Lake Stevens' Brent Sanders -- Cut-Back Specialist Is A Cut Above Most Runners

LAKE STEVENS - When Brent Sanders first heard his coach's instructions, his wide eyes confessed his disbelief.

"You want me to do what?" the Lake Stevens running back thought.

But Sanders, who was a junior at the time, took the advice in stride. If Mike Hodgins, the Vikings' running backs coach, told him he'd be a better tailback by watching the backsides of his linemen, then so be it.

"He told me that whatever way they swing it, I should go the opposite way," Sanders explained.

The first time, the strategy worked: Sanders cut into a hole and broke a 50-yard touchdown run. He's made a habit of watching backsides ever since, and has turned the cut-back run into a trademark play that has him marked as one of the season's best running backs in the Western 3A Conference North Division.

"Being able to see that cut-back lane is something a lot of players never develop, like an innate sense. Some players get it from playing a long time, others never develop it," said Ken Collins, who is in his ninth season as the Vikings' head coach. "But when you cut it back, that's when you get the big play."

As the Vikings' top ball carrier last season, Sanders posted the league's 10th-best performance, gaining 556 yards on 108 carries, an average of 5.1 yards. He led Lake Stevens with eight touchdowns and ranked third on the Vikings' defense with 71 tackles. And as his senior season opens Friday with a nonleague game against

Marysville-Pilchuck, Sanders is the division's only returning first-team all-league tailback.

As Collins put it, "Brent is probably as good a football player as we have had."

But Sanders - who says he went from fat to fit after a five-inch growth spurt as a sixth-grader - has worked hard to develop his 6-foot-1, chiseled 220-pound frame. Once a chubby kid who couldn't make the weight limit to play football in the Lake Stevens Junior Athletic Association, then a blocking back as a sophomore, Sanders is now a senior co-captain with James Dean sideburns but the eager work habits of Notre Dame's fabled "Rudy."

Sanders said he "spent three-fourths of the summer in the weightroom or on the football field running." His daily routine included a three-mile run at 7 a.m. four days a week, with a two-hour weightlifting workout every evening followed by a sprint or distance routine.

He bench presses more than 300 pounds, squats about 400 and power cleans at least 200. And he runs a 4.65 40-yard dash.

"He's just a specimen right now," said Collins, a former defensive end for Washington State and the New England Patriots.

In addition to maintaining consistency in the backfield, Sanders hopes his efforts will help make his switch from linebacker to defensive end (he played safety as a sophomore) a smooth transition. Early indications are good: he was selected the lineman of the day at a football camp at Western Washington University this summer.

Still, Sanders, a third-year letterman who has earned seven varsity letters in football, track and basketball, has his sights set on higher goals.

"I'd love to play at the University of Washington," said Sanders, who has received letters from the Huskies, Oregon, Montana, Boise, Eastern Washington and Western Washington. "That's my dream."

In the meantime, he'll keep an eye on his immediate goals - to help Lake Stevens return to the playoffs - and straight ahead on his linemen's backsides. ------------------------------- WesCo 3A North football forecast

Predicted order of finish based on a survey of league coaches, with first-place votes in parentheses and ballot points (five points for first-place vote, four for second, etc). Coaches not allowed to vote for own team.

NORTH DIVISION Team Pts. '97 . 1. Arlington (4) 24 7-3 . 2. Stanwood (2) 19 5-4 . 3. Everett 15 8-2 . (tie) Lake Stevens 15 1-8 . 5. Monroe 11 4-5 . 6. South Whidbey 6 1-8 .