THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: STINK on stuff — Former Vandal and NFL player, and current analyst Schlereth, weighs in on football, former teammates and his nickname
It doesn’t take much prodding to get Mark Schlereth to help out his alma mater.
“Anything I can do to support the University of Idaho, I’m in,” Schlereth said the other day via phone from his home in suburban Denver, between workouts. “I’m training like I was making a comeback. I started lifting really hard with a trainer last year at about this time … I feel better at 58 than when I retired at 36.”
Schlereth, who parlayed his time at Idaho into a 12-year NFL career, followed by a career in broadcasting, will be the featured speaker at the 61st North Idaho Sports Banquet, scheduled for next Saturday at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.
“If I’ve got availability, have bags, will travel,” said Schlereth, currently an analyst for Fox Sports. “That’s where I am when it comes to helping out Idaho, because, to be honest with you man, being a kid that came out of Alaska, they’re the place that gave me the opportunity to continue to live out my dream of making it to the NFL, and nobody else seemed to be very interested in doing that. So, I owe them a debt of gratitude. Anytime I can pay that forward, I am definitely willing and able.”
There is a website, cameo.com, where fans can, for a fee, have celebrities record video messages for them. If you book a message from Schlereth through the website, 100% of his take goes to the Vandal Scholarship Fund.
“I owe Idaho a huge debt of gratitude,” Schlereth said. “All the years I spent in the NFL were great, and I have wonderful friends and guys I consider brothers for life. But there’s nobody that I’m closer to than the guys I played college football with at the University of Idaho.”
Schlereth was recruited to Idaho by coach Dennis Erickson out of Robert Service High in Anchorage, Alaska. He played for Washington in the NFL from 1989-94, and for Denver from 1995-2000. He played on three Super Bowl champions and was selected to the Pro Bowl twice.
IN A conversation the other day with The Press, Schlereth touched on a number of topics, including:
IDAHO’S MOVE UP TO DIVISION I-A in FOOTBALL, AND SUBSEQUENT RETURN TO WHAT IS NOW CALLED FCS
“I was never for moving up,” said Schlereth, who redshirted at Idaho in 1984, then played for the Vandals from 1985-88). “I always thought we were right where we needed to be. I use myself as an example … I got asked to walk on to all the Pac-10 schools at the time. And I thought to myself, at 18 years old, would I rather go to a Pac-10 school and ride the bench for three years, and maybe get to play my senior year, or maybe not … or go to Idaho, and get to play?
“I would rather go and play. There’s so much value in reps, and playing. I ended up playing a bunch of different positions. For me, that was invaluable, going from offensive line, then moving from O-line, playing defense for three years, and having a bunch of injuries, and then moving back to offensive line. I tell people all the time, that experience for me, playing defense, helped me out considerably, playing in the National Football League. Because I had a more global perspective on the game because I spent three years playing defense. That was probably one of the reasons that, in spite of all the injury issues, that I lasted so long in the NFL, because I came from a different perspective. I understood when I got a bad look — what we called “bastard” looks from the defense — something smelled. And I was always able to figure those things out, and kept in the league for a long time.”
JOHN FRIESZ, THE FORMER COEUR d’ALENE HIGH STAR, WHO SHOWED UP AT IDAHO ONE YEAR AFTER SCHLERETH (1985), REDSHIRTED HIS FIRST YEAR, THEN PLAYED FROM 1986-89
“Yeah, we knew he was good from the first day he showed up,” Schlereth said. “So pure throwing the football. Arm talent was great. Timing, accuracy was awesome. Never fleet of foot, but being able to win from the pocket.
“I always talk about this on my radio show, or on television is, ultimately, in today’s NFL, as much as it’s become an athlete’s game, eventually a defense is going to say, ‘Can you beat us from the pocket?’ And they’re going to make you play from the pocket. And if you can’t beat people from the pocket, you can’t win championships in the National Football League.
John had that from Day 1.”
MARK RYPIEN, THE FORMER SHADLE PARK AND WASHINGTON STATE STAR, WHO PLAYED FIVE SEASONS WITH SCHLERETH WITH THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS, INCLUDING A SUPER BOWL IN THE 1991 SEASON
“Ryp was a great teammate,” said Schlereth, a right guard and part of a new class of “Hogs” in Washington. “Just an absolute goofball, but the dude could flat sling it. Again, one of those guys that wasn’t fleet of foot, but didn’t leave the pocket. There is security in knowing where a guy’s going to be, as an offensive line. People are always talking about being in the pocket and knowing he’s going to be there, and your ability to give up less sacks that way. But ultimately, you give up less holding calls that way. Holding calls happen when guys move from where they’re supposed to be, and it dramatically changes the angles that you’re trying to set up. I’m trying to funnel you to where I want you to go, based on where I know the quarterback’s going to be, or where I know the running play’s going to go. And when all of a sudden you bail out of that, especially when you bail out and there’s no reason to bail out, there’s nothing that pisses me off more. And so that changes the angle.”
JOHN ELWAY, PART-TIME COEUR d’ALENE AREA RESIDENT, A TWO-TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION AND SCHLERETH’S TEAMMATE WITH THE DENVER BRONCOS FROM 1995-98
“Elway was just so uber-talented, and just one of those guys that, it didn’t matter what the situation was, when he walked into the huddle there was a confidence about him — you could be down by two scores and we got ‘em right where we want ‘em,” Schlereth said.
“Toward the end of his career he always used to say, ‘Hey man, your job is first and second down, my job is to convert on third down. Just keep it clean and give me an opportunity on third down,’ and we converted a lot of them, that’s for sure.”
HOW HE EARNED THE NICKNAME ‘STINK’ (READER DISCRETION ADVISED)
In Alaska, during the first run of the salmon season, “the native people would chop off the heads of the salmon, bury them in a hole, then dig them up and eat them … and they called them stink heads,” Schlereth said.
When he told some players that story at training camp, they gave him the nickname “Stink head.”
Then there was a preseason game with Washington in 1990. Schlereth and the other starting linemen played a portion of the game before coming out. Schlereth, being the youngest starter, had to keep his uniform on, in case one of the subs got injured.
“And I really had to pee,” Schlereth recalled. “So in the middle of the fourth quarter ... "
You can guess the rest.
"And of course, as soon as I finish, somebody got hurt, and it was the backup center, so I had to go in and take a snap at center," he continued.
“So, more from “stink head” down to “stink” from ... and having to go in and take a snap at center. That’s how I got that nickname.”
THE CURRENT STATE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS, AND TRANSFERRING WITHOUT HAVING TO SIT OUT
“I’ve always been for players being able to capitalize … I don’t like if things don’t go your way right off the bat, that you just transfer. And I don’t care for people essentially recruiting and promising people more money, back channel,” Schlereth said.
If NIL had been around when Schlereth was in college …
“We joke around all the time — I want my restitution,” he said. “Idaho needs to pay me some money. I would have been worth at least 2 or 3 bucks a year … plus interest … $12.95 and we’ll call it even.”
As for all the transferring …
*I think some of the hardest times, and some of the best times, and the times where I learned the most about myself, were the tough times, where I’m getting hurt, and I’m switching positions, and there’s a lot of things going on, that at the time, had I had an escape clause, maybe I would have used it,” Schlereth said. “But I didn’t. And therefore, I had to gut it up and tough it out and figure it out. That’s life in general.”
THE NFL PUNISHING PLAYERS FOR USING THE HIP-DROP TACKLE
“You can’t define it, I can’t define it, there’s no ref that’s going to be able to define it. It’s silly,” Schlereth said. “They put a whole reel together (of hip-drop tackles), and every one looked like a tackle to me. I don’t how you’re going to discern between hip drop and non hip drop. One of the things I said on my podcast (“The Stinkin’ Truth”), ‘Quit trying to appease people who hate our game.’ It is inherently dangerous. If you play, you’re going to get hurt. And I understand safety, and I understand trying to make it as safe as possible, but you can’t legislate contact out of a contact sport.
“I can’t tell the difference between what is and what isn’t (a hip-drop tackle). If I can’t tell, and I watch more film than anybody, how is some ref going to be able to tell it?”
SCHLERETH’S ACTING CAREER
He was in the remake of “Red Dawn” in 2012, and also appeared on the soap opera “Guiding Light” for two seasons.
“I always tell people the ‘Guiding Light’ was on the air for 72 years; it started on radio and transferred to television in 1950," Schlereth said. "So, 72 years that thing was on a run, and it took me two years of recurring appearances to get it canceled.”
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.
ADAM HUNGER/Associated Press Mark Schlereth has been an analyst for Fox Sports since 2012.