Rams News

Wistrom could add punch to Rams lineup
04/16 11:50 PM

ByJim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Most football teams look for trained killers at defensive end. If the Rams take Grant Wistrom in the first round Saturday, they will have a pair of trained . . . pharmacists.
At the University of Nebraska, Wistrom was a pre-pharmacy major.
Before getting drafted by the Rams in 1996, Kevin Carter also took a pre-pharmacy curriculum at the University of Florida.
``Really? Wow,'' Wistrom said.
Think of the promotional possibilities.
Carter & Wistrom. . . .
> They push the pocket, not pills.
> Take two and call your doctor in the morning.
> A bitter pill to swallow for opposing QBs.
> The leading cause of headaches in the Trans World Dome.
Wistrom could very well be the Rams' man at No. 6 if Penn State running back Curtis Enis is off the board.
When you think of defensive ends from Nebraska, two names come to mind. Neil Smith, the six-time Pro Bowler with Kansas City and now Denver. He won a Super Bowl championship ring with the Broncos in January.
And Trev Alberts, one of the bigger draft busts in recent years. A fifth overall pick by Indianapolis in 1994, Alberts played 29 games in three injury-plagued NFL seasons before retiring last July.
The Rams, or whoever drafts Wistrom, obviously hope he's closer to Smith than Alberts on that spectrum. Much closer. Perhaps unfairly, Wistrom has drawn comparisons to Alberts, if only because both played at about 250 pounds in college -- which falls in that linebacker/defensive end 'tweener range by NFL standards.
``I've heard that a lot, especially coming into the draft this year,'' Wistrom said. ``That's fine. If people compare us, that's fine. I like Trev a lot. Trev's a good friend of mine, so I'd never say anything bad about him.
``But I think I'm a lot different player than Trev is. And I hope teams give me a chance to prove it.''
He'll get that chance, and he won't have to sit around for long Saturday to learn where. If he's not the Rams' choice at No. 6, Wistrom is thought to be Dallas' choice at No. 8.
Just to make sure no one confuses him with Alberts, Wistrom has beefed up to 270 pounds since the end of the Cornhuskers' season.
``One of the knocks against me was that I was kind of in-between positions,'' Wistrom said. ``I think I'm on my way to answering that question.''
Wistrom didn't really need the extra weight at Nebraska, where now-retired coach Tom Osborne called him: ``The best we've had at rush end.'' Besides, it was hard to bulk up while leading the active life of a student-athlete in Lincoln.
``By going to school and things, I couldn't train and eat like I wanted to,'' Wistrom said.
But Wistrom, an academic all-American as well as a football all-American, took this semester off from school to train and prepare for the NFL.
``The weight's coming on real easy for me,'' he said. ``I just eat quite a bit, and eat often. I feel just as quick as I've ever been. . . . It's good weight. It's all muscle. So I don't see it negatively affecting me.''
When he wasn't pumping iron or feeding his face, Wistrom squeezed in a trip to the Oval Office. As co-national champions, the Cornhuskers and the University of Michigan dropped in at the White House last week. Perhaps he handed President Bill Clinton an autographed copy of his book.
It's called, ``Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter: Heart & Soul,'' and it's the ghostwritten tale of how Nebraska rebounded from the disappointing loss to Texas in the 1996 Big 12 championship game to nab a share of the national title in '97. Peter was Wistrom's defensive line mate and close friend at Nebraska.
Perhaps there will a sequel in St. Louis. ``Carter & Wistrom: In Pharm's Way.''

ARCHIVE

HOME