The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Wise beyond his years

SIU fullback J.T. Wise was surprised, to say the least.

After the team finished practice Tuesday it made its usual march off the McAndrew turf toward the SIU Arena. As the players went by, the media plucked the usual suspects - Joel Sambursky, Alexis Moreland, Arkee Whitlock - out of the pack.

As Wise went by, he wasn't even looking toward the reporters.

He's the fullback, the lead blocker for three running backs that would dwarf anyone at any school, and enjoys doing it incognito.

Perfectly happy staying out of the spotlight, he continued on his daily trip with the rest of his teammates. Then, out of the blue, he heard his name.

"J.T.," shouted SIU director of media services Tom Weber.

Wise did a double take, took off his helmet and walked over for one of his first, if not one of his final, interviews of the season.

"Wow," one Saluki coach remarked. "We must be winning."

As the recorder rolled for the interview, Wise transformed. Despite being a vital cog in the Saluki machine, he looked like a deer in the headlights, something he admitted to later.

He started and ended about every sentence without authority, using "I think" several times.

He said definitely quite a bit, answered questions in circles and looked nervously at the recorder.

That's not really him, but when he's forced to talk to strangers about football, he locks up. Wise prefers to do all his talking where he is at his best - on the football field.

"I get kind of embarrassed in the public eye," Wise said. "I don't really like getting attention, to be honest with you. I'm just used to being low key, doing my job."

That's been a theme for Wise this year - shutting up and getting the job done.

As the Saluki running backs continue to pile up yards, as well as feature stories in out of town publications, Wise shies away from any sort of publicity and continues to do what he does best - old-fashioned blocking.

For every long Whitlock run, Wise was there a half-second earlier, plowing a path for the best backfield in America. He has only accumulated 26 total yards himself, but Wise has been an integral part of nearly every one of SIU's 1,054 rushing yards this season.

No one keeps statistics for blocking fullbacks, but if there were, Kill said he would among the leaders.

"Right now, he's a big reason we've had success in the run game, and he's an excellent pass blocker," said SIU head coach Jerry Kill, who called Wise the most underrated Saluki last week. "We definitely can't afford to be without him."

Those are not words one will hear from Wise, who mentioned how much he needed to improve three times in an eight-minute interview.

But as far as fundamentals and on-the-field intelligence go, Kill said Wise is at the top of his class and is far ahead of the normal curve of a sophomore.

The fact he stumbles and seems nervous during interviews, Kill said, means nothing. He carries an intelligent persona everywhere else, including the classroom, and is one of the least painful people Kill has to coach.

"Don't let him fool you," Kill said. "He's a very intelligent young man."

It's that intelligence that allowed him to break into the starting lineup, an opportunity that arose when senior fullback Matt Weishaar was injured in the preseason.

Normally, that injury would have been suffered by Wise. He has now pulled his right hamstring six times, missing one training camp, two springs and playing in only 12 games the past two years.

It's an injury he fears may never heal, citing the hamstring problems of Ken Griffey Jr., but he is doing his best under the circumstances.

"It's something you gotta deal with, and you gotta take care of it or you'll have problems your whole career," Kill said. "Once you pull one, you can pull it again."

Thus far, Wise has had no problems, and Kill said he will start at fullback for the rest of the season.

That's just fine with SIU's current tailbacks, who have meshed with Wise and are already used to running behind him. Even Whitlock, with his tremendous speed, loves the two-back offense and is more than happy to follow Wise around.

"The very first game, I kind of realized he's one of the best blockers we got," Whitlock said. "I'd love to run behind him anytime."

Wise sees the statistics of Whitlock, Jacobs, Terry Jackson and the other backs as his own and is delighted with this season's success. He's even managed to make a splash a few times, including a crucial fourth down catch at Northern Illinois.

But Wise knows he is not former fullback Brandon Robinson, someone who can rush, catch passes and block, and expects to be replaced by newcomer Craig Turner eventually.

Turner, in his freshman season, has proved he can do it all, and Wise is doing his best to help him along.

If Turner replaces him, Wise said he wouldn't be bitter about. He said he is "not stupid" and knows how good the true freshman is. All Weis is looking for is respect from his teammates, and he already has plenty of that.

As long as his teammates continue to notice him, the media can disappear and it wouldn't bother him at all.

"To be honest with you, I don't care if the media or fans notice me," Wise said, stepping back from the tape recorder, looking candid and showing passion for the only time in the interview. "I know this year the players have noticed me, my teammates have noticed me - and I've improved and I'm playing hard.

"They respect me, so that's all I care about."