SportsLine wire reports
April 23, 1999

BATON ROUGE, LA. -- Sure, they were teammates, but when that mouth erupted last season, Jarvis Green always wanted to say something to Thomas Dunson.

"I got annoyed somewhat," the soft-spoken Green remembered, "cause I'd hear him behind us talking all the time and I'd be like, 'Just shut the hell up.'"

Eventually, as the season roled on, Green developed a theory about the nuisance.

"He was always hyper, like he was eating a lot of sugar or somethin'," he said. "He'd just talk, talk, talk all the time. He was just loud, loud, loud. I guess that's how he grew up or somethin'."

THAT'S IN THE PAST. LATELY THESE DAYS, an injured Green has watched the 6-3, 232 pound Dunson dominate in spring practices.

The mouth still roars, but Green proudly says he's seen a dramatic change in his teammate and friend.

"He's showing more on the field," he said. "Now, he's backing up a lot of what he's saying on the field out there. (The coaches) are playing him a lot on the reads and all. By him gaining that knowledge, it will help the defensive line when it comes time to play."

Once that time arrives, chances are a stronger, much improved linebacking corps will take the field.

Leading them will be the sophomore Dunson, who's had one of the more impressive springs among members of the Tiger football team.

"Last year I made some improvements in a lot of aspects," Dunson said. "My tackling's just better this spring, and I really wanted to work on that. Criticism as it was, I mean, I didn't miss a whole lot of tackles, but I missed some tackles I shouldn't have missed last year. You've just got to pick apart the things you need to work on. I needed to work on that, and I think I've achieved getting something to build on."

THAT'S BEEN VERY OBVIOUS, TOO. LSU defensive coordinator Lou Tepper said he's been impressed with Dunson's steady progress this spring.

"He's one of the best conditioned athletes, he's one of the best pursuers," Tepper said.

"But now he's becoming a technician."

This spring, the two have bonded in a way, with Tepper naming Dunson as the one to call each play for a defense that came under heavy criticism in 1998.

"The first day we came back and coach Tepper told me I'm the starter at inside backer it just gave me a big boost of confidence," Dunson said. "Just to say, 'You're our guy. You've just got to do what we ask you to do and make some plays.' That just kind of turned the leash loose."

COMFORTABLE AND RELAXED, DUNSON'S PERFORMANCE quickly improved early this spring, but that also carried a challenge of sorts.

"He's one of the leaders on this team," said fellow linebacker Charles Smith. "When the team's down, we put a lot of pressure on him to keep us up. He's got to improve his game and he's got to be consistent. He's the starter now."

Dunson admitted he's thought about improving his game dramatically since being called into the forefront of the Tiger defense.

"I can care less what other people say about me, but yeah, it's important to me," he said. "The responsibility's all mine. I've just got to step it up. I call the plays, and I've just got to take care of business."

He probably will, too, from Tepper's perspective.

"I THINK HE HAS A WONDERFUL FUTURE cause he works so hard," he said. "It means so much to him and he doesn't want to be just good. He wants to be a great player."

Just like others on the team, Dunson still has his share of mistakes such as missed tackles in Thursday's scrimmage. Most of the time he managed, however, to follow each blunder with assists on tackles.

While he's definitely collected his good moments and bad ones, ranging from plays on the field to frustrated shouts from coaches, Dunson said he's got no complaints so far with his young career and how he's done this spring.

"It's been a dream come true for me," Dunson said. "It's been a lot of fun."

You can tell, too. After all, he's talking about it.