In addition to the intangibles, instructions and ideology of how to win football games on the defensive side of the ball, Kansas University’s senior linebackers last season passed an extra trait on to sophomore Mike Rivera – a cool moniker.

“I got (the nickname Caveman) from Kevin Kane,” said a smiling Rivera, who sported his trademark bushy-hair at KU’s Media Day but was sans his gruff beard. “I started growing a little beard, and he kept calling me Caveman, and it stuck.”

Toss in the title of captain to the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Rivera and what you have (in addition to the same nickname of a hairy little cartoon character from the 1980s, who was a pretty good hero in his own right), is a label that the Shawnee Mission Northwest grad is quite proud of.

“It was an amazing honor, I didn’t expect it,” Rivera said of being named one of the Jayhawks four team leaders. “I’m happy about it, and I am going to do the best I can to lead the defense.”

That’s a pretty lofty task considering that Rivera not only has to help ease the transition of seven other new defensive starters besides himself – but is expected to step right in and fill the shoes of Big 12 Player of the Year Nick Reid, Kane, and Banks Floodman.

“We’re not the ‘Three Amigos’, but we’re a very close-knit group,” Rivera said of this year’s linebacking core compared to last season’s beloved class. “We might make some mistakes, but you’re going to see a bunch of guys going out there playing hard and trying to get better each and every play.”

Kansas University's Mike Rivera will start at linebacker for the 2006 Jayhawks. He said being elected captain was 'an amazing honor.'

By all accounts, this year’s linebackers might even be more athletic than last year.

“They are an athletic and fast group of kids with a nasty streak to them,” KU coach Mark Mangino said of guys like Joe Mortensen, Jake Schermer, James Holt, Brandon Duncan and Eric Washington.

“Some of the players have had playing time and been on the field,” Mangino said. “We try and pick up from there on their understanding of things. Also our defense is constantly evolving, though we don’t change the basic schemes and philosophies.”

But Rivera, who played in all 12 games last year, admitted there would have to be times when the linebackers have to abandon their athleticism a bit.

“A big hit is great, but you want to make the smart play in order not to give up a big play the other way,” said Rivera, who recorded 149 tackles his senior season at SMNW, earning him a place on Rivals.com’s Top-25 inside linebacking prospects. “That will come with maturity and just playing those certain situations.”

Kansas University linebackers, from left, Eric Washington, Mike Rivera, Joe Mortensen and James Holt hope to have a big impact on the revamped KU defense in 2006. Mortensen, a red-shirt sophomore, is competing with red-shirt freshman Jake Schermer for the right to replace Nick Reid at weak-side linebacker.

Despite the lack of time on the field, Rivera said last year’s standout stoppers have put this year’s class in position to succeed from the season’s start.

“We learned everything we could from them, whether it was watching them in the film room, or how hard they worked all the time in practice. Just the dedication they showed each and every day taught us how to do things the right way,” Rivera said. “It is a big question mark, but at the same time we’re going to be all right. We got a good group coming up and I think we’re going to have another strong defense.”

Cornerback Aqib Talib is sure of it, as long as Rivera keeps his long locks.

“As long as he still has his long hair, he’ll be good,” said the smooth-headed Talib, who, like Rivera, was clean-shaven at Media Day. “It’s not the beard, it’s the hair.”