Greg Lee fails to launch

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, June 06, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Pittsburgh Panthers
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Former Pittsburgh Panthers wideout Greg Lee had to be wondering if there wasn't some kind of ugly rumor circulating about him.

Did he have some rare, communicable disease? Had he killed somebody? Did he still wet his bed?

It had to be something. And now, Lee must wince every time he sees the title for the current Matthew McConaughey/Sarah Jessica Parker movie, "Failure to Launch."

Nor was Lee's experience exactly a glowing recommendation for his agent, Michael Huygue. When Lee pondered leaving Pittsburgh after his junior year, Huygue told him he'd probably be picked in the second or third round.

Instead, poor Greg sat by his silent phone like the Elephant Man the week before Prom Night. Nobody drafted him, and only two teams -- Arizona and Detroit -- even wanted him as a free agent. He eventually signed a many-strings-attached deal with the Arizona Cardinals.

So was Lee simply being delusional? Not on the face of it. College Football News called the 6-2, 200-pound Florida native one of the best returning wide receivers in college football prior to 2005. The draft junkies all seemed to like him -- "Should go by the end of the draft's first day," said one; "A well-built receiver with soft hands and fine athleticism," gushed another.

And it wasn't as if Lee tanked his senior year. Under Dave Wannstedt, he caught 49 passes for 942 yards and seven touchdowns, good enough to be named first-team All Big East.

What he did tank, unfortunately, was the NFL combine, where he ran only a 4.64 -- appropriate speed for a linebacker these days, not a wideout. Pitt's Pro Day might have given him a chance to redeem himself, but he was injured and couldn't participate.

After the draft, Wannstedt reportedly gave Huygue an angry phone call and asked: "Are you satisfied?"

"I was shocked," said Lee. "I'll just have to make the best of it."

As will Wannstedt, who said "Greg Lee will always be part of the Pitt family," then added, "every pass we don't throw to Greg this season will go to (one of Pitt's young receivers)."

The good news for Lee, if there is any, is that pro football has its own ruthless form of democracy. The league is full of players who weren't drafted, and there have been successful wide receivers no faster than Greg Lee. At Arizona, he'll have Larry Fitzgerald, arguably the best Panther wide receiver ever, to advocate on his behalf.

Perhaps Greg Lee can use his draft snub as an incentive. Or maybe it's just time to get on with the rest of his life.

Get more Pittsburgh Panthers insight at Realfootball365.com
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