Wade Sumpter of Fowler, Colo., takes down a steer Friday night during the second go-round of the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center. Photo by John Locher.

Wade Sumpter had been trained to eyeball an opponent, meet him nose to nose and pound him to the turf.

That's what football linebackers do.

Now as a steer wrestler, he has to give his foe a head start, and instead of seeing his opponent coming at him, he stares at the back end of a running steer.

The common link between the two sports is that he has to take hold of his opponents before taking them to the turf.

"Mostly it's the mental aspect," he said of the similarities between football and bulldogging. "You have to be focused and aggressive at the same time. The key to both is controlled aggression."

It paid off Friday night for the National Finals Rodeo rookie when he turfed his steer in 4.1 seconds to tie for second place and win $11,111 in the second go-round before a crowd of 17,426 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Shawn Greenfield of Lakeview, Ore., won with a time of 3.7 seconds.

"You should do that good when you're on the best horse in the world," Sumpter said of Zan, who is owned by Rodney Burk and being ridden by two other steer wrestlers. Burk also hazed for Sumpter.

Sumpter, a 6-foot-1-inch, 230-pound resident of Fowler, Colo., is competing in just his second year of professional rodeo. After a few years of rodeo in high school, he decided to delay his steer wrestling until after college football.

In his high school football career, which ended in 1999, he amassed 6,441 rushing yards, which still places him in the top 10 on Colorado's career rushing list, and he's second on the state's all-time prep scoring list with 676 points (110 touchdowns). He was the state's small-school football player of the year as a junior and senior.

Also during his senior year, he was an all-state point guard in basketball and the state champion in steer wrestling.

He redshirted his first year at the University of Northern Colorado and finished as a two-year starter in football. As a senior he made 52 tackles, intercepted three passes and returned one of those for a touchdown for the 2-9 Bears.

He said he doesn't regret putting off his rodeo career because he said he got stronger and bigger through football.

"I had to make a decision which way to go when I got out of high school," Sumpter said. "I knew I could rodeo the rest of my life and I'd be mad if I didn't take the opportunity to play football. I knew rodeo would be waiting for me."

He turned pro last year but earned only around $3,000 in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

But his bulldogging took off this year. Sumpter won four rodeos and shared first in another this year to start the NFR with earnings of $72,954 and a ranking of seventh in the world. In Thursday's opening go-round, his time of 5.3 seconds didn't earn a paycheck.

And this time of year, checks are bonuses.

"Pretty much all we make (before the NFR) goes back to keeping us on the road," Sumpter said. "It's a real privilege to be here. This is kind of our year's earnings right here.

"I love it. There isn't a better way to make a living than doing what you love. Everything's not always about money."

• NOTES -- One bull rider is out for the rest of the NFR, and another is doubtful for today's performance.

Sonny Murphy of Herriman, Utah, was bucked onto his head Thursday night and suffered a cervical fracture of the C-6 vertebra. Murphy, who was second in the world standings, attended Friday's go-round but will undergo surgery.

Reigning world champion Matt Austin, who missed the regular-season finale with a sports hernia, took a hard fall Friday and did further damage to his abdominal and groin injury.