When Tim DeRuyter arrived at Texas A&M as the Aggies' new defensive coordinator in 2010, he had an unusual idea. He wanted his pass-rusher, a hybrid linebacker/defensive end, to have a bit of an edge to him out there on, well, the edge. He looked to Batman for inspiration.
"I think it ought to be called the Joker, but I don't know," DeRuyter told his staff. "You know, just somebody who's got a little bit of a wild hair to him that can drive people nuts."
The problem was that he wasn't sure how a linebacker would take to essentially being labeled a clown.