This Mr. Woodson Looks Like A Cougar Away From The Field

Meet Charles Woodson.

No. 2 in the blue. Six feet tall, 167 pounds, non-scholarship walk-on out of Foss High School in Tacoma, two tackles in 1997 … wait a minute. That’s not Charles Woodson.

“Yes, I am,” insisted D.J. Dobbins. “For 2 hours every day.”

Just how do you imitate the inimitable? How do you contrive comparisons for the incomparable? When the Sonics prepare for the Bulls, who plays Michael Jordan in practice - and why does he bother? Can you put skates on a scrub and tell him to be Teemu Selanne?

And just who can Michigan dredge up from the depths to approximate the arm and attitude of Ryan Leaf? Well, the Wolverines aren’t letting anyone into practice, so we don’t know. Michigan’s compound is better guarded than Alamogordo when J. Robert Oppenheimer was coaching the Nuclear All-Stars.

But over at the Los Angeles Coliseum - where Washington State prepares for its first Rose Bowl game in 67 years and custodial personnel try to clean up the blood left from Mike Garrett’s latest back-stabbing - D.J.

Dobbins walks with the gods, or at least the godliest mortals.

For three more days, D.J. Dobbins is Charles Woodson, the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy since the one-platoon era.

But then, sometimes Dirk Bernd is also Charles Woodson - the cornerback who lines up at receiver when Michigan wants to, well, rub it in.

Woodsonphiles would tell you that’s evidence enough: If it takes one plus one to equal No. 2, then their man deserved the Heisman no matter what anyone in Tennessee or Washington says.

So what does D.J. Dobbins say?

“It’s nice to see a defensive back win,” said Dobbins. “But since we didn’t have any DBs in our particular bunch (contending for the Heisman), I think Leaf should have won it. It would have been good for him and for the team.”

Good for the team is what it is when Dobbins blasts Kevin McKenzie or Nian Taylor or Chris Jackson coming off the line of scrimmage in practice, or when he shovels a little smack at Leaf - no matter how much any of it hurts.

To ready the Cougs for the No. 1 defense in the nation, equipment manager Wendell Neal rustled up some Michigan blue jerseys to outfit the WSU scout team and some Spandex helmet covers with famed - or infamous - Michigan wings.

Perfect for the Wolverine on your next Christmas list.

So the Coug scout team looks the part. Dobbins is making sure it acts the part.

“I have to get his techniques down, from his personality to his stance, to all the little things he does,” said Dobbins. “And to be Charles Woodson, I had to get a little cocky this week.”

Was that hard?

“Nah.”

His status on the Wazzu team may be humble, but D.J. Dobbins doesn’t have to be. He looks like a fifth Wayans brother and is funnier than at least a couple of the real ones - a former high school teammate of WSU defensive end Dorian Boose who wasn’t all-state or even all-city but is certainly all-Coug.

And from the UCLA game on, he’s been receivers coach Mike Levenseller’s choice to emulate the best cornerback on whatever team the Cougs were playing. He’s been Brian Kelly of USC one week, Chris McAlister of Arizona another.

And now he’s been promoted.

“I was like, ‘Bring it on,”’ he said of learning of his Rose Bowl assignment. “I mean, Charles Woodson, he’s good - I’ll give him credit - but to me he’s like any other corner. I’ve got to go out and impersonate him and make sure the Fab Five is the Fab Five.”

The Fab Five seem to be just fine in that department, with or without his help. “Five Davids and one Goliath,” said senior Shawn McWashington. “You do the math.”

The Cougar theory is, Woodson can only cover one receiver at a time, though coach Mike Price acknowledged that it’s a question of balance.

“You can’t avoid him all the time - you have to throw to his side to keep things honest,” Price said. “But you don’t want to do it too much, either. You just have to know where he is at all times on the field.”

Of course, that means offense, too. And so at the other end of the practice field in another No. 2 jersey is Bernd, a freshman walk-on from Yakima, running pass routes in Woodson situations.

“I’m just in on certain plays,” he said, “but I’d say he’s got to be a better-than-average receiver if he’s coming in on the offensive side of the ball, too.”

You might say that Michigan tries to create some of the same chaos with Woodson on offense that the Cougs create on almost every snap with five guys. And that chaos, contended McKenzie, is going to swing in Wazzu’s favor.

“In a matter of a few weeks, you’re not going to get excellent coverage against us all the time,” he said. “We’re used to this. They’re not. Somebody’s going to make a mistake and there’s going to be a blown coverage and that’s six points.”

Still, the Cougars can’t afford mistakes of their own in Mr. Woodson’s neighborhood.

“What Charles Woodson does the best is just being Charles Woodson,” Dobbins offered. “You think, ‘Charles Woodson, oh my god, I’m not going to catch anything, they’re not going to throw to my side.’ “

And so Dobbins carries on in practice, bumping receivers at the line of scrimmage and jabbering at Leaf, who finished third to Woodson in the Heisman balloting.

“Mostly it’s, ‘You suck, I won the Heisman and you didn’t,”’ Dobbins said. “Nothing personal.”

And come Thursday, he’ll pack away his blue No. 2 and put on his Cougar 23 and forget about Charles Woodson.

“I might say, ‘What’s up?”’ Dobbins said. “I’m not going to be, ‘Can I have your autograph?’ and all that stuff.”

Besides, if the Cougs should win, Charles Woodson might want to meet Charles Woodson.

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review