Pat Kelley's Worst Nightmare

Let me tell you a story that most of you are probably familiar with in some way. If you didn't play high school football, you probably paid close attention to it. You knew who the studs were on your team. You would always talk about them as being, "Dude, I don't care man what they say 'so and so' is all-state, man."

At my high school we had a few. Mike Mangan however was all-state. This guy was two years older than me and had the best highlight tape I have ever seen. Yes, I've seen Reggie Bush's...Mangan's was better. He ended up going to Eastern Illinois, blowing his knee in the first week of practice his freshman year, walked on at Iowa and one carry later he's no longer playing football.

Let me tell you about another guy. Rob Anderson and I grew up together. We were never really close friends, but friends from about 1st grade on. We would play football together after school, stuff like that. Rob was always the first kid picked. Growing up he was the fastest, had the best hands - you had this kid too. When we got to high school we both played quarterback...Rob moving faster up the depth chart than me and rightfully so. As good as Rob was on the offensive side of the ball, he was amazing on defense. He was the kind of guy who just got to the ball. He had better instincts than anyone I ever saw play in high school and though he got slower as he got bigger he was still amazingly quick and had great "football speed." I saw Rob at a bar the Thanksgiving after I graduated from college and talked to him for a little bit. He went to play at Princeton but I don't think he was in the program for four years as he was still in school; he was looking to go work on The Street in investment banking when he was done. Rob was a smart kid too.

One of our biggest rivals in high school was Downers Grove North. If any of you watched "High School Hoops - Chicago" and remember them doing a thing about Eddy Curry, and then some other white kid you'd never heard of - that was Kyle Kleckner from DGN. The kid who shoved him in the intro? I won't name names. Kleckner had a knack for getting in the press. He was a great athlete, don't get me wrong as he played quarterback, 2 guard and center field. He was good, but not good enough to generate the "player of the month" awards he received.

They had another kid. Big kid, fullback/middle linebacker who was good but also got enormous amounts of press. I remember Pat Kelley (formerly of the University of Florida mini-camp and kid who ran the fastest form of a shuttle in the country. This shuttle was invented by his dad in his basement and was videotaped along with him hitting bags in his basement and sent to major universities as part of his recruiting package. Legend.) sticking this kid once and Dave Jenks unknowingly running full speed with his head down straight into the full back and running him over.

Today, neither Pat Kelley nor Dave Jenks are still playing football. But that fullback is. Yesterday, the Green Bay Packers signed un drafted rookie Erryn Cobb to the squad. The Packers, after letting go of William Henderson (the best blocking fullback ever) are short at fullback and needed to add another body. Cobb, who went to Northwestern (no one knows why) was the answer and signed to the Packers.

I know a lot of people reading this have no idea who the people I'm talking about are. But I am sure that somewhere along the lines you have come across the same scenario. Brian Grzelakowski was one of the best athletes I have ever seen. If someone told me after watching the two play against each other that Erryn Cobb would be in the NFL, or at least playing major college football for four years before Grez would be, I would have laughed in your face. Cobb is laughing now.

It really makes you wonder. I know different people peak at different times. A lot of what good recruiting revolves around is the evaluation of talent, not just what you see on a tape. But seeing guys who knowingly have more talent than others and those with less make it...who else is really out there? Who never got a chance? What if Don Majikowski never got hurt? We wouldn't know who Brett Favre is, would we? What if Drew Bledsoe wouldn't have gotten hurt? The Patriots wouldn't have lost to the Colts last year and Tom Brady wouldn't have been voted the best dressed man in the world. Who are the freaks in practice who may miss assignments on some plays but turn around and make unbelievable plays after their mistakes? The same guys who because they mess up a couple of times, they don't get the same amount of attention from coaches to work and be better but have all the tools.

Most of the guys I played with didn't have any chance of playing football out of high school. But they were certainly better than some of those who did. Who else is out there? Who don't we know about? To Erryn Cobb, it simply doesn't matter. Then, today and tomorrow, he apparently has always been good enough.