Rams News

Enis is a battering ram who may soon be a Ram
Sunday, April 12, 1998

By Jim Thomas
Of The Post-Dispatch
He's got the wide body and the wide smile reminiscent of Jerome Bettis.

Now, if only Curtis T. Enis can display Bettis' penchant for ringing up 1,000-yard seasons wherever he goes in the NFL. (Well, everywhere but St. Louis in 1995.)

Unless we're witnessing one of the biggest pre-draft snow jobs in football history, Enis is Dick Vermeil's guy at No. 6 overall. Carol Vermeil cooked him spaghetti. Eyewitnesses report that Enis, all 240-plus pounds, made himself at home and cleaned his plate.

There is little pretense to this guy. Enis is a blue-collar runner from a blue-collar family in Union City, Ohio. His father Lincoln works the assembly line at a truck parts factory. His mother Thelma is a flagger for a paving company.

Enis says sir and ma'am a lot.

"My mom would give me a spanking on her knee if I didn't show respect," he explained.

He actually enjoys the company of the media.

"I love talking to you guys," he said. "You guys have a job to do as well as I do."

When Enis scores a touchdown, he prances (not), gyrates (nope), moonwalks (uh-uh), pounds his chest (no way). Actually, Enis hands the ball over to the ref.

"There's no need for dancing and all that other stuff that goes on," he says.

His mother got him a tape for Christmas one year that featured the best running backs in football. He took a particular liking to Larry Csonka of the Miami Dolphins.

"I've always liked his punishing style," Enis said. "When he goes out there to play, he puts everything behind him. He goes one way - and that's north and south. He's just like an Amtrak. You hardly ever see the guy get derailed."

So it's no coincidence that Enis wore jersey No. 39 at Penn State, the same number Csonka wore at Miami. (And a number currently unoccupied in St. Louis).

"What separates me from a lot of other guys is I get better as the game goes on," Enis said. "As coach (Joe) Paterno always told me, the game isn't won in the first quarter. It's won in the fourth quarter. That's where I excel.

"People say you have to make people miss. But in the fourth quarter, lots of safeties and corners don't like to hit. They want to cover. They decide to make themselves miss."

More gridiron gospel from Enis:

* "My goal every time I touch the ball is to get 5-plus yards."

* "Some of the old throwbacks that you see on film . . . they played football the way it's supposed to be played. You had to block and you had to catch the ball."

* "I don't like it when a little scatback comes in on third down. I want to be a third-down back, too."

A high school All-American at Mississinawa Valley High, Enis was Ohio's Mr. Football as a senior. After a year of prep school in Pennsylvania, he enrolled at Penn State. He began the 1995 season at outside linebacker before injuries at running back forced the Nittany Lions to move him to offense.

He rushed for 683 yards that season, then became the featured back with 1,210 yards and 13 touchdowns in '96, and 1,363 yards and 19 TDs last season. Over the past two seasons he also caught 57 passes for 506 yards and two TDs.

But his '97 season ended on a sour note. He was declared ineligible for the Citrus Bowl after it was learned he had accepted a $400 suit from an agent.

"I'm not going to sit here and say that what I did was correct or that I wouldn't change it," Enis said at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. "I made a mistake. When you do something, you've got to be a man about it, take responsibility and go from there.

"It's something that tested the character of who I am. I do have a backbone. I made a mistake. But it's not like I went out and killed somebody, or was arrested for DWI. I broke a rule, and learned from it."

Enis decided to turn pro a year early after consulting with Paterno and Penn State's NCAA compliance officer - both of whom had talked to NFL people about his draft prospects. Even with the year of prep school, he's only 21.

His next challenge is to prove he's not the next Blair Thomas or Ki-Jana Carter, Penn State stars who were high draft picks but NFL busts.

"Ki-Jana Carter, Blair Thomas and myself are three different styles of runners," Enis said. "Three different people. We're motivated in three different ways. You can't stereotype the three of us together. It's not fair to them or me."

But any comparisons to Bettis, Csonka or Franco Harris? No problem.

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