersonal skills and amiable nature were honed during missionary service.\"He was articulate because of his mission,\" Rich Larsen said. \"He could talk to people, and he was just pleasant to be around.\"At least once, though, the attention has been a little embarrassing.In the same Gazette article about Larsen's \"vicious\" hits, he is described as a \"model citizen\" who \"will often sit at his locker quietly and read the Book of Mormon.\" Larsen bristled somewhat at the article, hoping he wouldn't be perceived as trying to appear pious.But according to his mother, that's just who Spencer is. Teri Larsen remembers her son leaving for a movie with a group of friends when he was younger but calling 10 minutes later, saying he needed a ride home. His friends had chosen to watch an R-rated movie.\"He wasn't mad,\" Teri Larsen said. \"He wasn't upset. We just went and got him. It wasn't a big deal. ... He does what he does because that's just who he is.\"In truth, reading scriptures in the locker room between meetings and practice sessions is just one way Larsen attempts to maintain his spiritual priorities within the NFL environment.Now that he's in a profession where Sunday games are the norm, Larsen has made other adjustments beyond the linebacker-fullback switch. He attends the temple during the week, and often goes on splits with the full-time missionaries, according to his parents.\"You try to find time during the days to get your scripture study in,\" Larsen said. \"The temple's really important because you're not getting your full church schedule on Sunday.\"When the Broncos played home games on Sunday, Larsen would leave the team hotel and find a 9 a.m. sacrament meeting before tending to football commitments.\"By doing that I was able to stay as close as I could to the weekly routine,\" he said. \"I think each year I'll get better and better at doing that.\"Larsen also tries to spend as much time as he can during the season with his two children and wife, Ann, whom he knew in high school and began dating after his mission. She isn't at the stadium on game day, opting instead to take the boys to church.Larsen uses the word \"we\" when describing his football career.\"This thing is as family-oriented as you get,\" he said. \"I wouldn't be anywhere without the support of my wife.\"
The Larsens are now back in Arizona spending the offseason close to both sides of the family. According to Teri Larsen, her son, who had a fear of public speaking prior to his mission, is looking forward to addressing LDS youths in the community.One message he wants to share is that kids do not need to compromise their standards, and that full-time missionary service isn't an obstacle to other goals.\"You can still do anything that you want to do and work hard for it,\" he said. \"A mission should if anything heighten your standards and increase your expectations.\"Larsen, who will turn 25 soon, hopes his now-reached NFL dream has some \"longevity,\" and he's planning to play professional football as long as he can.But what Rich and Teri Larsen care most about is their son's character.\"We're more proud that he's a good person than we are about his football,\" Rich Larsen said.And while Larsen built somewhat of a reputation as a fierce hitter, his parents say that \"killer instinct\" only goes so far.\"Spence only has that on the field,\" Rich Larsen said. \"He is a nice kid.\"Just don't have the wrong color shirt on.\"
E-mail: ashill@desnews.com