D-Mac back in Oxford for degree

Dexter McCluster spent four years on the Ole Miss football team mystifying defenses and bringing fans to their feet inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

What he didn’t do was get his degree.

This spring, the dynamic running back, wide receiver and kick returner is back in Oxford to do just that. A member of the Kansas City Chiefs, McCluster left the Rebels in 2009 as one of the most decorated players in school history. His 4,089 career all-purpose yards ranks second in school history and he owns the Ole Miss record for all-purpose and rushing yards in a game.

After a breakout year with the Rebels in 2009, the Largo, Fla. native departed Ole Miss a semester early to focus on training for the 2010 NFL Draft where he was selected No. 36 overall. He left just a broadcast class and an english course short of graduation.

“Kansas City was a big role in that I wanted to come back (to Ole Miss), but I wasn’t sure when,” McCluster said. “They actually came to me and was like, ‘You know what Dex, you only have this many classes. You can go and knock it out – how do you feel about it?’ And I said, ‘You know what, I might as well do it now.”

Back at Ole Miss, McCluster is anything but a typical student. Instead of lecture halls and PowerPoints, he meets with his professors one on one in a computer lab.

“They don’t actually let me in the classroom,” McCluster said. “They said I would be a distraction.”

Besides academics, McCluster is also keeping up his body regardless of whether or not the NFL locks its players out in the fall. He works on his endurance and cardio at Under Construction Fitness next to Kabuki, and also trains at the Rebels’ Indoor Practice Facility from time to time.

The “offensive weapon” as he likes to be called missed five games of his rookie year with the Chiefs after suffering a high ankle sprain in late October. McCluster, who had 1,009 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in his pro debut, had similar issues with injuries during his first two years the Rebels, but doesn’t expect that to be a reoccurring problem in the NFL.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘Do you think you are going to be able to hold up?’ and I’m like, ‘Anyone could have had a high ankle sprain – that’s nothing major.’” McCluster said. “I’m going to keep working, but I loved (my rookie season). It’s a memory.”

Besides the injury, there were shining moments of McCluster’s rookie season. One came in his first game where Kansas City faced the San Diego Chargers, a favorite to win the AFC West. McCluster hadn’t returned a punt all night, but was summoned by Chiefs coach Todd Haley to do so with Kansas City up just a touchdown in the second quarter.  

The result was a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown – the longest in Chiefs history. Kansas City went on to win 21-14 that rainy September night with McCluster’s heroics being the difference.

“When the ball was up, I’m looking up in the air, and water was dropping in my eyes,” McCluster said. “‘I’m like Dex, catch the ball, catch the ball’ When I caught it I realized how much room I had, instincts kicked in. Once I made one miss and he fell, I had a whole convoy leading me to the promised land.”

With a season in the pros under his belt, McCluster could possibly have to wait to play another with the NFL owners and players at odds on a new collective bargaining agreement. McCluster said that he’ll be ready to play whether there’s an NFL season or not.

“I’m watching everything that goes on and hoping it gets settled,” McCluster said.