Dan Klecko expected the comparisons. After all, he is playing at his father Joe's alma mater, wears his No. 73 jersey and lines up at the same defensive tackle position for the Temple Owls.
What he never expected was to be an All-America or to hear these words of praise from someone like Pitt coach Walt Harris:
“We think Dan Klecko is one of the best football players in our league and one of the best players in America. You have to block him, run and pass.”
Forgive Klecko, a 6-foot-1, 276-pound senior from Colts Neck, N.J., for his humble persona. Sure, he is the son of a five-time All-Pro selection with the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts. But he also was lightly recruited coming out of high school, with offers coming only from Division I-AA Hofstra and Massachussets and Big East Conference bottom-feeder Temple.
“I never expected to have a coach call me one of the best players in America,” Klecko said. “I just wanted to play in the Big East Conference and to play Division I-A football. I never expected any of this. I just wanted to play a little as time went on.”
Instead, Klecko is one of the nation's most highly regarded defensive linemen and a run-stuffing force for Temple (3-6, 1-3) which visits Pitt (7-2, 4-0) at noon Saturday at Heinz Field in a pivotal Big East Conference game.
The Panthers are coming off a 28-21 victory at then-No. 3 Virginia Tech and earned national rankings of No. 22 by The Associated Press and 23rd by ESPN/USA Today. Temple needs a victory to keep its bowl hopes alive.
“It's our biggest game if we want to get to a bowl game,” Klecko said. “It's a must-win for us.”
If the Owls have any chance, it starts with Klecko.
He didn't play football until his freshman year at Great Valley (Pa.) High School, but became a three-year starter at fullback and defensive end after moving to Marlboro High in Colts Neck. Even so, poor grades and an undersized frame (5-11, 255) made recruiters wary of Klecko.
Temple took a chance, and it paid off immediately. A physical specimen who can bench-press 520 pounds and has a 34 1 / 2 -inch vertical leap, Klecko has combined brute force with technical know-how to dominate the interior line and harass quarterbacks and ballcarriers alike.
Klecko started the second game of his freshman season, and finished with 53 tackles (39 solo), 16 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hurries, eight sacks and one forced fumble and fumble recovery to earn All-America honors.
Since then, Klecko has won Big East Defensive Player of the Week honors at least once each season and became the only unanimous All-Big East selection in Temple history last season.
Nonetheless, Klecko doesn't treat his success as a source of vengeance on those who overlooked or bypassed him in high school.
“It's not about proving people wrong but about proving to people I could play,” Klecko said. “I never look at things like that. That would be kind of spiteful. My motivation comes from just wanting to play hard every week.”
The result has been a defense that allows only 122.3 yards rushing per game and has held such esteemed running backs as Virginia Tech's “Untouchables” duo of Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones and West Virginia's Avon Cobourne to less than 100 yards the past two weeks.
“We pride ourselves on stopping runners,” Klecko said. “Our goal is to hold their back under 100 yards.”
Temple beat Pitt four times in the 1990s, but the Owls haven't defeated the Panthers since '97 and Klecko has experienced losses both lopsided (55-24 in '99 and 33-7 last year) and heartbreaking (7-0 in 2000) to the Panthers.
And Klecko is hoping his first visit to Heinz Field — win or lose — isn't his last. Like his dad, Klecko aspires to play in the NFL someday.
There, he'll have to prove himself all over again.
“Once again, people think I'm too short and too small,” Klecko said. “I don't give it any thought. I've never believed that a certain size and height gets it done. If a guy can play, he can play, no matter the size.”
