Tag Archives: Miami Dolphins

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Wright, Rodrique ‘Rodzilla’

udut11 r wrightCards: Press Pass 2006, UT Upper Deck 2011
Acquired: 2/16/2013, IP Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament

The Longhorns signed Rodrique Wright in 2002 where he saw immediate action playing for Texas in 13 games, starting 9 of them  along the way. The mammoth defensive tackle (6’5″, 315) had 65 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 13 TFL in his Freshman campaign. 2003 shaped out to be Rod’s best season statistically for the Longhorns, with 80 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and 12 TFL. In the game against Baylor that year, Rod posted 1.5 sacks and 11 tackles against the Bears. While statistically his 2004 and 2005 campaigns were not as impressive, he was tabbed 2nd team All-American his Junior season, and finished as a Lombardi Finalist and All-American in his final year at UT.  Wright completed his career at the University of Texas compiling 227 tackles, 17.5 sacks, 42 TFL, 6 FF, and 8 PD.

After his senior season with the Longhorns, it was revealed that Wright suffered from a torn rotator cuff. Despite being one ofpp06 wright the best defensive line prospects coming out of the 2006 draft, Rod faced serious rehabilitation from his debilitating injury. The Miami Dolphins took a flyer on him in the 7th round of the draft. The team placed him on injured reserve and he spent the entire season there. In his second season with Dolphins, he showed that dominance and power that the team was looking for when they drafted him. Spelling time on the line and at defensive end, Rod posted 38 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a pass defensed in 2007 during a brutal season for the Dolphins. Oddly enough, Wright found himself back out of the rotation in 2008, and he was inactive for all 16 games that season. The Dolphins cut him during camp in 2009. He got signed by the Jets in 2010, but was cut a few months later.

Wright quickly resurfaced in the CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and was thrown right into the fire with the team reeling from injuries at defensive tackle. By the time the next season rolled around, Wright had shed 20 pounds to play his position better, due to the demands of the wider field and open offensive system of the CFL. While fans were in love with his potential and his new found sense of direction, Wright was caught in a numbers game in the end, and did not make the squad in 2011. He is currently a free agent.

Rod was at Redd’s Haircutz celebrating the opening of Cory Redding’s new barbershop here in Austin along with Mark Henry and Rod Babers, while I was in the chair getting my haircut. It completely slipped my mind that I had a card of him, but I made up for it the next day at the Neighborhood Longhorn Bowling event when ‘Rodzilla’ showed up there for the Alumni Bowling event. I actually had 3 cards of him, but because he said he had never seen ANY of these cards before and got super excited, I let him have one of them for himself. He was quite thankful and signed the other two for me.

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

Fears, Willie

jo93 fearsCards: Wild Card WLAF 1992, Jogo 1995
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 1/7       Received: 1/16    (9 days)

Willie Fears took a strange,winding, inspiring route, to his dreams of being a professional football player and coach. Undrafted out of Northwestern Louisiana St in 1985, Willie played 5 games for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the CFL.  Invited to the Miami Dolphins minicamp, he showed up admittedly out of shape and had to put his career on hold.  He became a corrections officer at the Arkansas State Maximum Security Prison, but along came the NFL Players Strike in 1987. At 6’4″, 280, Fears had the frame to still play, and probably had the greatest vacation time ever from work, spending 3 weeks as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. Afterwards he went back to the CFL, playing for both Ottawa and Toronto in 1988 and 1989, before returning again to the NFL in 1990 as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

Willie was then drafted by the WLAF San Antonio Riders in 1992. Willie’s technical precision, skillset, and size, allowed the team to shift him into any of the 3 places on the line, which was invaluable to the Riders 3-4 alignment. An experienced force on the line, he proved difficult for offensive linemen to handle, and helped the Riders be one of the staunchest defenses in the league.  After the league went on hiatus, Willie begun a career playing in the Arena Football League. He’d sign with the Cleveland Thunderbolts and played for them through the 1993 season, before hopping back into the CFL with the Sacramento Gold Miners. In 1994 the Gold Miners moved to San Antonio and became the Texans. He’d join them there back in his old stomping grounds. Afterwards, Fears joined the AFL again, playing in 1996 for the Tampa Bay Storm, and then in 1997 for the Nashville Katz.

wcwlaf92 fearsHe then continued his dream by becoming a football coach.  In the ArenaFootball2 league, he’d coach with the Arkansas Twisters for 3 seasons, before joining Jay Gruden on the Predators to coach the linemen. Ironically, later Pat O’Hara, joined the staff replacing Gruden as head coach. Pat was a member of the Ohio Glory and probably felt Willie breathing down his neck more than once during the Riders 17-0 stomping of the Glory back in 1992. Fears remained with the Predators through 2011. Currently he lives in Arkansas. My first success from the Meiselman 2014 list, I had been looking for Willie for quite sometime, and had been unable to locate him since his stint ended with the Predators. He was kind enough to not only sign the Wild Card WLAF 1992 card I enclosed, but like Billy Hess also enclosed one of his own from the Jogo 1995 set. Unfortunately both of the autographs were smudged as he signed with an overhead Vis-A-Vis instead of a Sharpie. The Riders card was smudged beyond recognition, so I resent it back out with a team photo of him and the other linemen for Willie to keep. He sent it back in about 2 weeks signed with the marker I gave him.

AFL    Tac  46     Sac 9    FF 2    Int  0   Yds   0   Avg  -.-   Td 0   Lg -.-
WLAF  Tac   N/a    Sac   2   FF  0    Int 0   Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0  Lg -.-
NFL  2     Tac  N/a    Sac 0   FF 0   Int  0  Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0  Lg -.-
CFL  N/a

 

NFL

Oliver, Louis

sco93 oliversco91 CC Oliver
Cards: Score 1992 Crunch Crew, Score 90+ Club 1993
Acquired: Canton Acquisition, 2012

Louis Oliver was a hard hitting safety out of Florida. With their secondary aging rapidly and their defense becoming a liability, the Miami Dolphins drafted Oliver in the first round of the deep 1989 draft. After taking Sammie Smith at pick #9, the ‘Fins watched Steve Atwater and Donnell Woolford come off the board before grabbing Oliver with the 25th pick. Oliver was an imposing specimen at safety, weighing in at roughly 225 and had the height (6’2″) to cover receivers as well. Louis was very fortunate. Not only was he playing in his home state, but he was also paired up with his former team mate at Jarvis Williams who moved over to SS, while Louis fit right in at FS. The two made an imposing tandem and helped give some stability to the secondary.
Oliver in the meantime was becoming well known as a ball hawking defender for the Dolphins. Starting 13 games his rookie season, he notched 4 picks, 1 forced fumble, and 62 tackles. In 1990 Oliver made his first career sack against the Indianapolis Colts.  He recorded 5 interceptions that season, and repeated that in 1991 and 1992. 1992 was perhaps his finest season, with a career high 90 tackles and 5 interceptions, one of which he returned 103 yards against the Buffalo Bills. After an injury shortened 1993, in which he played in 11 games, Louis signed and played with the Bengals for one season at SS in 1994. He returned to the Dolphins in 1995 playing in 5 contests at FS that season. He completed his final season in Miami at SS  in 1996 where he recovered a career high 5 fumbles that year. Louis remains firmly entrenched in Florida and has made many business and sports inroads since retirement. At last glance he is working in the real estate market.

G/Gs 117/101    Tac  502    Sac   2.0     Fum  8      Int   27     Yds   605    Avg  22.4      Td  2    Lg  103t