The roads less traveled

02.24.2008

INDIANAPOLIS - Here's one way to get to the NFL Scouting Combine: Three or four great seasons at a big university like Ohio State, then a little less than three hours on Interstate 70 from Columbus to the RCA Dome.

Some guys have it easy.

But many of the combine's most interesting players have traveled different roads, starting as walk-ons or transferring schools before finding a fit and catching the eye of NFL scouts.

Here are some of the more unique paths taken to this year's combine...

Owen Schmitt, FB, West Virginia

Schmitt was a beast of a high school fullback in Fairfax, Va., but when no college scholarship offers came, Schmitt ended up back in Wisconsin - where he'd lived as a youngster in Gilman, population 474 - and playing at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls.

But after his freshman season, Schmitt decided he wanted a new challenge. So he sent his River Falls game tape to West Virginia, where some of his friends attended school. He received an offer to walk on at WVU, and he ended up a scholarship player smashing open holes for one college football's most prolific offenses the last three seasons.

The Legend of Owen Schmitt also holds that he bent his facemask beyond repair at least eight times during three seasons at WVU while delivering crushing blocks. NFL equipment managers, stock up.

Pierre Garcon, WR, Mount Union

With his talented high school teammates and neighborhood rivals headed for the usual Florida football factories, Garcon found himself headed to play at Division III Norwich University in Vermont.

Because Garcon struggled with his grades, he played only two years of high school football in Palm Beach and couldn't meet the requirements to play for the Division I schools that showed late interest. He found he didn't fit at Norwich, either, as a civilian in a military environment.

So Garcon turned to a relatively new friend - Google - and did some digging on Mount Union. He'd seen the Purple Raiders play on ESPN in the Div. III national championship, but he knew little else about them. A few e-mails later, he found there was mutual interest. And he starred at the Alliance, Ohio school for three seasons on a team that won more than 40 games and lost just two.

NFL scouts have been curious to know if Garcon's athleticism matches his resiliency, and he ran an impressive 4.48 in the 40-yard dash here Sunday, tied for ninth best among receivers. His 36.5-inch vertical jump was tied for fourth best.

Garcon has a chance to become the first Mount player ever to be drafted.

Antwaun Molden, CB, Eastern Kentucky

Molden, a Cleveland native and Glenville High graduate, started his college career at Toledo before playing his last two seasons at I-AA Eastern Kentucky. For further proof that draft prospects really can come from anywhere, Molden is regarded as the second-best defensive back in this draft from the Ohio Valley Conference, behind Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of Tennessee State.

A track star in college and high school - he ran on Glenville's Ohio record-shattering relay teams with Ted Ginn Jr. - Molden is as athletic as any corner in this draft; how he can translate his size (6-foot-1, 200) and speed to the NFL game will determine how early he'll be drafted.

Josh Johnson, QB, San Diego

The college recruiters came in droves to Oakland Tech to see Marshawn Lynch, who starred at Cal before being selected by the Bills in the first round of last year's draft. The recruiters didn't pay much attention to Johnson.

"I didn't think I'd ever play college football," Johnson said. "I was about 5-foot-11, 145 pounds. I looked like I was 12."

With loans and grants, Johnson paid his own way to San Diego a I-AA non-scholarship program. There, he played for former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh and grew and matured physically and mentally.

He's now an intriguing athlete (he's the fastest quarterback at the combine) with big numbers at an off-the-radar level. And though the draftable quarterbacks aren't high on the Browns' list of priorities, Johnson's performance at the East-West Game in January has the NFL watching.

Lavelle Hawkins, WR, Cal

This list is mostly small-school guys, but Hawkins is worth keeping an eye on. He started at LSU but found himself in a very crowded receiving corps that included 2007 first-round picks Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis, 2004 pick Devery Henderson and an intriguing '08 prospect, Early Doucet.

Hawkins attended City College of San Francisco before landing at Cal. He was a Pac-10 honorable mention pick in '06, then exploded in '07 despite playing in the shadow of his more highly regarded teammate, DeSean Jackson.

His impressive Senior Bowl showing continued his rise, and with a good workout here at the combine he could find himself among the first receivers to come off the board.

Justin Forsett, RB, Cal

Lynch, Jackson, Hawkins...we didn't want Forsett to feel left out with all this Cal talk.

Forsett spent most of his Cal career in Lynch's shadow. But Lynch's early entry to last year's draft left Forsett as the feature back last fall, and he responded by matching a school record and leading the Pac-10 with 15 touchdowns.

Cal signed Forsett "at the last minute," he said. His first scholarship offers when he was at Grace Prep in Arlington, Tex., were mostly from Division II schools.

"I would have played anywhere," he said. "TCU didn't call even though I went to their camp. We called every team - Rice, all of them. I was too small.

"I had an offer from Notre Dame that came in after my last high school game and they said they were going to give me a full ride but two weeks before signing day they pulled back. I had to do the recruiting process all over again. I had to send tapes out to the West Coast.

"Cal didn't care about my size. They saw how productive I was."

Forsett was the most impressive back at the Senior Bowl. He's not big and he's not a speed burner, but he has a knack for making people miss and fighting for extra yards. The complementary role in which he'll likely start his NFL career will be a familiar one; his track record says he doesn't mind being a second option.