For D-III stud Boltus, the combine is his chance to shine

By Lou DiPietro  |   Wednesday, February 25, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

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There are many -- my RF365.com colleague John McMullen included, as evidenced here -- who believe that the NFL scouting combine is simply a dog-and-pony show intended to help players artificially inflate (or deflate, depending on circumstances) their draft value based on measurements of anything and everything BUT football talent.

And at face value, their claims of absurdity may be right. In reality, it’s a give-and-take affair, which is why some -- such as seemingly consensus No. 1 pick-to-be Matthew Stafford -- who really can’t do much to enhance their draft status choose to sit out certain portions of the combine. And, as John noted, it seems frivolous to some to upgrade (or downgrade) a prospect’s potential based on his vertical jump or how many reps of 225 pounds he can bench press. Some guys at the gym can bang out 25 or 30 reps on the bench; it doesn’t mean they belong in the NFL.

But there’s a big difference between big-name prospects and those who need to use the combine to either demonstrate their versatility -- a la Pat White, the former West Virginia quarterback who’s almost certainly going to have to follow in Brad Smith’s footsteps and move to receiver -- or show people that they actually exist.

Just ask Jason Boltus.

Don’t know who Jason Boltus is? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. There’s a good chance that 80 percent of the people who were in Indianapolis for the last week didn’t either. I do, half because he’s a friend of a friend and half because he’s an amazing quarterback; that’s why I’m going to tell you about him.

If things go well, his name is one you might hear on ESPN eight weeks from now. The Baldwinsville, N.Y., native spent the last few years as the quarterback at tiny Hartwick College, a small Division III school in Oneonta, N.Y., that has a lower enrollment than most community colleges.

In 2008, Boltus made the AP Little All-America second team off a season in which he threw for nearly 4000 yards, 46 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was a two-time Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, holds the Division III record for total yards and holds the Hartwick career records for touchdown passes and passing yards. Thanks to all that, he was the lone D-III signal-caller invited to the 2009 combine.

A 6-foot-3, 225-pounder, Boltus has the size NFL teams look for in a prototypical quarterback. And just recently, he helped lead The Nation to a victory over Texas in the third-annual All-Star Classic, yet another in a seemingly endless string of Senior Bowl-type games. In that game, he out-threw teammates Drew Willy and Curtis Painter, who led Buffalo and Purdue, respectively, and are both considered possible mid- or late-round picks.

The scouting reports all say the same thing. Boltus has the raw tools, good height and a strong build. He also has excellent zip and accuracy, good poise and is mobile enough to be a threat on the ground. Of course, those scouting reports also say his delivery is a little slow, his mechanics suffer at times and his decision-making can be suspect under pressure. You know, qualities Mel Kiper would describe as “high upside with some fixable cons.”

Not bad for a guy you’ve never heard of -- but he’s barely a blip on the radar. Yet if he had played at even a low-level D-I FBS program (or even in Painter’s spot on a poor Purdue team), he might be right up there with the Staffords, Mark Sanchezes and Josh Freemans of the world.

So for a guy like Boltus, the combine is one of his only chances to prove that his superior numbers at Hartwick aren’t solely the product of being a big fish in a shallow talent pond.

Yet, at least as far as he hopes, that’s exactly what he did this past week. Want some of those highly sought-after numbers everyone goes ga-ga over? He ran a 4.83-second 40-yard dash, put up 26 reps on the bench press and clocked in with a 31.5-inch vertical leap and a 9-foot-3 broad jump.

That 40 time was better than all but four other quarterbacks, one of whom was Pat White. His 26 bench reps? Better than all but two tight ends, a half-dozen linebackers and every cornerback -- you know, guys who play a position where being able to move around a lot of dead weight actually means something.

By the way, for some extra added insanity, in addition to putting up better stats on paper, most of Boltus’ combine numbers were better than Stafford’s -- with their 40 times only .02 seconds apart. Yet Stafford is going to make more money than most of can comprehend, most likely as a Detroit Lion, while Boltus needed to put up those numbers just to potentially have a shot at making a practice squad.

It’s a sordid state of affairs, but for guys like Boltus who don’t get the attention that well-known prospects do, it’s the only state they know.

So while guys like Stafford, Sanchez, Freeman and the rest wait and see where they will go in the 2009 draft, Boltus is left to hope that the phone call every college football player waits a lifetime for comes into his upstate New York home this April.

The last Division III quarterback to even get drafted was Larry Wenke, whom the Giants selected from John Carroll University in 1991. But Ken Anderson had success with the Bengals before Boomer Esiason, and Boltus put up the numbers and the combine showing to hopefully follow in one -- if not both -- of their footsteps.

Because after all, if it comes down to a choice between Boltus and, say, Michigan State’s Brian Hoyer, is anyone really going to care that Hoyer’s vertical leap is half an inch better?

Ah, the combine.
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About Lou DiPietro

Lou DiPietro is an accomplished freelance writer who is fascinated with all things sports. In addition to his duties at RealFootball365.com, Lou contributes to TheBleacherReport.com and Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, and has been featured on "The Sports Buffet with Matt West" on 1080-AM ESPN...
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