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Dufrene ready to step into Mendenhall's shoes for Illini

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranks as one of America's most popular tourist destinations, but not because it's Illinois junior running back Dan Dufrene's hometown.

There's a pretty good chance the Sunset Park apartment complex where Dufrene grew up doesn't make any sightseers' lists.

"My mom got robbed a few times," Dufrene said. "We came out one night and her car was just gone. And she had just bought it. Brand-new car. We had to move out of there."

But what Dufrene lacked in security, he made up for with his tight-knit family.

The first-generation American with a weakness for his mother's grio and fried plantains (she was born and raised in Haiti) always had his cousins by his side - and they apparently always had a football to keep out of each other's hands.

Reynaldo Hill, who played for Illini coach Ron Zook at Florida, enters his fourth season as a cornerback with the Tennessee Titans.

Woodny Turenne, who ranked as the nation's No. 1 junior-college recruit in 2007, begins his second year as a starting cornerback for Louisville.

These are the people who know him as "Dufree" or, simply, "Free." The people who know how to get past his quiet, pleasant veneer.

The ones who text-messaged after his 80-yard run against Ohio State and ragged on him for his ignored fumble, just as heartily as they congratulated him on his biggest college play.

"I talk to (Hill) almost every day," Dufrene said. "Every chance I get. It's about life and football. Just making sure I'm on top of things."

Right about now, Dufrene stands on top of the world.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior's industrious off-season earned him the right to replace Big Ten offensive player of the year Rashard Mendenhall as the starting tailback for the nation's 20th-ranked team.

If the Illini intend to upset No. 6 Missouri in Saturday's season opener at St. Louis (7:30 p.m., ESPN), Dufrene figures to be a critical part of the equation.

But here's the question for a program that, in nine of the last 10 seasons, has had its rushing leader hail from the state of Illinois:

How did a young man from south Florida - who wanted to start his college career at Minnesota, showed up at Vanderbilt only to leave after four months for College of the Sequoias in California - wind up with Illinois?

As it happens, a 1983 Deerfield High School graduate named Andy Siegal served as the hub that links Fort Lauderdale, the Sequoias and the Illini together.

After playing middle linebacker for Paul Adams at Deerfield and finishing college, Siegal became a high school coach in Florida.

That's where he coached Dufrene's cousin Hill, battled prep wits with Illinois linebackers coach Dan Disch, and got to know Zook.

Then Siegal took the job as College of the Sequoias offensive coordinator, where his path finally intersected with "Dufree."

While being recruited out of Fort Lauderdale's Stranahan High School, Dufrene committed to Iowa State. Then Minnesota, which wanted him to play corner. Then Vanderbilt, too.

When signing day arrived, all three schools thought they were getting Dufrene because the young man had been too polite to tell anybody no at the conclusion of his visits.

Finally his high school coach, Keith Skinner, who knew Dufrene's initial desire to pursue an engineering degree, stepped in and counseled him to go to Vandy.

He might as well have sentenced him to Siberia.

"I knew the first month," Dufrene said. "I just felt out of place. My cousin who plays with the Titans, that's who I was with mostly.

"I stayed with him a couple nights, otherwise kept to myself in the dorms."

Siegal heard Dufrene would be out the door as soon as first semester ended. It didn't take much persuasion to get him to play in the Sequoias' spread attack, where he rushed for 750 yards and 9 touchdowns in limited carries.

It was much harder for Siegal to convince Illini running backs coach Reggie Mitchell, who sought a junior-college transfer who could arrive in Champaign in January 2007 and challenge Mendenhall for the job, to recruit Dufrene.

"I told Reggie, 'I've got a running back that's pretty frickin' good,'" said the gregarious Siegal. "And you know Reggie, he's always skeptical. And he goes, 'Oh, yeah? Who is he?'

"Then I tell Reggie, 'He runs a 4.4.' And Reggie says, 'Oh!' And it wasn't two days later that Reggie flew out here."

Suddenly, UCLA and Louisville were out of the picture and Illinois was in.

But Dufrene's first year didn't go anything as planned.

After having 6 carries for 58 yards in the opener against Missouri, he chipped a bone in his right ankle the following week and was never really right - save his 80-yard romp against the Buckeyes.

Dufrene entered spring ball as the clear leader to replace Mendenhall. But Mitchell and offensive coordinator Mike Locksley spent the spring, um, being constant critics of Dufrene's efforts.

Perhaps that was because Siegal got in the Illini coaches' ears.

"The thing with 'Free' is, you can't let him get a comfort level," Siegal said. "You can't treat him good. I probably (cussed) him more than anyone in the world. He does better when his back's against the wall. That's when he performs best."

Mitchell and Locksley told Dufrene he needed to improve his hands over the summer if he wanted to play.

So what did Dufrene do? He worked out extra with quarterback Juice Williams in the mornings.

And in the evenings, after the 7-on-7 passing games had ended, he went into Illinois' indoor facility alone and plugged in "The Lobster."

The Lobster fires tennis balls at a rate of speed unsafe for unsuspecting flesh. Dufrene would stand there and catch 300 balls per night, five nights per week.

"It taught him to catch the small point of the ball, because the tennis ball is about the same circumference as the point of the football," Locksley said. "He put the work in to get better. Now he's got confidence in his hands."

He's not the only one. Though he probably shouldn't admit it, Mitchell senses big things coming from Dufrene.

So much for Illinois' running game being lost without Mendenhall.

"He's improved 100 percent since spring football," Mitchell said. "He's head and shoulders above the rest."

Illinois' Dan Dufrene runs against Missouri during the 2007 season. Courtesy of University of Illinois
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