FAYETTEVILLE — Anthony "Booger" McFarland's introduction is a simple matter. He's a former All-America defensive tackle at LSU, now an outstanding analyst for the SEC Network. He does a little radio work, too.
There are two Super Bowl rings to mention with Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. The Buccaneers took him as the 15th overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft.
Kudos for Bo Mattingly for skipping all of that at Tuesday's meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club. He just handed the microphone to Marvin Caston, McFarland's best friend and mentor growing up in Winnsboro, La.
Caston, who was nicknamed "Head" and played four years as Arkansas' fullback, did his buddy right with a 10-minute spin into life in the McFarland home, then explained that he thought McFarland was going to follow him to the Ozarks to play for the Razorbacks. More on that in a moment.
Afterward there was even a new nickname tossed into the mix as McFarland explained that the SEC Network staff has dubbed former Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner as “Dirty Red.”
Whether that came from Booger is not clear, but there is little doubt that nicknames are the deal in Winnsboro, a tiny town in north Louisiana where life focuses around the Walmart.
Caston, now an assistant director at the Razorback Foundation, didn't hesitate when asked to provide any good stories on McFarland after the meeting. They went back to their SEC playing days when the LSU-Arkansas game ended the regular season.
“OK,” McFarland said. “Tell him. I knew you were going to anyway.”
Caston explained that his good friend had gotten phone numbers for Stoerner and others on the Arkansas side for some good-natured taunting week of the game.
“He called me, he called Clint,” Caston said. “He was telling us what he was going to do to us. That last time, he was telling us that he needed three sacks for the school record and he was going to get them against us.
“I can tell you about that game, he didn't touch Clint. Not once. Our guards did great, Brandon Burlsworth and Russ Brown.”
McFarland confirmed that he was bottled up for the game. He had nothing but praise for the Arkansas offensive linemen.
“We were ready for him,” Caston said. “The '98 game, we'd just lost to Tennessee and Mississippi State. And Booger was calling my guys. I had enough. We were in a team meeting Thursday night (before the Friday night game) and I asked to speak to the team. Coach (Houston) Nutt just turned it over to me.”
Caston, one year older, was sure Booger would be a Razorback, too. They had plotted that scenario, but Danny Ford botched the recruiting.
“It was down to Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU,” McFarland said. “Phil Fulmer came into my home and told me what he saw in my future.”
It was not as a defensive lineman.
“We think you will be a good defensive lineman, but a great center,” Booger said. “Imagine that Peyton Manning will slide his hands under your rear end. Don't you see that? No, I don't see that happening.”
Tennessee was out. Next entered Ford, the Arkansas coach who had plucked Caston out of Winnsboro.
“Danny came to the home visit wearing cowboy boots,” McFarland said. “First thing he did, put his boots on my mother's coffee table. She looked at me and that's when I knew I wasn't going to Arkansas.”
LSU coach Gerry DiNardo was next. Basically, he said almost nothing, but did nothing to damage his chances.
“It still think what it might have been like for two guys from Winnsboro to have played major college football together,” McFarland said.
McFarland got his nickname from his mother, a tough single mom who used salty language with ease. Caston confirmed the language with letters. Booger quoted his mom directly on some stories.
An older sister used Booger because “it was the only thing my mom called me that she was allowed to repeat. So everyone in Winnsboro called me Booger. I thought I was done with it when I got to LSU. But after my first tackle, I got up and heard, 'Tackle by Booger McFarland.' I looked at the press box and shook my head.”
The best story concerned a mid-term math grade in his first semester at LSU when he was already starting.
“Booger made a mistake,” Caston said. “He didn't have his address changed when he got to school to keep grades from going home.”
Mom called DiNardo to complain about the “C” in algebra.
“She told him you aren't going to let him play or practice until he gets it to an A, or I'm going to come down there and kick your (butt) and his,” Caston said. “So I got a call at Arkansas. Could I call his mom and explain.
“At first, I said I'm not going down that road. They wanted me to explain it was just a mid-term but not the real grade. I finally did it. I thought of how to handle it. I said, 'It's like when you didn't pay the electric bill. They send a pink sheet saying what will happen if you don't pay. You still can pay and the lights won't be shut off.' That did it. She understood.”
Booger explained his home. It was mom raising three kids on an $18,000 welfare check.
“It's not what you have, but how you use it,” he said. “That's the way it is with this club, how you use it. I said I'd come speak because I saw how you used the club, how it helped the community, how you give back. That's what it's all about, how football gives back.”
Football is the root of Booger's success. He told of an old coach in Winnsboro who taught him the meaning of work and the dollar.
“I was about 13,” he said. “Walking home. He stopped to ask if I could help him with something. I told him he'd have to ask my mom, because I wasn't supposed to talk to strangers.”
There was a job cutting wood, hard work. It helped shape his life.
“It put money in my pocket and taught me how to work,” he said. “I could buy some new clothes from time to time. Why I'm telling you here this today, I want you to help someone else, give a helping hand and make a difference.”
Later, McFarland recalled the time Caston called to ask if he wanted to go to the local pizza hang out for lunch.
“Neither one of us had cars,” he said. “It was where the nice girls hung out. So I said I'd go. We both showered, put on nice clothes and we walked eight miles.”
Caston added, “Mind you, this was summer in Louisiana, hot and humid. We got there and we were soaking wet. We both wondered why we had bothered to take a shower.”
Caston and McFarland have remained close through the years. They were the best man in the other's wedding.
When the TD Club members began to ask questions, there was less talk of Winnsboro and Caston, and some about the Razorbacks.
“I think they can be a dark horse,” McFarland said. “I think the SEC is wide open. It's top heavy on the West with Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss, and on the East with Tennessee, Florida and Georgia. But chalk doesn't always play out.
“With Alabama, they have the five stars. But sometimes you don't have a chief. The indians need a chief. I don't know if they know who that is at quarterback and running back.
“I've spent a lot of time with Bret Bielema. You need to understand who you are, Bret does. He understands that you need to be very physical and he knows his team. He knows how they are going to react.”
McFarland likes the Arkansas defensive line, especially Deatrich Wise.
“You have to have an alpha dog,” he said. “You have to have someone to create havoc off the edge. He can be that. If he forces double teams, it frees things up for the defensive tackles.
“I don't know if this group is as good as the 2014 group with Trey Flowers, Darius Philon and Martrell Spaight, but sometimes the light comes on and it clicks. It might have done that for Wise.
“They have to be balanced on offense and these wide receivers – one of the top four groups in the SEC – has to prove their worth. I don't think they can just line up and run over the SEC for 2,000 yards rushing. So there has to be balance. The ceiling could be 10 for this team. They could be the dark horse.”