BOULDER — For Douglas Rippy, the game of football, and his part in it, finally began to make sense during Colorado’s spring practice — just days after the murder of a childhood friend.
Whether there is a correlation, the junior linebacker can’t be sure. But about the time Rippy did some soul-searching and decided to dedicate his performance on the football field to his pal, something inside of Rippy clicked.
Damiko Russell was gunned down in a March 28 drive-by shooting in a Columbus, Ohio, alley. Russell was 20.
“Every game, I pray that Damiko is watching over me; I know he’s watching over me,” Rippy said this week.
Although born in Philadelphia, Rippy grew up in Columbus before moving 70 miles west and transferring to Trotwood-Madison High School in suburban Dayton, Ohio, when his mother bought a house.
Rippy’s connections to Columbus remain strong — he alerted CU recruiters about a small-but-explosive tailback named Rodney Stewart, who is a second cousin. News of Russell’s murder was difficult for Rippy to get out of his mind.
“Hearing what happened to Damiko, it was really tough,” Rippy said. “We went to preschool together, all the way up to middle school.”
Life isn’t always fair, said Colorado linebackers coach Brian Cabral, who consoled Rippy. During a recent CU booster luncheon, Rippy became emotional when introducing Cabral as a “father figure to me.”
“Personally, Doug has experienced things that normal guys, young guys, should not have to experience,” Cabral said. “He’s battled through those things.”
Rippy believes Damiko would be proud. Somehow, Rippy was able to focus. According to coaches, Rippy is playing the best football of his college career. He faced another hurdle of adversity during his redshirt-freshman season when tearing up a knee.
“That’s a real football player,” said junior linebacker Jon Major, a team captain. “Stuff happens. But you put it behind you. It’s always the next play. (Rippy) knows what he wants to do and he is making sure it gets done. That’s huge.”
Stuck behind a succession of seniors early in his college career, Rippy had to wait until this season to earn a starting job — as a fourth-year junior. At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Rippy was already an impressive athlete when he arrived at CU in the summer of 2008. Fast, strong and explosive, he sported a 35-inch vertical jump and looked ready to go.
“It doesn’t always work that way,” Cabral said. “We moved him around (to inside and outside linebacker spots) to see if he’d latch on to anything. Obviously, he wasn’t ready for any of that.
“It takes longer for some guys. It’s like all of a sudden last spring, he just starts to blossom. He’s always had the ability. He just had to blossom. You want every player to get to that point eventually. With some guys, it happens later. That’s OK. Then it’s all of a sudden, ‘I’m ready.’ “
Given the first crack as the starter at inside linebacker during spring ball, Rippy led the defense for the three main scrimmages with 24 tackles, including 18 solo and six for zero or minus yardage.
The coaching staff voted him the Fred Casotti Award winner after the spring game as the top junior-to-be. An equally strong August camp was followed by Rippy becoming one of the few bright spots in last week’s 34-17 loss at Hawaii.
At Aloha Stadium, he recorded seven tackles, including a team-best six unassisted stops, and half of a sack.
This afternoon’s game against California (1-0) at Folsom Field may be an even bigger challenge, Rippy said, because the Bears have great speed. But he looks forward to showing that Colorado could “fix the problems” that contributed to Cal’s 52-7 victory over the Buffs last year in Berkeley.
“It’s been fun to watch Doug grow,” CU senior wide receiver Toney Clemons said. “The first couple of years he was trying to figure it out. He always had all the athleticism, all the strength and God-given ability in the world, but this year he’s putting it together.”
Rippy will be the first to acknowledge that football might not have meant enough to him during his first few years at CU. It can be a challenge for any student to balance priorities.
“At times it was hard,” Rippy said. “But at the same time, I gained a lot of maturity. It was just understanding the whole college football thing. In high school, you just go out there and play. In college, you have to know your stuff and see that it all makes sense.
“Now, looking back, I know that you have to keep moving forward. If you don’t keep moving forward, you’re moving back because everybody else is getting better.”
Playing for a fallen friend gives him even more motivation to grow.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
Rippy by the numbers
Solo
Year G tackles Tackles Sacks
2011 1 6 7 0.5
2010 6 1 4 0.0
2009 5 1 6 1.0
*Note: Rippy redshirted in 2008
