By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Nov. 11 2005
The shooting death of his brother Jermaine on Oct. 17 hit
Leonard Little hard.
On Friday, it was clear that 3 1/2 weeks is not nearly enough time to ease the
hurt.
Twice on Friday, Little was asked questions related to the death of his
brother. Both times, he couldn't speak. Simply couldn't speak. Instead, he
stood silently for several seconds in front of his locker at Rams Park, eyes
welling up, until the next question from reporters broke the silence.
"It's good to be back around the fellas," Little said. "The last few weeks, the
fellas have been giving me calls, giving me updates on how everything was
going. So it's nice to be back around these guys and playing."
After missing the past two games to be with his family, Little returns to the
starting lineup at defensive end Sunday in Seattle.
Despite concerns about weight loss during his absence, Little said: "I'm fine.
I'm back up to my playing weight. We had last week off (for the bye week). I
was back here lifting weights and working out. So I'm back to my playing
weight."
Despite missing games and practice for two weeks, Little feels he'll be able to
play a lot against the Seahawks.
"We've got a system where if I get tired, I come out anyway," Little said.
"Coach (Bill) Kollar, I'm pretty sure he's conscious of that. So if I get tired
or anything, I can come out and take myself out of the game."
Kollar is the Rams' defensive line coach.
"The only thing I can do is go out there and try to do my best, and try to
bring the same thing I brought to this team before," Little said.
Which is a lot, as a pass rusher and run defender.
"He's arguably our best defensive player," said linebacker Trev Faulk, whose
locker is next to Little's. "He's one of the best defensive players in the
league. ... So it's a huge, huge lift - just his presence being out there."
Little kept up with the team as best as he could while home in Asheville, N.C.,
with his family. The Rams' games weren't televised in Asheville, so Little used
an information feature on his cellphone to track the team.
"I would get on my cellphone and 'refresh' every play," Little said. "That's
the only thing I could do. So when something happened, and it came up on my
cellphone, I would get happy or get mad. ... I'm glad modern technology has
come that far where I can track a game on my cellphone."
Even after returning to St. Louis in the bye week, Little made a return trip to
Asheville last weekend. His high school jersey (No. 30) was retired in
ceremonies at an Asheville High football game.
"That's a very special honor for anybody," Little said. "So I really respect
them for that. I thank everyone in that city for that."
Little gave the team, which is a state power in North Carolina, a pep talk
before its game. "We're going to win the state," Little said. "You can write
that down."
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