FAYETTEVILLE — Weston Dacus has two things going for him that no other Arkansas football player can claim:

A quarterback sack in the 2007 season; A public endorsement from Gov. Mike Beebe.

That’s not to say the governor wouldn’t voice a stamp of approval on any number of Razorbacks, such as star tailback Darren McFadden, whose exploits have attracted untold national attention for Arkansas football.

It’s just that Beebe and Dacus are home boys from Country Club Circle in Searcy.

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“He had a son [Kyle ] who was three or four years older than I was,” Dacus said. “He kind of joined in our backyard football we had down in the neighborhood.”

Paraphrasing Beebe’s comments as master of ceremonies during the Razorbacks’ Hall of Honor induction banquet on Aug. 31, who knew that the little neighborhood kid would grow into a big, strong young man who could now run through a wall ?

“It’s pretty cool he can talk of me like that, knowing he’s got so much power,” Dacus said.

The Razorbacks middle linebacker has a nice measure of power himself as the leading returning tackler on the Arkansas defense with 95 stops in 2006.

Dacus’ football mentality was forged by the inner fires of a natural-born scrapper and the fact that he always played up a level or three as a youngster, begging into games with his brother Joe, who is four years older, and his contemporaries.

“He was pretty damn tough,” said Robert Dacus, Weston’s father. “I found out years later that they just beat the crap out of Weston.

“ He’d get up and go back to the huddle. They were trying to run him away and he would not go away.”

The rugged treatment served Weston Dacus well as he moved up through the ranks.

“He’s been a headbanger ever since he was a little kid,” Robert Dacus said. “He used to dress out two hours early for his peewee games and watch extreme football just to get psyched up.”

Weston Dacus grew up as a ball carrier. As a sixth-grader, however, he was nearly sanctioned out of being a running back.

He was bigger than average at the time, his 117 pounds being seven pounds more than the maximum allowed for the ball carriers in his league. To prove his desire to be a runner, Dacus went on a vegetable and water diet to lose those critical seven pounds.

1 He got down to 109 / 2 pounds and ran the ball. He kept on running through high school, where he piled up 3, 828 yards as a fullback for Danny Mallett at Searcy High School. During his senior year, Dacus was rated by Max Emfinger as the No. 18 running back in the country, while Insiders. com judged him No. 27 nationally.

When Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt came to call, he asked Dacus what he’d rather play at the collegiate level: running back or linebacker. Dacus’ reply: wherever you need me.

Dacus had played linebacker in need situations at Searcy, but at Arkansas, he became a full-time defender. He brought 130 career tackles, 5 sacks and a key leadership role into his senior season.

“They voted him captain,” Nutt said. “He’s a guy, whether he’s in the locker room, the classroom or on the field, he’s been a tremendous, tremendous leader for us.”

Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said Dacus took his game to another level in the Hogs’ 46-26 season-opening victory over Troy.

“Weston played, with the exception of the glaring missed tackle he had in the second quarter, which seemed to be a disease, probably the best game of his [career ],” Herring said. “He took charge of the defense, he kept them poised, and he was where he was supposed to be.

“ He just really handled himself in a very mature way.”

“We started strong with a few three and outs in the first quarter,” Dacus said. “The second quarter we kind of slacked up a little. Things didn’t really go our way. We weren’t matching up in our zone coverages.

“ We didn’t change anything at halftime. We came out and executed the calls. I thought the secondary did excellent in the second half and the first quarter. We’ve got some things to build on, but all in all, a solid start.”

Of course, the intensity will rocket up the chart with the Razorbacks opening SEC play Saturday at Alabama.

“Coach Herring’s trying to put more blitzes into our package, bring more pressure on the quarterback to try to help that fourman rush out,” Dacus said.

You know where one volunteer blitzer will be coming from. The middle linebacker spot, where the governor’s buddy is ready to run through a wall to get to the quarterback.