Adam Dunn waits to bat Monday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        SARASOTA, Fla. — Tight end. Linebacker. Defensive end. Adam Dunn wanted none of it. Rather than change positions in the sport that was his passion, the Texas quarterback decided to change careers and head to baseball. He hasn't done anything to make him second-guess the choice.

        Three years later, the Reds' brawny outfielder is one of baseball's most acclaimed young players. His promotion to the majors last season gave a glimpse of his power — a record 12 homers in August, the most ever by an NL rookie in a month.

        It also affirmed the decision he made following Texas' 1999 spring football game — baseball was the way to go.

        “It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life. I hope I never have to make a tougher one,” he said. “I like to think I made the right decision. I don't regret it at all. I still miss football. If baseball wasn't going so well, it might be different.”

        The Texas prep star, who passed for 4,792 yards and 44 touchdowns at New Caney High School, was genuinely torn after the Reds drafted him in the second round in June 1998.

        He wanted to be the starting quarterback at Texas and beyond. He loved the bruising hits, the thrill of hitting a receiver in stride with a tight spiral. He didn't want to give it up.

        He didn't see much of a choice.

        After the Longhorns' spring game in 1999, the coaches informed him that he wouldn't be the starting quarterback in the fall. They talked about moving him to a different position to make better use of his 6-foot-6, 240-pound frame.

        A day later, his decision was made.

        “They told me all that stuff and I was like, 'OK, that's it. That's somebody telling me I need to go play baseball,”' Dunn said.

        Once he made up his mind, his career climbed.

        He started last season at Double A and hit 12 homers in 39 games, earning a promotion. At Triple-A, he hit 20 homers in 55 games. That brought a July promotion to Cincinnati, where he set the NL record for rookie homers in a month and hit 19 overall in 66 games.

        “Last year was really my first full season of playing baseball,” Dunn said. “I think it came from just playing every day. When you're on a roll like that, you feel no one can get you out.”

        It didn't take him long to feel comfortable in the Reds' clubhouse, where his easygoing personality and self-effacing humor helped him fit in with Barry Larkin, Ken Griffey Jr. and the rest of team's veterans.

        What he did was impressive. How he handled all of the attention was nearly as remarkable.

        “You want to avoid being the flash in the pan, the one-hit wonder,” Larkin said. “Consistency happens in the way you think about what you're going to do, your focus, your preparation. He does all that well. That's why he'll be successful and he'll be a leader.

        “It's not rare to see that in a young guy. For him to be able to project it and influence others to be like him — that's the rarity, and he has that at 22 years old. He's setting a standard not only for guys who are younger than him, but guys who are on the team.”

        It's the quarterback in him. Dunn is used to being a leader and dealing with the spotlight.

        “I think that has a lot to do with it,” Dunn said. “When you play quarterback, you get a lot of credit that you don't deserve when you win, and you get a lot of abuse when you lose. You learn to take the good with the bad.”

        The only abuse he gets now comes from his teammates, who love to give him grief when he breaks out the football in the clubhouse — something that happens quite often.

        Before a game Monday night, Dunn zipped passes across the clubhouse and bragged that he could fling one into a 1-foot-by-1-foot storage compartment at the top of Todd Walker's locker.

        He did, with ease. Then he asked Walker if he'd like to go outside and throw the football around.

        “Keeping my options open,” Dunn said.

        “Not at 263 pounds,” Griffey said. “You'd be on the line.”

        No he wouldn't. That's why he gave up football in the first place.

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