Some of you might remember Bruce Davis – the former UCLA defensive end with a monster speed rush and a flair for the dramatic.

Well, “The Sack Master” – as he was known around these parts – just might be the luckiest son of a gun in the world.

After getting drafted last spring, Davis spent all of this season transforming himself into an outside linebacker. There’s no place in the league for a 6-foot, 3-inch, 234-pound defensive end. So he put on 20 pounds, discarded his three-point stance and learned the ways of a ‘backer.’

He dressed for only five games this season and doesn’t have an NFL stat line yet. He wasn’t even on the active roster in three playoff games, but he did do something right.

He got drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even though Davis has yet to make a tackle in the professional ranks or celebrate his first NFL sack, he now has a permanent title in front of his name: “Super Bowl Champion.”

Not too shabby for a guy who just one year ago was wondering where he might fall in the draft.

Now all he’s wondering is when that UPS truck will roll up to his door and hand him that big ol’ ring.

When that day comes, Davis is going to be looking like Martin Lawrence at the end of “Blue Streak” – high-stepping down the road with a diamond in hand the size of his head, and in complete disbelief that it’s actually his.

And somewhere that same day, former USC quarterback Matt Leinart will be sitting on his hands wondering how he’s ever going to get the Cardinals back to the Super Bowl once Kurt Warner decides to walk away.

But the point is the guy who beat UCLA every time on the field got beat by a Bruin to a Super Bowl win.

And, leaving Troy Polamalu out of this, that’s some sweet payback.

Unlike Davis, Leinart was actually active for the Super Bowl and would’ve stepped in for Warner if the old guy had gone down, but that’s just the fine print at this point.

At the end of the day, Davis is a world champion.

His little to no effect on the actual game? Semantics.

Most players earn their Super Bowl rings on Sunday and Mondays and while Davis didn’t exactly have that kind of impact, it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have one of those big, shiny fists on his finger in a few months.

Let’s be honest for a second. Pittsburgh probably would have won the Super Bowl without Davis’ help. Saying otherwise would be like saying Barack Obama wouldn’t have won without his own vote.

But those little things tend to add up.

Though I’ve never seen Davis on the Steelers practice field, maybe his impersonation of the Cards linebackers was Oscar-worthy. Maybe he gave some Rudy-like effort on the practice field that was just the motivation Pittsburgh needed. Maybe, on some tiny off chance, Davis was the difference-maker in the Steelers run to the Super Bowl.

Maybe, maybe not.

But when it comes down to it, Davis is a world champion.

http://www.dailybruin.com/news/2009/feb/03/emsuper-bowl-win-settles-score-former-bruinem/

Tags: bruce davis, Pittsburgh Steeler, Super Bowl

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