Dyer five star from start

As a seventh-grader in Little Rock, Michael Dyer was the star of his football team and got playing time on the junior high squad as well.

“We would have to slide a pair of pants over his seventh-grade pants, because the junior high wore navy pants and he wore white,” said Justin Kramer, who coached Dyer in junior high and at Little Rock Christian High School. “We would get one size bigger pants, and he would put them over his other pants so he could be on the sideline. He was like a kid in a candy store.”

When Dyer’s mother came to one of his junior high games for the first time, Kramer found out and sent Dyer in among the older players in the final minutes of the first half. He told him to score a touchdown.

“I was just talking, you know?” Kramer said. “Well, we’re on like the 13-yard line going in, and he takes the ball, stiff-arms a linebacker, spins off him and gets hit by the other linebacker. He falls on top of the linebacker, landing on his back, and then rolls over on to his feet and just trucks this free safety and runs into the end zone.

“I was like, ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ I was the best coach ever.”

Asked what he remembered about the scoring run, Dyer said, “That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.”

Dyer went on to rush for 8,070 yards during his prep career, setting an Arkansas state record, and is among the elite prospects in the 2010 class. ESPN ranks the 5-foot-8, 201-pounder as the No. 1 tailback nationally, while Rivals.com has him No. 2 and Scout.com lists him No. 3.

Late in a senior season that included 2,484 yards on 31 touchdowns on 296 carries (8.4 yards per carry), Dyer committed to the Auburn Tigers.

“They’re a team right now trying to fight back to where they’re used to,” Dyer said, “and the improvement they made this year will make them even better next year. I think they’re on their way to being one of the greatest teams again.”

Auburn is certainly on its way to a great class, which Rivals.com currently pegs fourth nationally behind Florida, Texas and Alabama. Dyer has known Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn since his ninth-grade year in 2006, when Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas.

The Tigers went 8-5 this past season under Gene Chizik and with Malzahn running the offense. Senior quarterback Chris Todd completed more than 60 percent of his passes and had 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions, and senior tailback Ben Tate rushed for 1,362 yards, averaging 104.8 a game.

Does Dyer envision himself replacing Tate as the featured back?

“That’s what I’m planning on doing,” he said.

Kramer said he believes Chizik has high character along with his assistants and that they have created a family feeling in which his standout can thrive. Dyer wasn’t even in elementary school when he lost his father in an automobile accident, and he spent most of junior high living with different families until his uncle entered his life when he was in ninth grade.

That was the best thing ever to happen to Dyer, Kramer said, pointing out Dyer’s 3.4 grade point average and his 25 on the ACT.

One criticism Dyer has heard all along concerns his height, but that seems to be on the wane. Alabama’s Mark Ingram (5-10, 212) isn’t much bigger than Dyer and recently won a Heisman Trophy, and Baltimore Ravens 5-8 tailback Ray Rice shredded the New England Patriots for 159 yards last weekend in the AFC playoffs.

“I don’t care how tall he is,” Kramer said. “The ball is going to be waist-high when they hand it to him. I think his height is an advantage, because he’s so hard to get a solid hit on because he is so compact and hard to wrap up. I think he’s the perfect size.”

Said Dyer: “I don’t see the big deal about it. There are a lot of backs my size with my exact same build, but I guess it gives some people something to talk about.”

Tate became Auburn’s fifth tailback in the past decade to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, joining Rudi Johnson (2000), Ronnie Brown (’02), Carnell Williams (’03-’04) and Kenny Irons (’05). Kramer believes it won’t be long before Dyer provides the Tigers with another.

“It’s like he takes being tackled personally,” Kramer said. “He wants to win every time he touches the ball, and if you watch his highlight films, you will see that. He never gets tackled by one person. Never. It’s just unbelievable to me that someone can have that type of drive.”