Oct. 18, 2008

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

As opposing receivers are quickly learning, there's no such thing as a safe zone in the middle of Baylor's defense. Once you pass the hashmark on a crossing route, you've entered Jordan Lake territory.

And there's no "Welcome" sign waiting for you. Just ask Iowa State receiver Darius Dark, who was sent to the sidelines twice on crushing blows delivered by the Bears' 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior free safety.

"If you come across the middle, that's my territory," said Lake, who has five pass breakups, 39 tackles and a forced fumble halfway through the season. "I've got a scholarship to protect that little area inside the hashes. That's my job, and I take it seriously."

Not since Mike Welch, an All-Southwest Conference safety in 1990, has Baylor had such a head-hunting force in the secondary. Interceptions and fumble recoveries are all well and good, but Lake seems to live for the big hit.

"That's the thing about defense, period. Playing with great effort and being physical," said first-year defensive coordinator Brian Norwood. "Jordan wants that to be his calling card, as well as our team's. He's a guy that works his butt off. And if he gets knocked down, he's going to get back up. He just has a passion for the game."

Lake said his knockout blows go all the way back to the fourth grade and his pee-wee football days in Houston, where he actually kept a running injury count. Born six years after Jack Tatum's last game in the NFL, Lake is a throwback to the legendary Oakland Raider safety that was nicknamed, "The Assassin."

"I've been kind of waiting for a shot," he said. "I even had some friends who were like, `When are you going to lay somebody out?' So it was good to get that one (the hit on Dark) under my belt. It's just a good feeling running through someone's chin and putting them out. It feels like you're running through a big paper cutout of somebody. There's just no resistance."

After tearing his left labrum (shoulder joint) in last year's game against Kansas State, Lake underwent off-season surgery and had to sit out the first spring training under new head coach Art Briles.

Whether he was slow coming back from the injury or struggling to adjust to the new defense, Lake struggled in the first four games. With no exhibition games to prepare him, Lake had to play his way back into the form that he showed a year ago, when he earned second-team All-Big 12 honors.

"I guess I wanted to think that I could pick up where I left off just right away," he said. "I remember a couple of times at the end of the game being like, `That was kind of boring.' I didn't really do anything. But I'm finally starting to feel really comfortable back there. That last game, I could barely walk after the game, so I knew I had played a game."

Playing closer to the line of scrimmage in last year's 4-2-5 defensive scheme, Lake racked up a team-high 120 tackles to rank third in the Big 12 and 30th nationally. But in the more traditional 4-3 defense that Norwood brought with him from Penn State, Lake is involved less in run support and more in drop-back zone pass coverage.

"I think the more he plays in it, the better he's going to get," Norwood said. "He plays hard. His effort and passion for the game is a big plus. His strengths - tackling, running to the ball - all of those things are consistent. And he's still wanting to get better. He's always asking what he needs to do, the little technique things that he needs to continue to improve on. But he's doing a great job for us back there."

As a physical player who lives for the big hit, Lake is troubled by the increasing number of rules and calls against defensive players. That includes banning horse-collar tackles - grabbing the back-inside of an opponent's shoulder pads from behind and yanking the player down - and helmet-to-helmet hits on "defenseless" receivers.

New York Jets safety Eric Smith was suspended one game and fined $50,000 last month for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Arizona Cardinals receiver Anquan Bolden.

"To me, that's football," Lake said. "For him to be fined $50,000 and be suspended for a game, especially when somebody from the back hit him into (Bolden) to begin with, I thought that was a little ridiculous. It's really not fair to let the offense just kind of run wild and then put all these limitations and restraints on the defense.

"Like the horse-collar, to me, is a stupid rule. That's 15 yards. That could change a game. And I've seen it called multiple times where they have a hold of the back of the pads, but they're really bringing him down from the other side or the arms or chest. Besides, it's football. How are you going to limit how to tackle somebody? They can run with the ball and basically do anything they want, so you should be able to tackle them any way you can."

And if there's no other choice, Lake knows what he's going to do. Even if the flag is coming.

"If I happen to grab someone's horse call, `Whoops, sorry, Coach.' I'm not going to try to. But if that's the only way to take someone down, that's what I'll do. That's my biggest problem with it. If that's the only way to take someone down running from behind, and it's tacked on to what they already have, that's absurd."

Despite the "new school" Mohawk haircut, Lake is as "old school" as it gets. Turn a natural grass field into a muddy swamp, and then replace today's head gear with leather helmets, and he would be right at home.

"I'm still trying to figure out the hairdo," Norwood said. "But hey, whatever floats his boat. As long as he keeps playing like he has, I don't care how he cuts his hair."

The Bears (3-3, 1-1) face eighth-ranked Oklahoma State (6-0, 2-0) at 2:05 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater.