Springs: He just combined that nastiness attitude with his athleticism. He would chase a guy down the field 40 yards, block them and throw them out of bounds. I've literally seen Orlando make a dude cry. He made a dude from Rice cry. The dude was frustrated and started tearing up. He was pissed off and just started crying.
And then Orlando kept driving him. Orlando just abused him all day. Porter: We played Notre Dame and in interviews during the week they were talking about pancakes But Pace had a knack for doing just that, pancaking his opponents -- knocking them flat on their backs. Porter: There was a timeout and they're just standing there on the field trying to look tough.
Beforehand they were talking crap to Orlando. I was looking at them and they had their guns out trying to flex. And I was like, "Those bicep muscles aren't gonna help you when his ball is snapped. They thought they were the biggest, baddest things on earth and the next play he just totally wiped them out. Miller: The craziest thing I remember has nothing to do with a block. He ran a sweep and Pace led him all the way down the field. Like you see Pepe running, but then you see somebody that's , leading him like, "Yeesh.
Garrett: Crazy? He was a little different. Like on the backside play, he'd cut off the tackle, then reach the middle linebacker and then spring up and block the safety and allow the running back and cut off his ass for a touchdown, crazy s like that. I never saw O-linemen do that. They weren't even taught to do that because nobody else can really physically do it.
Pearson: There [were] a few times where guys would try to get under his skin and then there was hell to pay. There [were] a couple games, Purdue I specifically remember, they had a highly touted defensive man and he tried to get under Orlando's skin. And you know, I think he had a record number of pancakes that game.
But most people really feared Orlando, so they wouldn't talk that much because they knew they had a hard, hard day ahead of them. Jackson: There's one particular play that stands out for me and it was against Iowa, where he pancakes his primary guy, gets up, knocks down a linebacker and then gets to the end zone before Joe Montgomery, knocking down three other people.
Kennedy: He's 60 yards out in front of him and Joe doesn't have to slow down to stay with him! Jackson: Blocking five people in one play is the greatest single effort I've ever seen from a football player.
Springs: There have been times I've seen him coming and I moved out of the way. That ain't the guy you want coming and running down the field at you. Finkes: You go back to the Indiana game, they had a And Orlando just mauled him. It goes back to technique.
Orlando didn't just have the physical ability. He would be under your pads before you're going like, "How's this guy getting underneath me and I'm ? Garrett: I saw a lot of people get their ass whipped by Orlando and get up and shake his hand, like, "Damn, that was good.
They would just kind of shadow him or stop pass rush and try to bat the ball down; they really didn't want to go at him. They played like they didn't want to be on the highlight tape. They just wanted to be around and hope Orlando didn't pancake their ass. Carr: You didn't want to get caught on film getting finished by Orlando Pace because that was everywhere.
Saleh: With Orlando, you're like, "All right, you know, let's just get our bat on the ball. Let's not let him drive me to the first row on a zone play. Carr: He was the truth. There's probably five people that I would have paid to ever want to play football, and he's one of them. Miller: Usually watching film we would rewind things because like, "Hey, you have to shorten that route," or, "Look at that DB's hips," or "Man, you got to come out of that break faster.
While Pace's play spoke for itself, getting him in the Heisman conversation was another matter. To bring awareness to an often overlooked position, Ohio State created an advertising campaign that dubbed Pace the "Pancake Man" for, well, all those times he made pancaking his opponents look easy. The coaching staff wound up crediting Pace with 80 such blocks during his junior season. Archie: It probably got started in practice.
Somebody says, "Wow, he pancaked him! Conley: As a former high school coach, you'd use the term [pancake], but you didn't really define it. It was defined with Orlando Pace. He's the guy that came up with that. It was a great recruiting tool because it was something unique. We had magnets, these pancake magnets that were a stack of pancakes and they had the name Pace across them.
Anytime you get a catchy thing like that, that's good. Garrett: Pancakes had been around for a thousand years, but Ohio State did a great job of making them famous. As clever as the magnets were, the commercial featuring Pace flipping pancakes was even better. For the shy big man, it was also a constant source of good-natured ridicule.
Jackson: Of course we gave him a hard time. You know, they got him in an apron flipping pancakes. Like, are you a cook now? Miller: It was like, "Hey, Pancake Man, you got this round? Finkes: To elevate his status a little bit, they had him play defense a couple times.
And the first couple times, it was not pretty. Instead of using his technique and staying low and doing all the things that he would normally do as an offensive lineman, a couple times he just stood straight up and wanted to make tackles, and all of a sudden, you see Orlando Pace come straight back, 6 yards deep with a guard in his chest because he's looking to try to tackle on the guy.
Our defensive coordinator kind of sat him down and said, "Look, you're not making any tackles here. That's not what you're here for. We need to take up two blocks and take those guys back in the backfield. If you can create a pile and someone trips over, we'll credit you with a tackle. Fickell: He was the nose guard on goal. Well, yeah, but what is he going to do?
Don't worry about it, he's athletic enough, he'll be fine. Conley: He'd come out Jackson: He would do his job. He would go in there and stop the short run. But here's the thing about it: Nobody was surprised.
Nobody over-celebrated. You go in there and you put him down a fourth-and-goal and he's the one that makes the tackle and then he stays on the field and he's your starting left tackle. Then you run the play behind him, and he opens the hole up. Nobody was surprised, nobody celebrated that, because it seemed like a modest accomplishment for someone that successful. Finkes: He just got better and better.
The hype around him, that's one of the things you didn't know how he would handle. He was so quiet. You didn't know how he was going to react to the whole kind of Heisman Trophy campaign and the pancakes and all that stuff. I remember the Rose Bowl and how the whole talk was about Derrick Rogers and how elite of a pass-rusher he is and how fast he was able to get around the corner and he was going to be the guy that was going to give Orlando Pace problems.
I remember watching film with Orlando and I'm like, "I don't see anything this guy does that is coming back inside or into your body -- all he's really doing is speed rushing. That's not going to beat you. You're way too fast, and way too quick and have way too good of footwork for that to beat you. I don't think Rogers ever got close to either one of our quarterbacks. It was kind of what we saw -- he would try to speed rush up field and Orlando would take him 10 yards deep. Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel ultimately won the Heisman.
Pace, who won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, finished fourth in the voting -- the most recent offensive lineman to finish in the top five. Archie: There's no question over the years that linemen get overlooked and you wish that wasn't the case. You can't do that without a great line in front of you. Carr: If it's truly about the best player in college football, he was that. He got robbed. You need to call that the biggest theft in Heisman Trophy history.
Jackson: It's kind of like your girlfriend is a 10, she's a dime and everybody notices, right? And you ultimately marry her. At some point you might feel like she's not a 10 anymore.
But everybody is looking and saying, "What are you talking about? Your wife is gorgeous. That's what it was like with Orlando Pace. You forgot he was so great because he was there all the time. Finkes: There [have] been some guys that have won some awards, but I don't think there's ever been anyone that was as dominant and consistent as Orlando.
I mean, he never took a play off. He never had a mistake. I mean, he never messed up. You could count on him being where he's supposed to be. And then half the time you can count on taking care of that job and then taking care of somebody else's job.
Saleh: Hands down, he was the best player. He was just one of the quintessential franchise left tackles in the history of football. Miller: He revolutionized the position. After Pace, people started to look for guys that were big and athletic, that can run.
Where's the next Orlando Pace? We don't want these guys that are short and stubby. But his career in the NFL was equally impressive. The remote call will be a bit more challenging for Boyle on radio considering he needs to be more descriptive for his audience but will be limited to the describing just the view shown on TV. Regardless, you know Boyle will deliver an entertaining call of the game.
Plus, calling the games in Indy allows for Slick Leonard to drop by and add his thoughts on the action. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Filed under:. Nor did they consult with last year's Orlando bubble breakout player T. Warren—who played under Bjorkgren in Phoenix—according to sources.
There is a belief among several members of the Pacers organization that Warren requested a trade upon learning of Bjorkgren's hire and has no interest in playing for Bjorkgren. Warren's season-ending surgery after suffering a foot injury in late December has provided a natural buffer between him and Bjorkgren, as Warren rehabilitates on schedule in North Carolina. A source with knowledge of Warren's thinking told Bleacher Report that he is looking forward to rejoining the Pacers for the season.
It seems that missing intel foreshadowed the very interpersonal issues that have since risen in Indiana. He's a micromanager and he's not for everyone. When a G League practice schedule ran a bit behind or a ball rack was out of place, Bjorkgren could erupt at players and staffers without a moment's notice. That behavior seems to have continued in Toronto. One league source compared the dynamic to Bjorkgren acting like a politician's chief of staff, at points preventing other coaches and Toronto's players from holding conversations with Nurse that did not go through Bjorkgren first.
It's another when that person seems to be doing it without the head coach's direction," said the aforementioned assistant general manager. The positive energy Bjorkgren brought to his interview process did seem to translate into Indiana's early training camp. Players initially responded well to Bjorkgren getting after them on defense and hounding guys for greater intensity, sources said.
While some head coaches sit back during preseason practices and observe, Bjorkgren was front and center. He wasn't afraid to jump in a drill if he needed to," said another Indiana staffer. It was infectious. With the team's start, all seemed to be going well. After a thrilling win over Boston moved Indiana to on the young season, Sabonis told reporters that Bjorkgren was "a genius.
He knows the game, and trusts us. We feed off of him. Sabonis since felt compelled to approach Bjorkgren on one occasion, where he encouraged the coach to be kinder to Indiana's staff.
Further, Bjorkgren's aggressive switching style on defense has forced Sabonis to cover far more room on the perimeter than he'd like, sources said. Sabonis now ranks first in the league in total distance traveled on defense per game, according to NBA.
The creativity Pacers management once coveted has left Indiana players in curious predicaments such as trapping on the wing from a zone, and has pushed ill-equipped personnel such as Doug McDermott and Justin Holiday to regularly switch onto bigger opponents with size and speed advantages.
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