Farrior Hitting on all Cylinders

Pittsburgh's Farrior Hitting on All Cylinders
By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 22, 2005; Page D01

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 21 -- When James Farrior was a senior at Matoaca High School just south of Richmond in 1993, he had narrowed his college choices to Virginia and Penn State. Late in the recruiting process, then-Virginia assistant coach Bob Petchel, assigned to land Farrior, asked him one day where he would be the following Friday at 8 a.m. because he was planning a surprise for him.

Farrior told him he'd be at school -- where else? -- and Petchel, a former assistant at Penn State, took care of the rest. On the appointed Friday, he arranged to have virtually every member of the Virginia coaching staff, with the exception of then-head coach George Welsh, show up at Farrior's high school to tell him how much they wanted him to come to Charlottesville.

"He walked into the room we were in and started laughing, saying 'I can't believe you did this,' " Petchel, now a U-Va. fundraiser, recalled this week. "I knew the coach at Penn State who was recruiting him and before we left, I told [Farrior] to tell him what we'd just done and to ask him if Penn State would ever get all their coaches to drive down to talk with him. I think he got the message that we wanted him real bad."

Farrior laughed this week when reminded of that story and recalled that Welsh came to his house for a recruiting visit. "My little brother drew this really awful picture of him with a square jaw and a very big nose and ears," he said.

Still, Farrior signed to play at Virginia, where he was a three-year starter, played on an ACC championship team his junior year and graduated with a degree in psychology in four years. He was a first-round draft pick by the New York Jets, and on Sunday will line up at inside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they face the New England Patriots for the AFC championship and perhaps his first trip to the Super Bowl.

Farrior also has made plane reservations for Hawaii the week after the Super Bowl and his first appearance in the Pro Bowl. He'll be a starter for the AFC team following a spectacular season in which his Steelers teammates almost unanimously voted him their most valuable player. Only Farrior himself cast a vote for someone else -- he voted for running back Jerome Bettis. Farrior was runner-up to Baltimore safety Ed Reed as the NFL's defensive MVP, no trifling accomplishment for an athlete who has been called "Potsie" ever since he had a potbelly as a child.

That has long since disappeared from his 6-foot-2, 243-pound frame. In his eighth season in the league, Farrior led the Steelers in regular season tackles with 119, had three sacks, four interceptions, three recovered fumbles and four forced fumbles.

"Any time we need a play, he steps in and makes it," said linebacker Clark Haggans. "He beats the rest of the defense to it."

"I've really enjoyed this season," Farrior said. "I'd like to think I can play better, but it's been a progression for me my whole career. The longer I've played, the better I've gotten. It was just maturation, learning how to play. I guess you could say it took awhile, but I feel very comfortable now in this system, and we all know what our roles are in this defense."

Farrior struggled in his five seasons with the Jets, including three years when Patriots Coach Bill Belichick was his defensive coordinator and Bill Parcells was the head coach. He says now that Belichick was one of the best coaches he ever worked with "and I enjoyed playing for him. He helped me a lot, he was always giving us pointers and tips. The best thing I got from him was play hard every play, never take a snap off."

Farrior began as an outside linebacker in the Jets' 4-3 defense, then played weak-side linebacker when the Jets switched to a 3-4. After the 2001 season, the Jets signed Sam Cowart to play Farrior's position and allowed him to leave as a free agent, a decision they have since come to regret. Farrior has been a perfect fit with the Steelers, who also use a 3-4.

"I told James after we played the Steelers in December that of all the people we've lost since we've been here, he's the one I wish I had back," Jets General Manager Terry Bradway said. "We have pretty good linebackers here, but the way he's played and the kind of guy he is, we know we lost a great one."

The Steelers know the difference Farrior has made.

"He is just a very athletic linebacker who can cover any running back in the league, a for-sure tackler and big hitter," safety Chris Hope said. "When teams try to spread us out to get mismatches, Potsie takes the back, and the back is covered, just covered. He's a great guy, not a big boasting kind of guy, but someone you can always depend on. If everyone is laughing, he's laughing. He's quiet, yeah, but he's for real."

On Sunday, wherever New England running back Corey Dillon goes, with or without the ball, Farrior surely will be close at hand. Dillon did not play in the teams' last game, a 34-20 Pittsburgh victory on Oct. 31, but Farrior has spent a good portion of the week studying film on the Patriots' 225-pound running back and has an idea of what sort of evening it will be.

"He adds another dimension to that offense," Farrior said. "With them having a running game, I'm sure they'll try to pound it at us. We'll have to play things a little different than last time. He's an impressive back, and we'll have to get more than one guy on him. I think we all know what we have to do."