Nov. 2, 2001

By Erika Snoberger

Crouching at the line of scrimmage, Baylor's opposing defenses this season can expect to get grilled. And they better have something to say, because the 310-pound, grinning senior lineman on the other side won't stop his machine-gun interrogation until he gets an answer...or a punishing pancake.

Jon Erickson returns to the offensive line this year as one of the biggest - and bubbliest - Bears on the squad. But don't let your guard down, because he'll get into your head.

"I try to talk to people as much as possible," he said. "What I've found is that the most annoying thing to a defensive lineman is someone who just wants to talk. "Hey how are things going at your school? How's your season been going? How was it when you played Oklahoma? Do you have a girlfriend? Whoa, that guy they had in for you is pretty bad - do the coaches know he's that bad?'"

For Erickson, it's all just part of the game, a game that almost didn't happen for the Richardson native.

He started out as a 6th-grade quarterback but by high school, the spotlight had all but flickered out. He was a permanent bench-warmer during his freshman year and saw limited playing time as a sophomore, junior varsity offensive guard. As a junior, however, things improved and Erickson excelled at offensive guard. But the following season, just two games in, he suffered a double tear of his ACL and MCL.

"I had a lot of recruiting interest those first couple weeks, and I was on all the lists (of high school prospects)," he said. "Once word got out that I tore my knee, everyone seemed to lose my phone number."

After surgery and a year of thought, Erickson decided to re-enter the game, because he "never wanted to be a 40-year-old saying 'what if.'" Once at Baylor, Erickson realized his athletic euphoria and found himself constantly setting new goals to follow up the ones he accomplished the year before.

But "Big-E," as his teammates know him, has proven himself beyond the football field. He refuses to take on the "dumb jock" title and will graduate this year with a business degree in finance.

"Linemen are smart - no matter what people try to tell you," Erickson said with a smile. "I'm not sure yet what I want to do with my (degree), but my dad wants me to take one of those aptitude tests that tells you what you're supposed to so with your life. I'm just afraid it's going to tell me to be a trash man, and that would ruin everything."

While Erickson's success has certainly been visible on and off the field, he admits there are times when hard work is frustrating.

"At times, I think it would be more rewarding to be a defensive lineman," he said. "I promise you, I've run through that play on the goal line a thousand times in my head: You're coming off your block, the running back fumbles (the ball) into the endzone and you jump on it for the touchdown."

While those shining moments on the field live so far only in his mind, Erickson's toothy smile and chatty personality reveal his unstoppable work ethic and drive to succeed.

"Especially after having experienced a season-ending injury, you realize if that ever would happen again, someone could come in and take your spot and you'd never see it again. I just treat every game as though it were my last," he said. "It's a blessing for me to even be here in the first place. There's not many people who have the opportunity to do what I'm doing."