MEMPHIS — Broderick Green got the headlines, the video footage and his name in the Arkansas and NCAA record books - and rightly so - for his 99-yard touchdown run against Eastern Michigan this season.
But the play wouldn’t have materialized without a gold star point-of-attack block by fullback John Durmon. The former walk-on from Warren has enjoyed a productive second half of the season for the Razorbacks, who face East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl on Saturday.
Durmon blasted an Eastern Michigan linebacker just beyond the hole at left guard and Green cut sharply to his left just after the Durmon assist to begin his long journey down the Razorback Stadium synthetic turf.
“I just tried to hit the guy as hard as I could, and then he made the great cut,” Durmon said of the record breaking play. “It was pretty much all him. I just hit the guy.”
Green takes exception to Durmon’s downplaying of his role in the play, which stands as the seventh 99-yard run in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 1941.
“He helped out a lot,” Green said, “not a little bit.”
So it goes for fullbacks Durmon and Van Stumon in the Arkansas offense. They grab an occasional shout out by a tailback or a coach, but mostly they work hard out of the spotlight.
While the fullback is a fossil in the Spread offense that proliferates in college football, it still serves a role in Bobby Petrino’s system, though almost exclusively as a lead blocker.
“I can’t say that I can complain,” said Stumon, a junior from North Little Rock whohas played on the defensive line and at linebacker since joining the Hogs. “I know my role is to be a good, physical guy, and those plays where I do touch the ball I’ve got to be thankful for them.”
They have been few and far between. Stumon has two carries for 4 yards on the year, and his only catch was a 2-yard touchdown in the season opener against Missouri State. Durmon has one catch for 5 yards.
The fullbacks know how they earn their keep.
“Me and Stu always joke around that you’ve got to love to hit, you’ve kind of got to be a nut job to play fullback, because it’s all those highspeed collisions and stuff like that,” Durmon said.
Stumon, who is also a reserve tight end, began the year as the starting fullback but a shoulder injury slowed him midway through the season, opening the door for Durmon.
Durmon’s name won’t be found next to Green’s on the 99-yard jaunt, but he’ll know he played a role in the record.
“I didn’t know how big it was until my pop and my mom [John and Laura Durmon] called me and they were like, ‘Now you’ll be in the books forever,’ ” Durmon said. “It was kind of a big deal.”
Sports, Pages 15 on 12/31/2009