UB's Means find way at end
Word of the potential possessed by Steven Means surfaced before he arrived on the University at Buffalo football roster.
He was a practicing redshirt, a young man months out of Grover Cleveland High School, when behind-the-scenes chatter revealed that no one on the Bulls starting offensive line could contain this whirlwind of a defensive end. Just wait, went the popular refrain. Just wait until he's in uniform and unleashed in a game.
Given the rampant hype, the emergence of Means took longer than expected. Late in training camp he was beaten out for the starting job that once seemed secure. His playing time increased in small increments, as did his in-game visibility. On Oct. 10, against Gardner-Webb, Means was inserted into the starting lineup. And from that point on for opposing quarterbacks he's been a Stephen King novel come to life.
Means produced two quarterback sacks in his debut start, becoming the first UB player with two sacks in a game since current Oakland Raider Trevor Scott in September 2007. In the second start, Means did it again, twice dropping Akron quarterback Patrick Nicely for losses. No one had recorded multiple sacks in consecutive games in UB's modern Division I-A history, which dates to 1999.
Junior Bruno Lapointe, the left defensive end, has a wealth of insight when he discusses Means' capabilities. Lapointe's time with the Bulls bridges the gap between Scott, who graduated two seasons ago, and Means.
"I always thought [Means] was going to be a great pass rusher," Lapointe said. "I was around Trevor when I first got here. That same kind of speed, change of direction. He's got all the moves."
Means' arrival in the starting lineup was delayed for multiple reasons. His version is that he slacked off late in training camp, believing the job was already his.
"I just felt like I had it, so there wasn't a lot more I needed to do to get it because I already had it," Means said. "A rookie mistake I guess."
There was more to it. Early in the summer, head coach Turner Gill cautioned that Means' raw technique and deficient run-stopping ability might reduce his playing time at the outset. Determined to claim the starting job that went to junior Jerry Housey, Means began to make up ground.
"Had some skill, had some talent, but he had to understand how to play the game, understand how to use his talents," Gill said. "He's still got some things he needs to work on, using his hands more, using his speed. He had speed and he had good length, so trying to teach him how to take advantage of what he had and use it. I think over the process now and the journey he's been on the first seven games, it's finally starting to click."
"That's pretty much what it boiled down to as well," Means agreed. "There was a lot of technique stuff that I didn't have and I need to still also work on. It's pretty much just shoot my hands, staying low, a lot of stuff like that. It'll come along as long as I keep working."
Raw athletic ability provides Means a distinct advantage. He's a chiseled 6-foot-3, 234 pounds. Tests conducted last year put his vertical leap at 36 inches. It's a challenge for quarterbacks to dodge him or launch an accurate throw over his outstretched arms.
"You can use the word "freak' kind of to describe him," Lapointe said. "He's a really athletic guy. He's really strong, really fast. Obviously he just came from high school so his technique wasn't really as polished as it is now. And it's still, I mean I've been here for four years and I still do technique errors. And obviously he's going to do more, but since he's so athletic you want to get a guy like that on the field. ... He's got four sacks and every time he's started he gets two sacks a game. If he keeps it up ..."
That first sack, against Gardner-Webb, delivered Means into a euphoric state. Until the season commenced he'd gone 22 months without playing in a football game. The sack was his first in more than two years, since he was wearing Grover green and white.
"It was very emotional," he said. "... Unexplainable."
Means' enthusiasm may have waned during training camp, but there's no mistaking the exuberance he's feeling in contributing as last year's scuttlebutt said he would. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct against Akron for reacting to a sack by pointing to his father Steve and brother, Brandon, a player at East High, in the crowd.
"It most likely won't happen again," Means laughed.
It's a small tradeoff, an understandable lack of discretion. Multiple sacks in consecutive games? An unprecedented feat in UB's modern football history? From here on out it's known as a Means Streak.
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