ShareThisBy JIM SOUHAN
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Desperate to become a part of the University of Minnesota football team, Tony Strouth stormed into new Gophers head coach Tim Brewster's office and started this exchange:
Strouth, shaking a bit: "Coach Brewster, I'm not going to take no for an answer."
Brewster, leaning back in his chair: "I'm not saying no."
Strouth, raising his voice: "I said I'm not going to take no for an answer!"
Strouth offered to run through the wall. Brewster asked him to use the door, and put him on the team.
"He's our Rudy," Brewster said, referring to the movie about the Notre Dame walk-on football player. "Every team needs a Tony Strouth."
Strouth, a freshman defensive lineman, agrees. He played as a junior and senior at nearby Edina High, then enrolled at Minnesota. After witnessing a couple of Brewster's motivational speeches, he became determined to make the team.
After a fiery tryout and his first experience with flop sweat in Brewster's office, Strouth became a walk-on who never walks. "Look at him," Brewster said after a recent practice. "There he goes, running everywhere. I love that kid, and let me tell you, when we put him in a game and he makes a play, our team is going to go crazy."
The Gophers' practice Monday morning was drawing to a close when the players began chanting "Lock-Out! Lock-Out!" Strouth entered the defensive huddle, busted up the middle and closed in on the quarterback.
He is listed as 6-0, 240 pounds, sturdy enough that he doesn't look out of place on the field. But where did that chant -- "Lock-Out!" -- come from?
"We have early-morning practices, and when I first got on the team, I didn't know the building that well," he said. "There had just been a real big snowstorm, and I actually got locked out of the building for about 20 minutes and missed our first meeting.
"The coaches finally found me and let me in. It was right before our first spring practice. I was running around the outside field with two feet of snow up to my knees.
"I like the nickname. And I'm going to lock out some of those guys on the field."
Strouth made an interception in the Gophers' spring game, gathering a tipped pass and showing off his speed during the return. "I made it 2 yards," he said, proudly. "I think I'm the only defensive tackle on the team with yardage."
Daniel (Rudy) Ruettiger was a practice squad player who took one snap for Notre Dame and was carried off the field by his teammates after getting a sack on the last play of his last game. That inspired the popular movie "Rudy."
Strouth doubts he will become the next Rudy. He doesn't think that small. Asked if he knows how "Rudy" ends, Strouth said, "He scores a touchdown, right?"
Not quite. "Well, if I can get out there and make some big things happen, then maybe I'll go to the NFL," Strouth said. "You know? NFL, here I come."
Strouth may be the embodiment of Brewster's enthusiasm. The Gophers don't have a wealth of proven players, they are installing a new offense and defense, and they just dismissed four players -- including standout cornerback Dominic Jones -- accused of being involved in a sexual assault. It's safe to say those players didn't appreciate the opportunity to play college football quite as much as Strouth, who is doing so without a scholarship.
"I'm not quite like the other freshmen, because I was one of Brewster's first walk-ons here," Strouth said. "It's like I've been fostered to grow in Brewster's plan. Everything he is doing, everything he is putting into us, that fire he is putting in our hearts, it's like I was born with it."
So Strouth is not going to take no for an answer, even when the answer is yes.
(Contact Jim Souhan at jsouhan@startribune.com.)
