Big goals to match big hair, persona
James Looney has big hair and an even bigger personality.
Calling on his humble roots and stirred by a new defensive scheme, the senior defensive lineman might turn those obvious attributes into afterthoughts by delivering his biggest season on the field.
“He’s an explosive guy,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said of Looney. “He’s got good size. He’s really a lean guy for being that big. He’s explosive, can run and is quick. …
“He’s an outgoing, fun-loving guy, and he shows that side of himself. But when we’re out here and it’s time to go, he works at it.”
The 6-foot-3, 280-pound senior has tattoos of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, the Tasmanian Devil and Tweety on his arm and a vociferous nature that can mirror the Looney Tunes characters. He
turned the Pac-12 media day into his own show, posing for goofy photos, participating in a hilarious science experiment and generally captivating interviewers throughout the session.
But behind the humor and the flowing, wavy locks of hair that are sometimes bleached blond is a blue-collar worker who spent his youth working with his electrician father. Looney’s father would make him spend the entire day under the Florida sun digging 18-inch ditches and laying pipe, and the payout for the 8- to 10-hour grueling shift was $5.
“I’ll never forget that,” Looney said. “That’ll always stick with me, reminding me to stay hungry about getting my education and outworking people.”
Looney is on track to get his bachelor’s degree in American studies before he heads to the NFL, even after losing some credits when he transferred from Wake Forest to Cal as a sophomore. Looney and his father argued for weeks about transferring from the school that helped his brother, Joe, make it to the NFL.
Looney’s mother is an educator who often works with autistic children.
Looney now has the whole family convinced that he made the right decision. “How many people can say they graduated from Cal-Berk?” Looney’s father asked. “There’s life after football, and with a degree from Cal-Berkeley, your resume is etched in stone all over the world.”
Looney would like to leave that type of legacy on the field, too, and he appears poised to do just that. Coming off a season during which he had 54 tackles, tied for the team lead in quarterback hurries, and finished second in tackles for a loss, sacks and fumble recoveries, the Cal coaching staff sees even more opportunities for Looney to flash in the Bears’ new 3-4 front.
Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said Looney will get playing time at defensive end, nose guard and outside linebacker — all positions from which his power-and-speed combination can create havoc for quarterbacks.
Looney is willing to shoulder even more responsibility.
“I’m for sure the best overall athlete on the team, and I have better hands than Tre (Watson, who says he has the best hands in the country),” Looney said. “If I wanted to play running back, and they gave me the opportunity to play running back, I’m pretty sure I could play running back. …
“Coach Wilcox could move me to quarterback tomorrow, and I’ll learn the scheme and be ready to play.”
That might not be too much of a stretch. Looney showcases an arm that tosses 70-yard spirals before most games and grew up playing skill positions “before I found the fridge.”
Five years younger than his brother, Looney worked his way on to the same team at 5 years old. By the time he was in the seventh or eighth grade, he was too big to play on standard youth teams, so he had to again play with older children in an unlimited weight league.
Playing outside his weight class came with some adversity. Looney suffered a broken leg, a broken arm and a broken wrist. When he broke his wrist, he tried to get back onto the field and wouldn’t go for X-rays until after the game.
That kind of toughness was necessary in the Looney household. His father was raised in Louisville, Ky., in the same district as Muhammad Ali and Wes Unseld and where coaches let the football players settle arguments with 16-ounce boxing gloves.
Looney played his youth football in Riviera Beach — a region near the southeastern tip of Florida that is fewer than 10 square miles but is known for its ruggedness and has produced NFL stars Anthony Carter and Devin Hester.
Off the football field, Looney didn’t get any breaks. The youngest of four children, he took knocks from two sisters, who were “meaner than rattlesnakes” he said, and a brother, who was trying to harden Looney to play at the next level.
“James’ sisters beat the crap out of him, and he had to deal with being a multiracial child,” said Looney’s father, who calls himself a “long-haired white boy” and his wife of 36 years a “black Bahama mama.” “Coming through all of that is probably why his pipes are a little louder than the other kids.”
Looney still finds time to showcase his booming and amusing vocal pipes, sneaking into interview gaggles with other players to ask silly questions and rarely passing a teammate with whom he doesn’t share an inside joke.
But his maturation is obvious. Looney credits teammates for getting him nominated for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which goes to college football’s top defensive player, and consistently says he’s blessed to be in his current position.
He learned the word blessed from his father, who crutched into church one Sunday and said he was lucky that he hadn’t been paralyzed when a piece of pipe slammed into his back. An elderly lady from Mississippi told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t lucky. He was blessed.
“He knows when it’s time to be serious, and he’s mature about it,” Wilcox said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to watch him grow.”