Weddle impresses Tulsa star

FORT WORTH, Texas — University of Utah senior All-American Eric Weddle is a two-time Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year. University of Tulsa senior linebacker Nick Bunting is the 2006 Conference-USA Defensive Player of the Year.

Bunting may have a chance to play against Weddle, should Weddle continue to show off his offensive wares as part-time running back and quarterback tonight when 7-5 Utah tests 8-4 Tulsa in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl at TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium at 6 p.m. MST.

Weddle, of course, is the epitome of an all-purpose player, having played safety, cornerback, running back, quarterback, placekicking holder and on other special teams. He has been involved in scoring five offensive touchdowns, passed for one and scored twice in six 2006 interceptions.

From one conference defensive MVP to another, Bunting admires Weddle's accomplishments.

"Oh, he's a great player. He does it all," Bunting said at Friday's bowl press conference. "His team trusts him to do all that stuff.

"He's an unbelievable athlete, and I just think what makes him great is he just plays harder than most people play the game of football. Just by watching him on film, you can just tell he loves the game, and he's out there having fun like he's playing backyard football."

Bunting said he'd tried to get on the offensive field, too, but wasn't successful.

"I was trying to play quarterback for our team a little bit, but Paul (Smith), he's got that sewed down.

"And then I tried to play running back on the goal line, but they wouldn't let me go back to my high-school days (when he was a 185-pound running back). So I'll just stick at linebacker, special teams, that's all I can get."

ENOUGH FOOTBALL: There has been what is described as a "rowdy" Xbox tournament going on among Tulsa players at their hotel. Smith was asked how he was doing in it. "Oh, I'm not into any of that," he said. "I get enough football on the field. I go back and play those other types of games."

FUN AND GAMES: Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe is a fan of the Armed Forces Bowl activities, a number of organized events for the players such as Friday's kickoff luncheon, a steak dinner for the teams Friday night and a night at Billy Bob's in the Stockyards Wednesday.

"There's not a lot of down time that we have to fill. It's a good balance between having fun and getting to go to activities."