The Big Enchilada

Some people hope that is the case. They claim Mandarich is a walking shrine to steroid abuse. "I played against a guy who was an average offensive tackle [in 1986] who then went from 270 pounds to 300 pounds in one year and became an awesome offensive tackle," says a veteran Big Ten defensive player who competed against Mandarich and wants to remain anonymous. "He had pimples down his arms and was next to bald." Acne and baldness are potential side effects of steroid use.

One Big Ten assistant coach, who does not want to be identified, says in exasperation, "We've been hearing about him so long, we're sick of it. We all know what's going on. Pro scouts come in and ask me about Mandarich. I tell them, but they don't care. It's really sad he's getting so much publicity."

Well, in this country you're innocent until proven guilty, and Mandarich has passed the three drug tests he has taken in his career—one before the 1988 Rose Bowl, one before the 1989 Gator Bowl, one at the NFL-sponsored scouting combine he briefly attended in Indianapolis last February. He will be tested again, as will all NFL players, at training camp this summer.

Mandarich vigorously denies ever having used muscle-enhancing drugs, a position defended by his parents, his older brother, John—a nosetackle for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League—Michigan State strength coach Dave Henry, Perles and several of his teammates.

"Everybody now has become an authority on steroid 'looks,' " says Perles. "This guy's so big, everybody says, Uh-oh. And they accuse him because of that. But nobody works the way he does. Nobody eats the way he does."

"No one's ever seen a guy who's six-six, 320, who can move, who can abuse people," says Mandarich. "People everywhere would love for me to be on steroids. They'd love for me to get arrested going 120 miles an hour, drunk, with steroids in my glove compartment."

Mandarich's lifting partner at the Powerhouse is nearly as intense as Mandarich. His name is Rob (Buck) Smith, and he's a junior at Michigan State and decidedly not a football player. Smith stands 5'4", weighs 185 pounds, and shaves and tans his body for competitive bodybuilding. His muscles are big, but next to Mandarich he looks like a flea. Mandarich has been through two dozen lifting partners in college, none of whom could keep up with him, and he says of Smith, who has been training with him since last November, "I'd rather lift with a little guy who's intense and crazy than with a dork who's my size and a puss."

The two scream obscenities at each other as they pump rack after rack of iron. During a break Smith says, "Everybody's looking for the easy way out. But how many guys squat till they puke? We do. I mean it. We go to the breaking point and beyond. People don't understand." Once, Smith says, after a workout the two of them had to lie on the floor for 10 minutes because they couldn't walk.

It is spring break at MSU and the gym is uncrowded. "All the fat——ers are in Florida now," snarls Mandarich during leg curls.

He doesn't like fat, and that's why he's revolutionizing the offensive line position. Offensive linemen have taken beatings for years, he points out; they have let the defensive players run over them and let the advertisers run away from them. They are soft and smooth and shaped like pears. "But I don't want to be a fat——like 90 percent of the NFL," says Mandarich. "I want to be a football player who looks like a bodybuilder. I want to look like a defensive end. For self-esteem. If I look like a slob, I'll play like one."