The impossible dream: Ivy League to NFL

Ivy football coaches tell of their success in the tough game of landing pro prospects.

By Aaron Lichtig

No, it's not the 1930s again. But there really are National Football League (NFL) players coming out of the Ivy League. This year, nine former Ancient Eight combatants will suit up for NFL teams. Ivy League football is on the rise and the NFL is noticing. The league is becoming more desirable for prized high school recuits, but its unique status still presents difficulties.

Making a comeback

The Ivy League was once among the top conferences in college football, sending teams to the Rose Bowl numerous times in the '20s. In recent decades, however, the league has experienced a gradual decline. This trend was hastened by the league's departure from the ranks of Division I-A in 1982. Hampered by its policy of giving no athletic scholarships, the Ivies could no longer compete with schools which offered better financial packages. "It's difficult to recruit top-level high school players successfully," Cornell head coach Pete Mangurian, who began last year after 10 years as an NFL assistant with the Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons, said. "If we get a pro out of here, it is someone that we looked at and saw flashes of top-level talent, a god-given pro body, and a great work ethic. I'm looking for guys who show flashes of greatness."

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY OFFICE Adam Hernandez, BR '98, was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and is now on the team's development squad.

The NFL is apparently also looking for such players, as pro scouts have made their presence felt at Ivy League games for the first time in a decade. "On the lower levels, they are looking for guys with the pro body," Jack Siedlecki, Yale football head coach, said. "If you're big and you can move, the pros will be willing to take a look." He emphasized, though, that "they will only look at lower-division players if they meet certain physical standards."

The first step in identifying potential professionals playing in the Ivy League is a questionnaire sent by the NFL to every college football coach in the nation. "For a few years, I had no one to recommend, but last year we had three guys, Matt Birk ['97], who made the Vikings roster: Tim Fleiszer ['97], who plays in the CFL, and Jeff Coppes ['97], who was cut by the Patriots, who I thought deserved a look," Harvard head coach Tim Murphy said. "If the players are good enough, the scouts will come. I don't care if it's Division III," Mangurian said.

The current Ivy League pros have made an impact in the NFL, and more prospects are coming every year. The corps of Ivy Leaguers in the NFL is strong, led by offensive lineman Birk, defensive lineman and Columbia alum Marcellus Wiley '97, of the Buffalo Bills, who made seven tackles last season, and former Princeton quarterback Jason Garrett '89, of the Dallas Cowboys, who threw for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns last year and is starting for the Cowboys this year.

Indianapolis Colts running back Chris Hetherington, JE '96, is the lone Yale graduate in the NFL, although Adam Hernandez, BR '98, is an offensive lineman on the Baltimore Ravens developmental squad. "Adam got his weight up to 305 and improved his strength greatly before the draft. The Ravens have high hopes for him," Siedlecki said. According to Murphy, successful Ivy League pros are often late bloomers. "With Matt Birk, we saw a guy with good potential, but we never expected him to be an NFL player when he came. It's a guessing game for all of the coaches."

This year, Yale's 6' 7", 320-pound offensive lineman Marek Rubin, ES '99, has caught the eyes of NFL scouts. "Marek has the size that they want. He can move well, but his strength can still be improved," Siedlecki commented. It is more difficult for skill position players to earn a pro tryout than it is for linemen. "The speed difference for backs and receivers between the Ivy League and the NFL is too great, but they are still willing to look at our bigger lineman," Siedlecki said. Garrett, Hetherington, and former Princeton running back Keith Elias '94, of the Colts, are the only skill players with degrees from Ivy League schools.

Keeping up with the Nebraskas

Professional teams still have their doubts about the commitment of some Ivy League players. "The biggest question that I hear from scouts is, `Does this guy want to play pro football?'" Siedlecki said. "They know that these guys can go out and make money elsewhere. [Hernandez] has been admitted to four medical schools as well." Professional teams also know that Ivy League stars are generally younger than their counterparts because they rarely take redshirt years. The addition of developmental squads to NFL teams has given more Ivy League players, including Hernandez, a chance to get in an extra year to prepare for the pro game.

Since none of the Ivy League schools give athletic scholarships, all must struggle with losing players to Division I squads. "The Ivy League schools can offer you a great education, but you're still going to have to pay for it. Schools like Michigan, Duke, and Stanford can give you great educations as well for free. Recruits know this," Mangurian said.

This unique situation forces an Ivy coach to search for talented players who will make the admissions cut--the same players his fellow coaches are recruiting. Murphy spends five days a week on the road for about three months a year recruiting. "Ivy League recruiting requires more range coverage and is very labor intensive," Murphy said. "I have to look at all 50 states for admissable players."

Murphy said that it was much easier finding prospects when he was coaching at Cincinnati, a Division I-A school. "We could give them some national exposure and a free education," Murphy explained. "In the Ivies, players with the grades to get in are few and far between. It is a real challenge to find them." Siedlecki mails out 9,100 letters initially, but only 2,500 or so fall into the lowest academic levels. "Only then do we look at their athletic ability. We have to spend so much time finding the right kids. It's a real crap shoot," Siedlecki said.

The effect of Ivy schools not offering athletic scholarships has been offset somewhat by larger financial aid packages. The sweeping reforms at Yale and Princeton have helped their teams lure better prospects. Murphy is looking forward to reaping the benefits of Harvard's changes which recently kicked in. "I think that they will help us keep pace with Yale and Princeton," he said.

Ivy schools admit a set number of athletes with lower Academic Index (AI) numbers (a combination of SAT scores and grades) than their average students. Each football program can designate about 35 such players for admission, including, for Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, two from the lowest possible AI category. Until recently, Harvard and Yale were not using all of these slots; Yale had been hampered by a well-publicized feud between the athletic department and the admissions office. "Within the league, some take better advantage of these rules than others," Mangurian said.

It has become difficult for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to compete even with their Ivy League counterparts which can take a greater number of players whose academic credentials are significantly below the league average. "We mostly go against Yale and Princeton. Penn and Cornell get some kids that we can't even consider looking at," Murphy said.

But with the Ivy League's comeback, even Harvard, Yale, and Princeton alumni have made the NFL. While the Ivy League is, according to Mangurian, "an academic and not a football powerhouse and should stay that way," it is becoming a mecca for academic-minded players with professional aspirations .

"Our goal is to be able to impress upon talented recruits that we can give them a world class education and the opportunity to play football at a very high level, and then maybe look at the NFL," Murphy said.

Photo of Chris Hetherington, JE '96, courtesy Sports Publicity Office.

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