When sophomore Kellen Pruitt attends weekly film sessions with the Syracuse football defensive unit, he sits in silence. Teammates say he’s quiet.

But there’s a different Kellen Pruitt than the one his teammates know. There’s the one who, as a child, played a trick on his mother by climbing on roofs. There’s the one who said, ‘I’m a lot crazier than I look.’

Most close to Pruitt, a sophomore linebacker for Syracuse, think of him as reserved. But an animated side belies Pruitt’s seemingly calm demeanor.

‘Kellen was a daredevil kid,’ said Tyrone Pruitt, Kellen’s father. ‘He was always doing crazy things.’

After moving from Fort Washington, Md., to Clinton in suburban Washington, D.C., Kellen Pruitt became restless. One day, as new houses rose in his neighborhood, his mother, Regina, lost track of her son, only to find him on the roof of a nearby house.

‘He yelled, ‘You weren’t supposed to find me up here!’ ‘ Tyrone Pruitt said. ‘Kellen always had a no-fear attitude. In the winter, he would climb up on a low part of the roof of our house and jump into the snow as if it was a pillow.’

Growing up, Kellen Pruitt wanted to be a lawyer and a football player. His comedic nature later inspired him to try theater.

‘I was in a couple plays when I got here in college,’ he said. ‘I was interested in doing some kind of acting.’

His daring nature fed a love for sports. In youth football leagues, Pruitt played offensive line because he towered over other kids. At Gwynn Park High School, he earned all-star honors in his senior year at wide receiver and a Washington Post All-Metro Second Team selection at linebacker.

‘Since I was a little kid, I wanted to go to the pros and play football,’ Pruitt said. ‘I would always create myself in (John Madden video games) because it was fun to control and visualize what you wanted to happen on the field.’

While Pruitt wants to make a life out of football, he has always been a hard-worker in school, too. Growing up, Kellen attended the Magnet School system, which concentrates on preparing students in math and science, in suburban D.C.. At SU, Pruitt studies sociology.

During a winter recruiting visit to Gwynn Park in 2001, assistant coach Chris White recognized the explosiveness and athleticism that could make Pruitt a great college football player.

Thing is, Pruitt wasn’t playing football.

White attended one of Pruitt’s basketball games, and Pruitt’s athletic ability impressed him. One play, Pruitt, a point guard, followed up a teammate’s miss with a thunderous dunk off the rebound.

‘It seemed like he took off from the foul line,’ White said.

When Pruitt first came to SU, he needed some time to fill out his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame. He redshirted as a wide receiver on the scout team.

Pruitt wanted to play receiver, not linebacker. But while waiting out that year, Pruitt realized that he couldn’t keep up with defensive backs’ speed and knew if he wanted to play, he needed to change positions.

‘He’s got speed, but he’s more athletic at linebacker,’ White said. ‘He’s rangy. We kind of like those kids at outside linebacker, tall and rangy. That’s what we were looking for.’

White compared Pruitt to former Orangeman linebacker Keith Bulluck, a first-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans, who came to SU as a strong safety before shifting to outside linebacker.

Since coming to SU, Pruitt has put on more than 20 pounds. This season he has 54 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception on an improved SU defense. And he’s still got two years before a chance at the NFL.

‘He’s got a bright future and a lot of growth potential,’ linebackers coach Steve Dunlap said. ‘Physically the only thing he really needs to do is get stronger. He is a very intelligent player, and you don’t really have to tell him a lot of things twice. That’s probably the most impressive thing about him.’

Published on November 5, 2003 at 12:00 pm