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Cowboys give young players a chance

By Bob Ford

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - The expectations are the same here, as suffocating as a midday in July, but the players inside the starred helmets aren't all stars.

In fact, as the Dallas Cowboys attempt to win the NFC East for the sixth straight time, there are 11 first-year players on the active roster. Not since 1984, when the Cowboys were two seasons from their last playoff win and seven years from their next one, has there been such an infusion of untested talent.

The change was dictated by free-agent defections and retirements, and an awareness that the team was aging quickly.

The new players have been welcomed and put to work, but this isn't a franchise that accepts long learning curves. It's excel or exit for the newcomers.

Among the players upon whom the Cowboys have placed the greatest load is a diminutive rookie linebacker named Dexter Coakley. He takes the position vacated by free agent Darrin Smith, who signed with the Eagles.

"I don't know where I could have gone and been accepted the way I've been accepted here this fall," said Coakley, who mans the weakside-linebacker position in the Cowboys' 4-3 alignment.

Most NFL teams that scouted Coakley, drafted by Dallas in the third round, believed he would have to switch to safety to make it in the league. Coakley, according to the Cowboys' exacting measurements, is 5-foot-9-3/4 and 215 pounds.

"I thought I might be overlooked because of my size," said Coakley, a three-time Division I-AA all-American at Appalachian State. "Fortunately, there were also some scouts who came through and didn't hold it against you."

The difference between great teams in the NFL and the rest might be as simple as recognizing potential players for what they are instead of what they're not, and not judging them by either their own size or that of their school.

The Cowboys have a history of dipping into the small-college ranks to find players. Leon Lett came from Emporia State, Erik Williams from Central State, Brock Marion from Nevada-Reno, and Larry Allen from Sonoma State.

Some teams might have dismissed Coakley - twice a winner of the Buck Buchanan Award as the I-AA defensive player of the year - because of his size or resume, but the Cowboys drafted him, took him to camp, and made him a starter.

In the first two games, Coakley had 16 tackles - third most on the team - intercepted a pass, caused a fumble, tackled two runners in the backfield, and earned a sack.

He isn't tall, but Coakley is very fast, and his meaty arms look as if they should belong to a player six inches taller.

"It's a perfect situation because I play with good people all around me," Coakley said. "With the scheme we run here, the defensive linemen cover some ground and allow the weakside linebacker to just run around and make plays. In our scheme, I'm more like a glorified safety, just closer to the line of scrimmage."

Coakley will lurk in the defensive backfield in Monday night's game against the Eagles, waiting for his moment, probably unseen by Ty Detmer much of the time.

"We're going to mix things up and try to rattle him," Coakley said. "We'll try to get him to make mistakes."

The son of a Mount Pleasant, S.C., bricklayer, Coakley didn't get his father's 6-4 frame, but he got his work ethic. And he has speed. Coakley turned in a 4.35-second 40-yard dash for the Cowboys, rare speed for a linebacker.

Once he got to Appalachian State, Coakley worked hard to improve. Mike Kent, an Appalachian assistant, said Coakley went into the weight room "and never went home."

He would eventually set a school record with 616 career tackles and have his number retired.

Through it all, the doubts of others have kept Coakley motivated. And now, as the most productive member of a large incoming class with Dallas, he keeps the pressure on to improve.

What has been the most difficult thing about the pro game for him to master?

"I haven't mastered anything yet," Coakley said with a laugh. "I still have a long way to go."

(c) 1997, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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