Boston College Athletics
Goodwin Ready To Tackle Season
August 26, 2003 | Football
Aug. 26, 2003
By Jack Clary
Welcome back, Doug Goodwin.
It's been seven months of hard work strengthening and revitalizing his surgically repaired hip, but Boston College's 6-1, 297-pound defensive tackle is ready to go Saturday against Wake Forest. Actually, some head-knocking against the Deacons is preferable to the almost interminable time of no activity, followed by leg raises, work in the swimming pool, having the hip packed in ice and jogging, which he did day-after-day throughout the late winter and early spring to bring his body back to full strength.
Doug injured his hip against Virginia Tech in last season's fifth game, and didn't play again until BC faced Toledo in the Motor City Bowl. Two months later, he underwent surgery to repair the hip and since then, he has spent every day on a rehabilitation program and reclaiming his football skills.
All of which is good news for the rest of the Eagles defense, which needs this massive young psychology major from Freeport, New York to strengthen the middle of its line.
Goodwin is listed as a defensive tackle, but he often breaks down his position to the specialized duties of playing nose tackle. Now, if you somehow have sprung a mental leak and are looking for a truly unglamorous job, then that's the place you want to be because it gives you the privilege of being beaten upon by an opposing center and guard on nearly every play.
But if anyone can handle the job, Goodwin is the man. Sit across a table from him and your vision is engulfed by a body so massively muscular that it blocks out the view of anything coming at you. That mass also includes a pair of arms that more closely resemble the drive shafts of those legendary, huge 18-wheel steam locomotives that hauled 100-car freight trains across the country. They are prime weapons that he uses to stave off aggressive centers and guards hell-bent on flattening him.
It is not all brute strength that lets him succeed. Goodwin is a fine athlete, who was good enough to compete in the shot put for the Eagles track and field team this past winter and qualified for the BIG EAST Conference indoor meet. As a high schooler at Holy Trinity on Long Island, he won the gold medal in the discus throw at the 1999 Empire State Games with a meet
And he has the tools which mark good athletes.
"Quick hands," he says without hesitation when asked whether it is more important to have them or quick feet to be a successful defensive tackle. "You need them to shed a blocker, whether you're playing the nose or have gap responsibility. It helps to be really quick but if a guy gets on you and you can't shed him, then you're of no use to your defense on that play."
Goodwin recalls how hard it was working against Notre Dame center Jeff Faine in 2001 when the teams battled at Alumni Stadium. Faine finished his career as a two-time all-America and a first round pick of the Cleveland Browns in last April's NFL draft; and he was college football's consensus best lineman in 2002. He and Goodwin didn't face each other last year because Doug's hip injury forced him to miss the Eagles victory.
"He was very strong and he gave me fits," Goodwin recalled of the 2001 battle. "If I didn't get his hands off me right away, he'd lock me up. We battled all night. I didn't face anyone like him last year during the five games I played."
Goodwin said it has also helped him that during practice in his freshman year, he battled guard Paul Zukauskas; and the following year, had long contact sessions against Paul LeQuerre. "They made the pros and that meant a lot to me, in terms of confidence, because I had battled them and proved to myself that I could play against guys of that caliber. They gave me great looks and helped me to understand what offensive guards did."
Defensive tackles will either play against offensive linemen who are directly across from them, or in the gap between the center and guard, or a guard and tackle. When he plays a "gap" defense between two linemen, he has only one thing in mind: Get past them and bust the play.
"The key to good defensive tackle play is being very low to the ground, getting a good take-off out of your stance and making contact beneath the chins of the offensive linemen," Goodwin said. "We attack with enough force to thrust through them and establish another line of scrimmage about five yards up field. Then once we see the ball carrier, we get off our blocks and make the tackle."
Another key is the unspoken communication between players, and that's where Goodwin and his tackle mate, Tom Martin are right now.
"We've been together long enough that we can pretty much guess correctly where everybody is going," he said. "Most of our basic defenses feature twists or slants so if an offensive player takes a different route, we have established a natural feel for how each other will react so that we don't get in each other's way."
For his career, Goodwin has started 22 games (plus three post-season). After starting six as a redshirt freshman in 2000, he played a full season in 2001. Among his 50 tackles that year were a dozen for a loss, including the first safety by a BC player since 1994.
Now, he's looking forward to another full season.
(Jack Clary is a regular contributor to Boston College programs, and author of Field of Valor: Duty, Honor, Country, and Winning the Heisman.)
