By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
Levander Segars quietly broke a Division I-AA record last Saturday at Woodward Field in Cheney, Wash.
"That's pretty funny," the 170-pound senior said of his record 124th career punt return. "I break a record by falling on my face, for 1 yard."
Segars has made a career out of keeping his feet. Listed at 5-foot-9, the Colorado Springs, Colo., product has been a mainstay on special teams for four years, and in the Montana Grizzlies' offense for three. It might've been four there, too, but he was recruited to play defense.
"When I came in as a freshman, I was a cornerback," he said. "I was always going to (head coach Joe) Glenn or his staff and going, 'C'mon, let me get a reverse or a flea flicker or something.' Next thing I know they were saying, 'Man, we've got to get you the ball.' It was like that."
Ninety-six catches and 1,270 receiving yards later, he's a mainstay on offense. As for special teams, well, another record for punt return yardage could fall before he's through.
Segars had five kickoff returns as a freshman in 2001, and 25 punt returns for a 10.3-yard average. He was named Montana's Freshman of the Year for his efforts, and honorable mention in the Big Sky Conference at returner. The following fall he switched to offense, which was fine for the do-everything player out of Rampart High School.
"I played everything," he said. "Quarterback, running back, receiver, kicker, punter. My coach (Mike Sirko) said I did everything but sell peanuts at halftime."
By the middle of his sophomore year, he was starting at receiver for the Grizzlies, and ended up leading the team in receptions with 51 for 628 yards and two touchdowns.
He hasn't looked back since. He has looked up (for the ball) and south toward Colorado Springs (for his family), but not back.
Count your blessings
"I do a lot of praying," said Linda Segars, Levander's mom. "And I say, 'Lord, just don't let no one hurt my baby.' I told him, 'If they get some 300-pounders out there, and they get ahold of you, they're going to think you're a little sandwich.
"But we've been pretty blessed."
Levander has had a mostly injury-free stay at Montana, aside from a hamstring injury near the end of the '01 season that kept him out of the national championship game. In Cheney he bruised a hip while making a spectacular, rally-to-the-ball catch of a desperation pass from Craig Ochs. The 25-yard gain kept a scoring drive alive for the Griz, and is only one example of Segars' gifts.
Hardly anyone, even early on, called him Levander. He goes by "LV." In fact, he's almost never been Levander. Back in Colorado Springs he was simply, "Dew."
"My mom, he just reminded her of a do-little," Linda Segars said. "He's forever doing something, so he's a little 'Dew.'"
The little Dew started out his freshman year as a redshirt, but was taken off that in the Grizzlies' third game. He called his family - Linda, dad Howard and younger sister Josalynn - and they quickly organized a trip to watch the Eastern Washington game.
"At first, I was a little leery about him coming to Montana," Linda said. "Until they started to chant, 'LV Š LV' Š that was too cool. That was just really, really cool when we came out."
His family didn't make every home game when Segars first got to Montana. His dad was suffering from back problems, and has now had his third back surgery since Levander hit campus. The second surgery came near the end of the 2002 season, after which Glenn and his staff moved to Laramie, Wyo., to take over the Wyoming Cowboys' football program.
Segars thought, however briefly, about transferring with them. His family would be nine hours closer (it's a 13-hour trip from Colorado Springs to Missoula) if he was in Laramie. But by then Segars had a girlfriend in Missoula, and an established role on the Grizzlies. He'd dug in.
"I figured this was where I needed to be," he said. "I maybe kind of wanted to get closer to my family, and people just took that and blew it out of proportion."
New system
Segars stuck around and saw his receptions drop from 51 to 18 in head coach Bobby Hauck's first season at the helm. Part of that can be blamed on Montana's health problems at quarterback. With Craig Ochs and Jeff Disney injured, the Grizzlies relied heavily on the running of Justin Green. They threw their fewest passes in 19 seasons. There were also adjustments to be made to new schemes set out by Hauck and offensive coordinator Rob Phenecie.
"I think everybody, when you have a change in staffs, has to learn a new system," Hauck said. "The guys that learn it the fastest are going to get on the field the fastest."
Segars started every game last year on offense, and was his usual self - and then some in Montana's 59-21 win at Northern Arizona - on special teams. Against NAU he had four punt returns for 139 yards, including touchdowns of 60 and 54 yards.
Those were the second and third punt returns for TDs of his career; he had a 66-yarder against Albany the year before. Last year he also reached the end zone on a kickoff return, going 91 yards for a TD in Montana's season-opener against Maine.
Finally, the word is out. Segars has 14 kickoff returns this season, for an average of 20.7 yards. But he has just 11 punt returns for a total of 80 yards. At that rate he'd need another 17 returns to eclipse the I-AA record in return yardage of 1,448 yards. Segars has 1,325 right now.
"Unfortunately he fell down Saturday, when we had everyone blocked," Hauck remarked. "He would've got a nice chunk of that on that play. But punt returns are like that.
"We have had a lot of great return balls, and the punters we've played have done a good job of keeping it away from him to a degree. A lot of punts we've fielded have been in our safe look, where they're in a 'fake zone,' so we haven't had our punt return team on. He's been hampered a little bit by the circumstances we've been in."
Full speed ahead
The good news is that at any time, he could break another one. The bad news is that he's closing out a stellar career.
"I was talking to my girlfriend earlier about that," Segars said. "Not long ago it was, 'Man, I can't wait to get this season started.' Š. And now it's almost over.
"It's going to be interesting to see what happens after that. How I'm going to handle not going to practice every day, not juggling school and football, and all that."
Segars has two semesters after this to finish up his sociology degree. He wants to be a counselor for troubled or under-privileged children. Until then, he's going full speed ahead.
And not looking back.
"It's a little bit different," he said of Montana, which he chose over Northern Colorado, Colorado State and Southern Miss mainly because the Griz offered him a full-ride scholarship. "It's more outdoorsy. I'm not too much of a fly-fisherman or anything like that."
But there is football.
"The road trips are fun," he said. "A bunch of guys fooling around, acting like kids. And definitely the national championship (in 2001) was a highlight. There are the season openers, getting out there and seeing all the fans, and just remembering how crazy they actually are."
The highlights are plenty, from Saturday's comebacker against EWU to the 75-yard, twisting, turning TD on a short pass from Ochs against Hofstra earlier this season.
More to come
Linda and Harold Segars have an older son, Myron, who stands 6-2 and was a football player of some renown. But it was "Dew" who went out and got the college scholarship.
"Levander probably got his height from me because I'm not very, very tall," said Linda, who's 5-3 (Harold is 5-10). But you would think he was seven feet, eight feet, 10 feet tall out there on the football field."
He felt so during the 2001 season, which ended with a 13-6 championship game win over Furman in Chattanooga, Tenn. "He said, 'Mom, I've never seen anything like it,' " Linda Segars said. " 'All this hard work, it was so worth it, because that was just the greatest feeling.' "
There's a chance for more of the same.
Says LV, "We still have some good stuff coming. Everything is falling into place."
Reporter Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247 or by e-mail at fneighbor@missoulian.com.
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