Derik Steiner is a runaway freight train when he gets his hands on the ball.

In 1976 Penn State standout center Tom Rafferty was drafted in the fourth round by the Dallas Cowboys. He went on to have a superb career blocking for two Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.

Rafferty appeared in 221 games for the Cowboys including 18 playoff games and two Super Bowls, winning one. He is considered one of the greated linemen in Cowbiys history.

“Raff” as he was known to friends and teammates, was 6-foot-3, 256 pounds.

At that size, Raff would be small for a tight end in the NFL today and may have had a tough time even getting a look to play on any NFL offensive line.

Today’s big man not only possesses size, but is also is strong and tough…he is fast…in some cases, really fast

On many teams, today’s big man has become a big part of the offense, not only as a blocker, but as a dependable option to handle the ball.

Dan Klecko, a 5-11, 275 pound defensive tackle out of Temple played on offense regularly during his career with the Indianapolis Colts. New England Patriots and Eagles.

Klecko took many snaps on offense for those teams (2003-09), catching touchdown passes from Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. He helped those teams win three Super Bowls.

So it should not be surprising to see what is happening now, especially in the Arena Football League where players like fullbacks Derrick Ross (Soul) and Derik Steiner (Cleveland Gladiators) impact virtually every game they play in.

The Gladiators have struggled this year but Steiner has become a real weapon in Cleveland’s offense. The 6-foot-1, 305 pound fullback and blocker has made big plays on offense almost every week.

Two years in a row, Steiner has made an impact play that helped his team to upsets over the favored Soul at the Wells Fargo Center.
Both plays were back-breaking long runs after catching a screen pass then exploding upfield with defenders bouncing off him or being dragged.

When Steiner gets a full head of steam after catching the ball, he looks like a human version of Freight Engine 777 in the Denzel Washington film “Unstoppable.”

His teammate, defensive end Brian Brikowski told Footballstories he sees these plays every day not only in games, but in practice as well.

“Big guys are not supposed to do those things,” said Brikowski, who currently lives in Burlington County, NJ. “I remember one game where after Derik caught a screen pass, a DB had him lined up for a foot tackle and Derik hurdled him…he must have jumped three feet in the air! It was really impressive.”

Brikowski, who grew up near Freehold, NJ and played his college ball at Monmouth, said every city the Gladiators play in, when the big man has his hands on the ball, he lights up the arena.

“He definitely does,” Brikowski said. “Even in practice, our coach will call his screen play and when he gets its going it it gets the whole team hyped up.”

Steiner, who just turned 26, still holds out hope that the skills he has developed in the Arena Football League will get him an NFL look. It would be a shame if he didn’t. Steiner says he will keep on trying as long as he can.

“I wanna play football for as long as my talent allows me too,” Steiner told Footballstories last week. “I have excelled at every level of football that i have played in and would like to continue it to the next level.”

Steiner said his speed was developed with the help of some trainers back home in Ohio.

“Since I graduated college and finished my college career I have been training at Personal Trainers World with former NFL player Richard Carey, and many other trainers in Cincinnati,” Steiner said. “This has been one of the best decisions that I have made in my short professional career. At PTW they utilize circuit training. I really believe this circuit training has helped me increase my stamina and strength in all aspects of my game. The power of repetition and doing it the right way has helped me to be able to move the the way that I do for my size. Mixing in short burst exercises with strength lifts and what it has done for me really reminds me that my movement is because of my training.”

Footballstories writer Steve Morris had an standout career at Buena High School then at LaSalle University before the football program was shut down.

The 6-1, 280-pound lineman still plays and plays on both side of the ball for the Cecil County Raiders of the Atlantic Coast Football Alliance.

Morris – who works as a trainer as well as scripting workouts for football players of all ages and skill level – agrees on the type of training that has helped Steiner develop into one of the best players in the AFL.

“It always comes down to maximum strength,” said Morris, who earlier in the Raiders’ season, caught a long pass in the end zone for a two-point conversion. “The stronger your legs are, the faster and more agile you’ll be. It’s simple physics: the stronger your legs are, the more force they can produce. When you produce high levels of force into the ground, the Earth returns with an equal amount…this is where speed comes from.

“For linemen, its not only important to be strong, but also have a high level of “relative strength,’” Morris continued. “This is simply how strong you are in relation to your body weight. If you are squatting 500 pounds and you weigh 300 but lose bodyweight and drop to 280 pounds but continue to squat 500, you improved your relative strength.
“As linebackers get faster and D-linemen get faster & more agile, it’s very important for the offensive linemen to continue to improve their speed and mobility as described above. Its also important for D-linemen because to counter-act the size advantage of the offensive linemen, they need to get more agile.”

Derrick Ross is a late bloomer as a pro football player and he can look to better training regimen and ideas as a big reason why.

After a mind-numbing amount of roster changes since he left Tarelton State University eight years ago including a seven-game stint with the Kansas City Chiefs, Ross landed in Philly before the 2011 season.

In only two seasons, Ross has become one of the best fullbacks in AFL history. In a league known for its passing, Ross has made running the ball an actual weapon. And Ross can run. He has twice set the record most rushing yards in a season with more than 600 in each of his first two seasons.

Before him, no one gained more than 500 in a season. He is currently tied for fourth in league history for career rushing yards with 1,267. Last year, Ross scored a record 34 rushing touchdowns.

Ross is listed as 6-0, 240 pounds but this week said he is over 260 pounds…a pure square of muscle moving at a speed unheard of 20 years ago.

When Ross has the ball and is in full gear, he knows he is going to see 185-pound defensive backs trying to bring him down. He has a message for them.

“It’s like a career decision for them,” Ross said with a laugh recently. “They’re making a decision and if they go leg, if my knee comes up right, I can knock them out with my knee…so they have to make a decision, and I make my decision off what they do.”

Ross said he agrees with Eagles coach Chip Kelly who had said over and over since he came to Philadelphia that the “Big guys always beats up the little guy.”

“They want the bigger, stronger faster guys,” Ross said. “In the fourth quarter the big guy’s won…those little guys are tired of hitting those big guys.”

Ross, now 29, said his success comes from a program he went through at the Parisi Speed School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and from ideas he got from Soul head coach Clint Dolezel.

“I’m not a weight room guy,” Ross said. “I do a lot of agility drills…I’ll look on YouTube also for drills as well for my footwork, I’ll implement it out here on the practice field. Anything to keep my body nimble and ready to go I’ll do. I use these drill to stimulate my fast-twitch muscles.
“I stretch, I stretch alot,” Ross continued. “Every chance I get I stretch you don’t want to be tight. I am always working on cone drills and I’ve dome some ball security drills, worked on my fumbles as well.
Ball security drills work on my hips and my legs.”

Steiner says his play against the Soul have had a big an impact on him and his evolving as well.

“I have been fortunate in Philadelphia, to have had an impact on the game,” said Steiner, who played for an indoor team in Trenton before hooking up with the Gladiators. “I believe I have been able to be an effective ball carrier at my size because of my low center of gravity and the strength of my legs. My strength has propelled me through college bull-rushing offensive linemen to now breaking tackles and exploding up field.”

Steiner said his favorite players growing up were ball carriers, not a surprise when you see the direction his career has taken.

“When I was a kid I loved to watch Emmit Smith,” he said. “His ability to move with the ball and make people miss or run over people was second to none. Also, I loved when football was more of a running game for the first two downs and you have a big fullback like Mike Alstott leading the way for a smaller running back, but when a short yard or two was needed they were not hesitant to give it to a big fella to get the yards.”

Steiner believes fans love seeing the big guys getting the ball more and more. He said he feels the love everwhere he plays.

“Absolutely!” Steiner said. “Everyone loves to see a big man run with the ball or go out on a route and make a catch then get down the field. I love every minute of it as well, and you’re right, whether you’re at home or at an opponent’s stadium I love to feed off the crowd. and when I have a big run or catch and the crowd gets loud it makes every stadium feel like a home stadium!”

Don’t be surprised if this big man soon lands on his feet in an NFL stadium near you. •

Email Al Thompson at the.magazine@footballstories.com