Lobo transfer player known for jarring hits

After his three midyear junior college transfer players arrived in December, University of New Mexico football coach Bob Davie introduced them to the veterans by showing the newcomers in action on game film from their previous stops.

Free safety David Guthrie’s film made almost as much of an impact on his new teammates as his bone-jarring tackles had made on his opponents at College of the Siskiyous in northern California.

“Guthrie,” Davie says, “is a contact football player.”

Based solely on Guthrie’s listed height and weight — 5-foot-10, 195 pounds — one might not expect him to be the human wrecking ball on display in those films.

The junior from Tenmile, Ore., says the violent collisions he causes on a football field have multiple sources.

First, there’s the chip on his shoulder he bears from constantly being told he was too small.

“(Recruiters) always said I was fast but that I was too short and didn’t have the ability that (was necessary),” Guthrie says. “I went out there and hit people and made my game around that.

“I’ve always put my game around just hitting really hard and just trying to play smash-mouth football, being really physical.”

Still, a chip on the shoulder, by itself, won’t drop a running back short of the first-down marker or jar a football loose from a receiver.

Guthrie’s listed 195 pounds are virtually all muscle, and his 4.3-second speed in the 40-yard dash is the launching pad.

He’s been a leader among UNM’s defensive backs in strength, speed and agility drills devised by strength-and-conditioning coach Ben Hilgart.

“It’s just being consistent with your workouts, being here on time and putting up good numbers,” Guthrie says. “… I can obviously get better.”

So far, then, we’ve got muscle, speed and the chip on the shoulder. Then, there’s the game itself — the understanding of it, the instincts.

His game, he says, is modeled to some extent on Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu, who like Guthrie is a graduate of Douglas High School in Winston, Ore. The Pro Bowl safety’s cousin, Joe Polamalu, was Guthrie’s coach at Douglas.

“It was nice,” Guthrie sys, “that I had a mentor that was related to (Troy Polamalu) that could remind me of everything he did in high school. Back in high school, I would always try to have really good vision and know where everybody is.”

Knowing where everybody is, though, suddenly has gotten a lot tougher.

“He’s got ability, but his head is swimming right now,” Davie says. “Not only is he learning a new defense, but he’s going against an offense that is as multiple, formation-wise, as any offense in the country.

“Ask any team that played against us (last year); it’s hard to get lined up against our offense. So, (Guthrie’s) getting a double whammy right now.”

Guthrie says he’s enjoying the process.

“It is a lot to digest, a lot to take in,” he says. “… A safety has to make a bunch of calls (in the defense). So there’s a lot of pressure on us. We love that, though, because we’re competitors. The pressure is what makes us who we are.”

Who Guthrie can be, hopes defensive coordinator and secondary coach Jeff Mills, is the Troy Polamalu- or Ronnie Lott-type headhunter that gives wide receivers “alligator arms” on passes over the middle.

“He’s smart; he’s a good student,” Mills says. “He wants to learn, and he’s willing … and that lends itself to wanting to improve on a daily basis.”

The Lobos will have limited contact during spring drills, partly because of NCAA rules and partly because of depth issues.

“I understand it, but I do miss (hitting) a lot,” Guthrie says. “I’ve got (Aug. 31, the date of the Lobos’ season opener against Texas-San Antonio) circled on my calendar.”
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal