Linebacker intimidates foes but shows soft spot off field
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
The sight of linebacker Rocky Boiman sends shivers down opposing players' spines, with his devilish fire-red hair, glare that shoots bullets and imposing physique. The fierce competitor intimidates foes from the moment he marches onto the football field.
A different image arises in the mind of 11-year-old Lindsey Boiman, Rocky's sister.
"That's just on the football field," Lindsey said. "He loves football and just takes it really seriously. He's not exactly the kind that would come and beat me up like some brothers would."
Rocky Boiman might as well have a split personality, for all the similarities between his persona on and off the field.
"On the field, he's nasty — he goes after you," said Steve Rasso, Boiman's coach at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Off the field, he's soft-spoken, looks like a booksy type of guy. He's really a gentleman, but when he buckles that chinstrap, you'd better watch out."
Staring down the opposition
Once he suits up in his Notre Dame uniform, Boiman displays no qualms about tackling an opposing player with all the force of a tow truck.
"When I'm on the field, I think I'm in a different kind of mental state," Boiman said. "I'm just so focused on what we have to do. I just want to get to the ball carrier, knock somebody down, do whatever it takes. I take it life-or-death serious wise."
The team's third-leading tackler, Boiman tears opposing teams' offenses to shreds with his speed and power. In the first three games of 2000, he's already registered 24 tackles, including two sacks.
"Every time I'm out there, I just tell myself I want to dump it out, dump everything I have out on that field, and after the game, I don't even want to be able to walk because I gave my best effort," Boiman said.
Boiman carries so much intensity into games and practice that he even surprises his own teammates at times.
"He doesn't back down to other players from other teams," fellow linebacker Tyreo Harrison said. "You might have to hold him back a little bit. He fits really well into the aggressive defense, especially what the coaches want this year, the intimidation factor."
Rasso added, "He has unbelievable intensity. He's the kind of guy who was born to play football. You'd have to kick him out of the weight room. He loved to come to practice."
Improvement comes naturally to Boiman's game — it's the product of 100 percent effort every day in practice.
"Something I'm really concerned with is trying to get better each week, better each day, whatever that takes," Boiman said. "I just want to improve in all areas as a football player, no matter what they are. No one area do I want to limit myself to."
Notre Dame linebackers coach Kirk Doll appreciates the energy and work ethic Boiman gives to the Irish.
"I think he brings an attitude of physical toughness," Doll said. "The way he practices and plays is a great example to the younger kids. You always want them to improve each week, and I think Rocky's done that."
All in the family
The grit necessary to succeed on the gridiron runs in the Boiman family. Rasso, who's been coaching high school football for 38 years, also coached Boiman's father, Michael, as a player for LaSalle High School.
"His dad was like 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, maybe 185 pounds, but he was tough as nails," Rasso said. "He [Rocky] takes after his father, and is as tough as nails. I can see where he gets that football side of him."
Although Michael Boiman never played college football, Rocky says it's his dad who's helped him most to improve as a player.
"He's taught me so much about drive and working hard. What he's taught me is just to learn all that I can from a bunch of different people," Boiman said. "If you see somebody doing something good, doing something the right way, ask them, ask them to show it to you until you get it down."
Family is the one thing that comes before football for Boiman. He and his sister, Lindsey, share an especially close bond.
"My little sister, she's 11-years-old, and it's a big age difference, but even with that, I think that we're very, very close," Rocky said. "I think she looks up to me and I try to do whatever I can to help her out because she's a tremendous person, she's going to be a tremendous person."
The feeling is mutual.
"We're really close. He does a lot for me, me being his younger sister," Lindsey said. "I'm really proud of him and he's worked really hard. He deserves to be out there."
Rocky holds his relationship with his parents, Michael and Linda, as dear to him as that with his sister.
"My parents are so great. I wouldn't be where I'm at without my parents, and that's something they've kind of molded me towards," Rocky said. "They said, `Hey, there are a lot of crazy things that happen in this world, a lot of hurt and bad things. If you can just make life easier for somebody else or just make people enjoy life a little bit, then you're helping out.'"
When Irish eyes are smiling
Boiman harbored dreams of playing for the Irish even as a youngster, in time earning a scholarship to Notre Dame, and later, a spot in the starting lineup.
"It's somewhere I've wanted to play ever since I was little, so for me to be on the team and to be successful is just a dream come true," Boiman said. "I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to be blessed like I am. To be in this situation, it's really something else."
Despite his childhood fantasy of playing football for the Irish, Boiman avoided leaping into Notre Dame blindfolded.
"I took the time to look at other places, too," Boiman said. "But I still really fell in love with the place. É Someplace else might look better at the time, but I just thought, 20, 30 years from now, how could I look back and say, `I turned down a scholarship to Notre Dame.' There's no way I could do that."
Boiman signed with Notre Dame over Michigan and a host of other Big 10 schools prior to his senior year of high school. Yet even his strong academic background at Xavier and lifelong dream of coming to Notre Dame failed to fully prepare him for the rigors of being a Notre Dame student-athlete.
"A lot of people don't realize it's really tough to play here," Boiman said. "Just with the pressures of academics and the pressures to win week in and week out, an individual has to be pretty mentally tough to play here and be successful here.
"People are always watching what you do, good or bad, and they especially notice when you do something bad, so that's something that you've got to be aware of."
As a pre-professional major considering going into medicine, Boiman bears an even heavier burden than most athletes do. But the demands that accompany a Notre Dame football scholarship haven't lowered Boiman's opinions of the school. In fact, they may have raised them.
"I can't really say in one thing or another, but Notre Dame is special," Boiman said. "I don't care what anybody says, but we could lose the rest of our games this season and next year and the year after that, and we would still be Notre Dame. Notre Dame is college football as far as I'm concerned."
After a surprisingly strong 2-1 start against three top-25 teams, the Irish don't appear to be in danger of going on an eight-game losing streak.
"The team's potential is tremendous," Boiman said. "I think the sky's the limit. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best defense and has the potential to be the best defense since I've been here. I think the intensity and the desire that we play with was unmatched in the other years."
The passion and desire Boiman senses on this year's Irish are putting wins on the Irish record, which, coming on the heels of a 5-7 season, are as welcome as sunshine on a winter day in South Bend.
"Last year, it was hard, but I think in the long term, that was a good thing for us," Boiman said. "Sometimes Coach Davie talks about how you've got to feel bad before you can feel good. I think we kind of saw that bad side and that dark side. We worked through that, and now things are really starting to pay off for us."
Boiman's hard work and positive attitude are certainly paying dividends for both he and his teammates as they continue to exceed all preseason expectations. Right now, they're holding target practice each day with the bulls' eye being the National Championship.
"The team's potential is tremendous," Boiman said. "I think the sky's the limit. Week in and week out, it's going to take an unbelievable effort from both sides of the field."
It won't be Boiman who misses the target.
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 22, 2000
