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Focused Between The White Lines

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By BILL WARD, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2008

TAMPA - Talk to just about any male sprinter and he will probably tell you football is their first love. And considering the type of attention the sport attracts in Florida, it's hard to blame them for that attraction.

Track and field? Well, that, they tend to say, is just something their football coach said they could do, at least until spring drills begin.

Not Chamberlain junior Dentarius Locke. True, his build - about 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds - is not the type you typically see in football. But he possesses the sort of speed football coaches just can't ignore, particularly for their kickoff and punt returns.

Still, Locke believes track holds the greatest promise for his future. He says he still has a soft spot for football and played it growing up. But after his breakout track season last spring, where Locke recorded an electronic 100-meter time of 10.63 seconds and finished third in the Class 4A state finals - as a sophomore - he knows which sport will take him to the greatest heights.

"Track has become so important to me now," Locke said. "It's not just something I do because my friends do it or something I do because I don't want to go home right after school. It's not that. It's something I actually have a passion for."

Locke admits this wasn't necessarily his attitude last year, when he competed for Riverview. Because of what he calls "immaturity," he allowed his grades to slip dramatically. Locke said he attended summer school to improve his grades but he knew he had to put himself in new surroundings to turn his life around in the classroom.

As a result, he says he moved into Chamberlain's district and enrolled in the school.

"Nothing against Riverview, it was my fault," Locke said of his grade problems. "It was just immaturity and playing around too much. Coaches and my family told me all the time how important grades were but I wasn't listening."

While working on his grades last summer, Locke continued to compete in youth track for the Tampa Trailblazers. He reached the AAU National Junior Olympic Games in Knoxville, Tenn., where he finished ninth in his age group for the 100 in 10.64 seconds. He said his club team helped him improve his starts and, since arriving at Chamberlain, Locke said he has improved even more under Chiefs coach Hansford Johnson.

Johnson says he has stressed offseason conditioning for Locke, including long hours of work in the weight room. It's Locke's first serious weight training. And even though he emphasizes high repetitions, Johnson says Locke can now bench close to 215 pounds and can squat more than 300.

But it's in the classroom that Johnson, a former football and track standout at Middle Tennessee State, has continually hammered home to Locke. And as someone who possesses a similar frame as Locke and has competed in both sports, the 5-8, 165-pound Johnson has tried to steer Locke toward the track.

"I'm all about playing all the sports I did and I try not to tell kids what to do but let's be realistic, too," said Johnson, who also is a receivers coach for the Chiefs' football team. "If you can run 10.6 for the 100 as a sophomore and you're playing football at 135 pounds and you haven't played too much in high school, why waste your time with football?"

Talking to Locke, it's clear he understands that message. His goal is to become a Florida Gator. And to get there, he knows which direction he needs to go - straight down the track.

"Every time I get in the blocks, I feel like, 'This is where I belong, this is what I'm supposed to be doing,'" Locke said. "And if I take care of things between these two white lines on the track and in the classroom, I know I'm going to go places."

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456

or wward@tampatrib.com.

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