DaytonDailyNews.com

site web

The Undertaker called.

Not the guy handling the remains of the Texas Longhorns, the pro wrestler.

Kurt Angle, another WWE star, called with congratulations, too.

And then there were all those wrestling fans who messaged his dad — Joe Laurinaitis — better known as Animal.

With his mohawk, painted face, dog collar choker and spiked shoulder pads over comic book hero muscles, Joe was part of The Road Warriors, arguably the most successful tag team in pro wrestling history.

"As one fan just wrote," Joe said by phone, "'Animal, you created another Animal!'"

So true.

OSU middle linebacker James Laurinaitis was an animal Saturday night in Austin. In just his fourth game playing substantial minutes for the Bucks, the 19-year-old sophomore had 13 tackles, intercepted a pass and forced two fumbles, one near the OSU goal line that was the game's turning point.

The performance made him the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week and the Football Writers Association of America's Bronco Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week.

Because OSU had lost nine defensive starters — including all three linebackers — some critics thought the new unit might wilt in an amped-up atmosphere far from home.

But Laurinaitis is the son of the Road Warrior. He's prepped for confrontation, not just in football — he was Minnesota's defensive Mr. Football in high school — but from his own wrestling experience.

While that includes getting "atta-boy" pats at dad's matches from Hulk Hogan and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, it also draws on his own suplex-and-slam career.

Those moments have come at the OSU indoor practice facility, where he and fellow linebacker Marcus Freeman, the Wayne High grad, sometimes put on a show:

"He usually slams me 'cause I let him and know how to take a fall," Laurinaitis grinned. "If I slammed him, he'd back out quick.

"He always wants me to go through a table, but I tell him, 'No way, not in the middle of the season. I don't want to splinter it, (ruin) a kidney and be out for the season.' "

Freeman said the rough-housing's a natural: "When you've got the son of Animal on the team, you like to mess with him. And if James wanted to, he could be a pro wrestler. He has the persona."

Laurinaitis — whose older brother Joe is stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base after two Iraq tours — admitted there've been times he's gone home to Minnesota and put on his dad's wrestling tights and pads and "joked around." But at OSU, he's wrapped up in school — "he just had a 4.0," his dad said — and football.

While Laurinaitis said he and his defensive mates "haven't arrived yet," they made converts Saturday. That may include Bucks' quarterback Troy Smith, whom he gave a goal line body slam last season.

"It was during practice," he said. "He had a black jersey on — you're not supposed to hit black jerseys — but I remembered how the day before (an OSU running back) had run over one of our defensive players who'd backed off (a black jersey.)

"The coaches yelled at the defensive player. So I'm thinking, 'Do I hit Troy or do I stop and get yelled at?' I hit him at the 1. The defensive players loved it, but the offense hated me.

"The next day Troy — he's a joker — wrote on the board in the locker room:

"I hate The Road Warriors.' "

Now it's the Longhorns — thanks to the Son of Animal — who may be saying that same thing.