Dodging the draft: The Derrick Wimbush saga

By Paul Stanley  |   Monday, September 04, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Jacksonville Jaguars
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Phones were ringing. Agents were pleading. Trade offers were being bandied about between teams like sales slips at Wall Street.

And millions of Americans were glued to their Nielsen-equipped television sets, contributing to the sky-high rating of football's most eagerly awaited offseason spectacle.

As George C. Scott would probably have phrased it, had he played football - the "Meat Parade" that was the 2005 NFL Draft.

The Jacob K. Javits Center was filled to near-capacity with a slew of reporters, potential players, team representatives and more than 3,200 football fans rabid enough (some would say dumb enough) to make the trek to New York City to watch their respective teams make one boneheaded pick after another.

While the melee continued in full force through the weekend and high-end draft picks spent their nights shuffling from one "Draft Day Party" to another, Derrick Wimbush sat patiently and hopefully by his bedside phone, hundreds of miles away from the action in the Apple.

If drafted, Wimbush would have been the 10th player drafted out of tiny Fort Valley State Academy, a Division II school located in Fort Valley, Ga., a city of little over 8,000 residents with a 32 percent poverty rate but a penchant at producing standout athletes.

Far from holding the expectation that he would be getting one of those congratulatory phone calls from an NFL team, Wimbush was feeling very pragmatic about his predicament:

"Personally, I might not get drafted," Wimbush admitted earlier during draft week. "Because it's hard coming from a D-II school but if I do get the opportunity to, I'm going to make the best of it that I can."

Despite Fort Valley's size and relative obscurity, the small, predominately African-American school has churned out professional and Olympic athletes for years; one of the more recent NFL standouts being Nick Harper, the cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts who was the unlucky recipient of both a domestic stab wound and an infamous game-ending tackle in one short weekend this past January.

Hall of Famer Rayfield Wright, Greg Lloyd, Jackie Dollison, Peppi Zellner and Tyrone Pool round out the shortlist of noteworthy football players whose roots were firmly grounded in the little Georgia town.

Unfortunately for Wimbush, scouts weren't biting on the "past NFL entrants" bait the school was waving about to attract pro representatives. The fact that he was playing for a Division II school with no television exposure (save a two-game broadcast on the MBC Black Family Television Network) wasn't going to earn him a microphone in the face from Stuart Scott or a six-figure broadcast commercial from Nike.

Derrick Wimbush was going to have to go head and shoulders above every other player in Division II football to gain even the faintest shot at making the final cut of an NFL roster.

So he did.

In only two seasons with Fort Valley State University, Wimbush collected more gold in his trophy case than Chad Johnson has in 10 sets of replacement teeth.

In his first year with Fort Valley State, after transferring to the school from Georgia Military Community College, Wimbush rushed for 1,248 yards and 14 touchdowns in 11 games for a rushing average of a whopping 7.4 yards per carry. He was awarded the conference's Player of the Year award, was named the Offensive Player of the Year, and notched a spot on the All-Conference football team.

In his senior campaign at FVSU, Wimbush cut through SIAC defenses like a knife through butter, garnering 1,840 yards and 22 touchdowns and finishing third in the nation in rushing with a 167.3 yards per game average. Wimbush's 2004 campaign once again netted him the conference Player of the Year award and another spot on the All-Conference team.

This time, the awards didn't stop here.

Early in the 2005 year, Wimbush learned that he was being considered as a finalist for the Jake Gaither Award - a famous honor given each year to the greatest college football player of a predominately black college. The Atlanta voting committee went through hundreds of hours of game footage, studying the play of the award's finalists. After quite a bit of film but very little deliberation, Wimbush was chosen to receive the trophy. Winning the award placed him in good company - past Jake Gaither recipients included Hall of Fame-caliber players Richard Dent and Jerry Rice.

Shortly thereafter, Wimbush was given the nod as a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, the Division II version of the Heisman Trophy. A total of 40 players were initially nominated for the Harlon Hill award from their respective regions across the nation, and two players from each of the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest regions advanced to National Voting. When the dust had finally settled, Wimbush fell just short of winning the honor of "Best Division II Football Player in the Nation".

Oh well. You wouldn't think that having to settle for the runner-up award would trash a guy's resume too badly.

Tell that to the 32 teams who watched the names of 255 players and 26 running backs disappear from their draft boards without giving Wimbush a second thought. Tell that to organizers of the three-day NFL Scouting Combine, who refused Wimbush an opportunity to showcase his skills and talents to the NFL franchises. Tell that to the millions of Americans who tuned in to the Hula Bowl and watched Derrick Wimbush break a 59-yard run and set a new Hula Bowl rushing record.

After being passed over in the draft, Wimbush was thinking about re-enrolling at Fort Valley to finish his degree when he received a call. It was from Kennedy Pola, the Jacksonville Jaguars' running backs coach, who offered Wimbush his shot and convinced him that the Jaguars were a team bent on promoting a guy based on talent, not on draft status.

And that was that.

As a Jaguar, Wimbush already has his share of records and awards despite the limited role he played for the team in 2005. As a kickoff returner, he set a team record as the new single-season leader in kickoff return yardage. He became the second Jaguars rookie and fifth player overall to return a kickoff for a touchdown, with a 91-yard return against the Arizona Cardinals. That run garnered him the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award.

Moreover, as a special teams contributor, Wimbush led the Jaguars in special teams tackling. As a fullback, a position he was called into when the Jaguars were forced by injury to play backfield musical chairs, he was given favorable reviews by many in the sports world.

Ask anyone who has studied film on Wimbush, and you always hear the same thing: "This guy has the goods to become a feature back someday." Watch the preseason games, where he dominated the defensive front, and the few carries he was given in the regular season, and you'll quickly find yourself parroting the same line.

With the injury to Greg Jones, Wimbush has been named the Jaguars' starting fullback. Coach Jack Del Rio announced last week that Wimbush will also share short-yardage and goal-line duties with backup LaBrandon Toefield. How about that? From undrafted rookie to backfield starter in only one year.

Over the course of his career, Wimbush has steadfastly adhered to a single ritual before each game - sitting down in front of his locker and quietly reading the Bible. Though many of his prayers seem to have been answered, many more still remain unfulfilled.

Will he ever get his shot at becoming the team's featured back? Ultimately, it's up to him to continue to do what he has succeeded at thus far - breaking the stereotype of the undrafted player and maintaining the faith that if he keeps working hard, good things will happen.

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