Aug. 17, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The way Mike Gruttadauria sees it, the same formula that helped him be a standout, Super Bowl-winning offensive linemen at the moderate size of 285 pounds will make him a successful radio analyst for the UCF ISP Sports Network.
Gruttadauria, who played center for UCF from 1991-94, was named the radio color analyst alongside longtime play-by-play voice Marc Daniels on Monday. The Tarpon Springs native who now lives in Sarasota after retiring from the NFL sought a spot where he could once again be a contributor to the UCF football program and was delighted to land a spot that allows him to relate UCF football to Knights fans via the airwaves.
``I'm nervous and have butterflies and need to prove myself because obviously Marc has done this a long time. But I'm mostly excited to feel a part of the UCF family again,'' he said. ``That, to me, is one of the best things to come out of this relationship. ... Other than maybe being a coach I don't think I could be more involved with the team. I get to create relationships, travel, report and be a part of the UCF family. It's a great opportunity for me and I think it will be a great ride.''
Gruttadauria certainly had a great ride in the NFL after standing out at UCF, lasting eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. He played in 80 games (50 with the Rams and 30 with the Cardinals) with 66 starts and started at center on the Rams' Super Bowl XXXIV title team, making him the first former Knight to win a Super Bowl ring.
Remarkably, Gruttadauria did it while playing mostly at 285 pounds. He was 255 pounds when he left UCF, 270 pounds when he signed a free-agent deal with the Cowboys and once did get as heavy as 310 pounds. But mostly he stayed at 285 pounds, some 40 pounds shy of most NFL linemen. And by the end of his career in Arizona, Gruttadauria was lining up next to 385-pound All-Pro guard Leonard Davis.
He was able to thrive by using his brain instead of his girth. He made himself into a student of the game by studying opponents and their tendencies and he learned to maximize his every move so not to expose his lack of size as a NFL center.
Down to close to 210 pounds now, many fans wonder how he ever made it in the NFL as an offensive lineman, Gruttadauria said.
``I don't just encounter that now; I encountered that my whole career,'' he said with a chuckle. ``Not just in the NFL, but also at UCF because I was way too small to be an offensive lineman. I was playing on championship teams on the offensive line and people were like, `Are you kidding me?'
``But it just goes to show you that in this game, while weight and size did matter that you also need to be a student of the game,'' Gruttadauria continued. ``You have to understand how to play and how to maximize your ability with every movement. Whether I was 350 pounds or 260 pounds if I took a bad step I was going to get beat either way. But when you are 350 pounds the bad step isn't as magnified as it is when you are 260 pounds. I understood that every step that took of every snap of every practice and every game had to be extremely efficient.''
That willingness to prepare and delve himself completely into the task at hand will be helpful now, Gruttadauria predicted. He said he'll used former NFL acquaintances Dick Vermeil, Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk as resources and he's eager to bring his insight as a former player to the job of covering UCF's football team.
``(The NFL experience) is a great resource for me when I'm calling a game, but ultimately it's the personality and the relationships that Marc and I bring that will make it successful,'' he said. ``The NFL and collegiate backgrounds are great and a lot of guys have those backgrounds, but it doesn't always translate into being a good radio analyst. It's the relationship and wanting people to gravitate to our show and wanting to listen to us and how we work together that will make this job successful.
``When I do something I almost have blinders on to the rest of the world and that's 100-percent of my focus. That's what I'm going to bring to this ISP job,'' he continued. ``I don't want to just be a guy who on the weekend calls game. I'm doing research, studying and being efficient in every facet of the job. I need to do that for me to be happy and I hope it translates into a great show and relationship with Marc.''
As for this Knights team, one with 18 seniors, 17 returning starters, a favorable schedule and championship aspirations, Gruttadauria sees big things ahead for UCF. He sees the offensive and defensive lines as being major strengths for the Knights and the intensity he witnessed at a recent practice told him a lot about this team's desire to be great.
``Every year I think this is the year. But being at practice, 10 practices in and the guys were kind of dogged, but seeing that aggressiveness, I see great things,'' he said. ``Watching that level of intensity and attention to detail, if we continue to grow and learn I think we should be a very good squad. It's just whether or not we can get some of those crucial wins that we need against ranked opponents.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.