Council Takes Full Advantage of His Time to Shine

By David Boyce

In a pass-happy offense, the numbers Northwest Missouri senior running back LaRon Council has put up stand out.

Council has rushed for 1,610 yards. He's run the ball into the end zone 20 times. He's caught 41 passes for 331 yards and another touchdown.

And he has, said quarterback Blake Bolles, one of the best stiff arms around.

"I thought Xavier Omon had a really good one and he does," Bolles said. "But L.C. is so little that you don't expect it. You don't see it coming. He just throws guys off him with his stiff arm."

Council packs a lot of power in his 5-foot-10, 210-pound frame. He's a big reason why Northwest Missouri is 13-1 and will play in the NCAA Division II championship game noon Saturday against Grand Valley State in Florence, Ala.

The stats and the runs only tell part of Council's story at Northwest Missouri.

Long after those numbers begin to fade, Council's smile will be a lasting memory for his teammates, coaches and Bearcat fans that have been fortunate enough to meet him.

No matter what type of game he has, Council is wearing a smile afterward.

"That smile of his will just brighten a room," junior offensive lineman Brett Grozinger said. "My mom loves talking to LaRon because she just loves his smile. He's a great guy. You can't say enough about LaRon."

Council, a graduate of Center High School in Kansas City, attributes his sunny disposition to his mother.

"When I look back she is always smiling," Council said. "I get it from her. She's a very beautiful woman. She's upbeat, just like me I guess."

It would have been easy for Council to feel sorry for himself or mope around in his first two seasons at Northwest Missouri.

In 2006 and 2007 he was running behind Omon, who finished his career as the MIAA all-time leading rusher with 7,073 yards.

Council also suffered a broken right leg in his freshman season that limited him to nine games. Another leg injury caused him to play only seven games as a sophomore.

"He will just smile and I don't care how bad things are," Northwest Missouri coach Mel Tjeerdsma said. "You look at him and say wow, that guy is just having a great day. He's gone through so much and I never heard him complain about anything."

Council doesn't have to say statistics don't matter or the only thing that counts is getting the victory. That's the way he carries himself.

There have been games in which he hasn't carried the ball much because of Bolles throwing touchdown passes to Jake Soy. The two have hooked up for an incredible 26 touchdowns.

Omon was a special running back for Northwest Missouri and wanted the ball. Tjeerdsma joked with Omon about it on Nov. 7 when Omon was at the Central Missouri game.

"I walked up to him and said you would have probably quit if you were on this team this year because you wouldn't have gotten the ball enough," Tjeerdsma said. "That was a big deal with him. LaRon doesn't care. Sure, he loves to carry the football, but his time will come. He's been patient all year.

"On Saturday (against California) he lit it up."

Indeed. Council rushed for 216 yards, averaging 10.8 yards per carry in the semifinal game.

It's the running threat of Council that makes the Northwest Missouri offense so potent.

"We run a lot of play-action, and if the linebackers and the safeties don't bite on the play-action at all then we will run the ball," Bolles said. "He's such a great runner. To have a threat like him in the backfield just makes it so much easier to throw the football because you have to respect the run. It just opens it up so much."

Offensive coordinator Adam Dorrel simply calls Council the most complete running back he has coached.

"He's good with the ball in his hands," Dorrel said. "He can catch out of the backfield. He's a great blitz pick-up guy. He can run screens and he can run the ball. He's just a complete player."

Tjeerdsma said it is amazing that Council will leave Northwest Missouri as the school's second all-time leading rusher and scorer in essentially two years of work.

Council, though, has enjoyed every moment at Northwest Missouri.

"It has been one heck of a ride," he said. "I just soak it all up. This senior class has always ended up in the national championship game. We don't know anything different. It's a time I will never forget for as long as I live. I'm just enjoying it as we go along."

Council simply has the qualities all coaches look for in their leaders.

"He's just a special player," Tjeerdsma said. "He commands so much respect because of the type of person he is and the respect he shows everybody else. He's just so unassuming and so humble."

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.