By: Mark Emmons / Mercury News
Date: 09/02/2009
The two brothers sat on a metal bench, a few feet apart, after a San José State practice. For anyone who doesn't know them, it would be hard to discern that Carl and Duke Ihenacho even are related.
Duke, younger by 13 months, is loud and gregarious. Tattoos stand out on his chiseled upper arms.
Carl, reserved and introspective, is content to let his sibling do most of the talking. He shudders at the thought of getting a tattoo.
"Everybody who meets us always says how different we are, that he's more mellow and I'm more outspoken," Duke said.
Carl nodded.
"But people who really know us understand how we're really the same type of person," Duke continued.
More silent agreement comes from Carl.
They're the same in this way: Both are impact football players. Duke, a safety, was first-team All-WAC last season. SJSU is billing Carl, a standout defensive end, as an All-America candidate this season. Coach Dick Tomey calls him "potentially the best we've ever had" in Sparta.
There's another similarity. The Carson natives started playing football late in high school. And Tomey believes that if Carl had started even one year earlier, he could have been lining up against the Spartans when they open the season Saturday against powerhouse USC.
Instead the brothers are together, anchoring the SJSU defense, and looking forward to playing in front of friends and family at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
"We have nothing to lose," Duke said. "People don't have any expectations for us other than everyone expects us to get blown out. So we have nothing to be afraid of."
The Ihenachos know, better than most, that anything is possible. Their improbable athletic careers are the evidence.
"I never could have seen myself playing college football and being in this position," said Carl, joining the conversation. "It's a blessing."
This time, Duke does the nodding.
The brothers -- whose last name is pronounced EE-ah-NAH-cho -- don't live together. Each has his own circle of friends. Their interests vary.
"Duke always wants to do something different than Carl," said Charles Nash, the SJSU assistant who recruited them. "If Carl is traveling east, Duke wants to go west. They like to do their own things."
But they are fiercely loyal to one another. They even made the decision to play football together.
The Ihenachos were born in Southern California to parents Edith and Edwin, who had emigrated from Nigeria in search of a better life.
Their mother, after getting a look at the uniquely American game of football, wouldn't allow them to play as youngsters for fear of injury. So they were basketball players at Serra High in Gardena. But when Duke was a junior, he persuaded Carl, then an academics-driven senior, to successfully double-team mom about football.
"My brother kept saying, 'Come out, give it a try,' " Carl said. "I really didn't know what I was doing. Every day I learned something new, even if it was just how to put my pads on."
Not surprisingly, college coaches weren't knocking down his door. SJSU certainly wasn't until Nash, who previously had been the Serra coach, got a call from the school's defensive coordinator. You need to look at a tape, Nash was told.
It was from a postseason all-star game, and what caught Nash's eye was a single play where Carl faked inside, faked outside, then ducked back inside -- all without the lineman laying a hand on him.
"I just took that one clip and showed it to Coach Tomey," Nash said. "He only had one thing to say to me: 'I know you offered him.' And I said: 'Yes I did.' When you see a play like that, it doesn't take a whole lot to know that he's a player."
The Ihenachos' Nigerian heritage then inadvertently helped the Spartans. The brothers are proud of their culture -- the tattoo on Duke's upper right arm is an outline of Nigeria with a lion inside it. And Carl and his father were visiting Nigeria when other coaches began learning of the tape.
"Nobody could reach them," Nash said. "By the time he got back, I already had a good rapport with the family, and they respected that we were the first ones to offer a scholarship."
Carl started three games as a true freshman for depth-challenged SJSU, even though he still really didn't know what he was doing. Now entering his senior season, he has 27 1/2 career tackles for a loss, including 13 sacks.
Also impressive is his classroom work. He's on schedule to graduate with a psychology degree in just 3 1/2 years.
"He already is the best combination of academics and football player we've had," Tomey said. "He's accomplished a lot in such a short time."
None of this surprises Serra coach Scott Altenberg, who couldn't believe how much Carl progressed in just the four months he coached him. He also calls Duke one of the most natural players he has ever coached.
"I told the San José State coaches, 'You are the luckiest guys, because now you're probably going to get to Duke, too, and they're both Pac-10 level players,' " Altenberg remembered.
Actually, it wasn't quite a done deal. Duke, because he played two years at Serra, attracted more attention. Also, their mother wasn't big on them attending the same college.
"When I was recruiting Carl, she pointed to Duke and said: 'You're not getting him,' " Tomey said. "But sure enough, we did. I think it's because Carl liked it up here and Duke saw that."
Following in his brother's cleat marks, Duke stepped right onto the field and started six games as a freshman. Last season he blossomed with 66 tackles and five interceptions, which tied for the WAC lead.
It even could be argued that he outshined his older brother. But then Carl, a second-team All-WAC selection, had an excuse. He played the end of the season with one hand.
Early in the eighth game against Boise State, Carl broke his left thumb. Even after surgery, he managed to play a few snaps the following week and then refused to leave the lineup the last three games as SJSU tried in vain to secure a bowl berth.
"You just can't play defensive end when you've got a big wad of tape on your hand," Tomey said. "You can't grab anybody. It just doesn't work. But he tried so hard."
Months later, the frustration still is evident on Carl's face.
"I just wasn't capable of playing the way I know I could," he said. "I'm excited that I'm healthy again."
SJSU coaches said Carl also is beginning to come out of his shell now that he's one of the Spartans' unquestioned leaders. He still finds interviews uncomfortable and isn't the most vocal person around the team.
"But the few words he does say have an impact," Nash added. "He's such a sound young man who has become so respected in this school."
And one who has no interest in joining his brother at a tattoo parlor.
"That is a big difference between us," Duke said. "I remember asking Carl when he was going to get tatted. He said: 'Not me.' "
Carl just nodded.
Contact Mark Emmons at 408-920-5745.
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