OT: Division II player at the NFL Combine

[LafayetteBear]

This morning's S.F. Chronicle Sporting Green included an article, linked below, about a kid named Alex Cappa, who got an invite to the NFL Combine despite that fact that he played his college ball at a Division II school, Humboldt State. (It is in far northern California, near Redding.) Cappa is big (6'6" and 305 pounds), and the proverbial kid outta nowhere. About as far removed from Saquon, at least in terms of his public profile, as it is possible to get.

The story was pretty interesting. He's one of four Division II players among the 336 players at the Combine. Had to laugh at the names of some of the schools on the Humboldt State schedule. Did you even know that there WAS a "South Dakota School of Mines & Technology," let alone that it fields a football team? Maybe he'll end up getting a hug from Prime.

https://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Humboldt-State-alum-Alex-Cappa-forces-way-onto-12727184.php

 

[sluggo72]

This morning's S.F. Chronicle Sporting Green included an article, linked below, about a kid named Alex Cappa, who got an invite to the NFL Combine despite that fact that he played his college ball at a Division II school, Humboldt State. (It is in far northern California, near Redding.) Cappa is big (6'6" and 305 pounds), and the proverbial kid outta nowhere. About as far removed from Saquon, at least in terms of his public profile, as it is possible to get.

The story was pretty interesting. He's one of four Division II players among the 336 players at the Combine. Had to laugh at the names of some of the schools on the Humboldt State schedule. Did you even know that there WAS a "South Dakota School of Mines & Technology," let alone that it fields a football team? Maybe he'll end up getting a hug from Prime.

https://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Humboldt-State-alum-Alex-Cappa-forces-way-onto-12727184.php

There was a DIII player as well, a DB from ??

 

[Rollin Stone]

Yes actually i did. I have paid attention to D-3 and D-2 football during my years. There is even a D-3 player i believe at the combine this year.

At one time there was a decent size D-2 and D-3 football conferences in California. But sadly they are so far apart and budget restrictive that they have been slowly dying.

Many people would be surprised d by the size and speed of players at these lower levels. You just have as many of those special athletes or quite the top end size and speed.

You can see a 6’4” 310 OL next to a 6’0” 270 kid or a WR that runs 4.5 playing against a bunch of 4.7 DBs. But that is the way D-3 is. There aren’t a bunch of 200 pound OL playing.

 

[sluggo72]

There was a DIII player as well, a DB from ??

Michael Joseph- Dubuque

Joseph was quite literally nobody in recruiting circles, not even being rated because he did not star as a player at Oswego High School in Illinois. He did not play as a true freshman in 2014, but all of a sudden coaches couldn't keep him off the field from then on. Joseph started all 11 games in 2015, earning first-team All-Iowa Conference honors with 42 tackles (two for loss), three interceptions, and four pass breakups. He repeated those accolades as a junior, leading the Spartans with four picks (one returned for a score) to go along with 68 tackles, four for loss, and eight pass breakups. Iowa Conference coaches named him the Defensive Player of the Year, as well as first-team all-conference for the third straight season after a successful senior campaign. He finished tied for fifth in Division III with eight interceptions, also compiling 56 stops and eight pass breakups.

 

[LafayetteBear]

You can't help but root for these D-2 and D-3 kids. They are underdogs in the truest sense of the word. I particularly loved this part of the article on Alex Cappa:

"Four years ago, before Pat Walsh had grasped Alex Cappa’s potential, the Humboldt State offensive line coach was in his office grading video of the Lumberjacks’ most recent game.

On one play, he saw Cappa, a redshirt-freshman left tackle from Dublin High, flatten a defensive lineman to help spring a long run. He was about to give Cappa a “plus” grade for his effort, but then something caught his eye.

“It was kind of like, ‘Hold on, I thought I just saw Cappa again 50 yards downfield. Let me run that back,’” Walsh said. “What had happened, he’d hurdled the guy he pancaked, run 50 yards downfield, de-cleated another kid and then pushed the pile."

LOL...

 

[Still in State College]

PSAC almost always has at least one guy get a combine invite.