Bleacher Report - Articles by Natalie Cammarata

MAC Football Players' Chances Of Being Drafted: Some Better Than Others

Natalie Cammarata — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:03:00 -0400

No one ever said the NFL was known for its job security.

The chances of a NCAA football player making it to the NFL are 1.8 percent, according to statistics released by the NCAA.

Ohio University Bobcats athlete's chances are closer to zero. Ohio football lettermen have a 0.03 percent chance of being drafted by the NFL, according to statistics drawn from the Bobcats’ 2008 media guide.

Of a total of 822 all-time lettermen, 27 Bobcats have been drafted in school history.

In 2009, only one—Bobcat safety Michael Mitchell—was drafted by an NFL team.

The Oakland Raiders drafted Mitchell in the second round as the third overall pick from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). With overall pick No. 47, Mitchell is the highest pick from Ohio University since 1948, when the Los Angeles Rams took Gene Ruszkowski as the 44th pick overall.

Ohio Bobcats Director of Media Relations Jason Corriher would call Mitchell a diamond in the rough.

"(Ohio) is mid-major football, and we’re a smaller school. Certainly it’s harder to attract top-level student athletes. We do the best with what we have, but sometimes you find a diamond in the rough," Corriher said.

Mitchell was predicted to go as an undrafted free agent, so the second round pick came as a surprise to the NFL and to Ohio University. From the moment he was picked, draft analysts were skeptical of the Raiders’ choice.

Despite his underdog status in the NFL, Mitchell brings the total number of former Bobcats on active NFL rosters to five.

Last year, Bobcat defensive tackle Landon Cohen was drafted in the seventh round by the Detroit Lions, the first Ohio player to be drafted since punter Dave Zastudil in 2002. Before that, an Ohio player hadn’t been drafted since kicker Mike Green in the 16th round of the 1976 draft.

As a drafted player, Mitchell is a step ahead of some other Bobcats looking to make it in the NFL. Many undrafted free agents from Ohio have seen their careers last months, or less.

“If you’re not drafted, the team doesn’t have responsibility for you. It’s very challenging (for the player),” Corriher said.

The turnover rate of first-year players in the NFL is approximately 27 percent. The average career life of an NFL player is three and a half seasons, according to the NFL Players Association.

Former Ohio running back Kalvin McRae was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in April 2008, and his days of playing ultimate frisbee in a one-credit class seemed to be over as he headed for Chiefs’ spring training.

The team dropped him the same summer.

“It’s hard," McRae said. "It’s not a good feeling when something you worked really hard for doesn’t turn out the way you wanted."

The rest of the MAC seems to be throwing enough players against the NFL wall for some of them to stick.

This year five players from Kent State entered the NFL, one drafted and four as undrafted free agents. Temple also sent five players to the league. The Detroit Lions drafted safety Louis Delmas from Western Michigan as the 33rd pick overall and the Buccaneers picked up Western Michigan cornerback E.J. Biggers in the seventh round.

While the rest of the MAC is churning out Super Bowl victors like Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison, Ohio went nearly 30 years without producing a draft-worthy player.

Since 2000, the MAC has produced a number of solid, playoff-winning quarterbacks for the NFL.

Among them are former MAC school Marshall alumni Chad Pennington of the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneer Byron Leftwich. Former Kent State quarterback Joshua Cribbs now plays for the Cleveland Browns as a wide receiver and return specialist and Roethlisberger's glory days at Miami have turned into worldwide fame.

MAC teams' traditionally smaller offensive lines seem to have given these quarterbacks a competitive edge. Without a powerhouse line, quarterbacks are forced to pass the ball more often, making them more cautious of error and, in theory, more accurate. It doesn't hurt that many professional teams have a similar offensive setup. NFL teams no longer gloss over the MAC when looking for a solid quarterback.

Still, Ohio quarterbacks are not stepping up to the line like the rest of the MAC.

No Ohio quarterback has been drafted in all of Bobcats’ history.

Falcons' Corner Reggie Rembert: Size Won't Stop Him Now...Or Ever

Natalie Cammarata — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:07:34 -0400

Reggie Rembert’s mother never wanted him to play football.

When Rembert was five, Ida Rembert was appalled by the idea of her son shoving around a bunch of other little boys.

“Let’s let Reggie play football,” his father said.

“No way is my son playing football,” she snapped.

Mrs. Rembert went out of town and his dad signed him up that day.

Rembert has played football now for 15 years, but his mother’s long-gone wish might come true this fall.

Now starting cornerback for the U.S. Air Force Academy Falcons, in April Rembert was indefinitely suspended for an academic violation. Although he can practice with the team, he cannot play in games until the suspension is lifted.

Air Force officials would not comment on or elaborate on the infraction because it would violate the federal privacy act.

The loss of Rembert’s standout performance on the field will be a significant blow to the Falcons if he is forced to miss games in the fall. In 2008 he was the team leader in interceptions (3) and all-purpose yards (943). He played in all 13 games as a first-year in 2007 and started at corner in all 13 games in 2008.

Rembert, a sophomore, is notably one of the most recognized and talented players at the academy, and now his mother refuses to miss a single game.

After missing one game during his freshman year, Mrs. Rembert booked all of the plane tickets she and Rembert’s father would need for the following season, as they live in Texas.

“You’ll never make me miss a game again,” she told Mr. Rembert.

And they haven’t since. This should come as no surprise to the cadet, a self-proclaimed spoiled only child from Flower Mound, Texas.

He called his parents the best in the world, behind him 100 percent, even through the suspension.

The infraction, however, was not his first setback. At just 5’7” his height makes him one of the shortest cornerbacks in the NCAA. His friends jokingly call him “lil Reggie” and “lil tyke,” but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Like one of my coaches said, ‘Reggie, you’re just a seven-foot guy trapped in a five-foot frame.’ They respect me because I play a lot bigger than I am,” Rembert said.

And his explosiveness on the field has done exactly what he had hoped. Proven everybody wrong.

The starter doesn’t let size affect the way he plays or his dream to make it big. Rembert hopes to be drafted by an NFL team, but he has to serve two years in the Air Force after he graduates before he can play.

Who does he want to play for?

“Any team. I just want the chance,” he said.

And that’s all he wanted when he came to the academy, as well. Rembert was All-State in high school in Texas and led the state in interceptions in the regular season in 2005 during his junior year. After high school his goal was to play Division I football in college, but not many schools were willing to take the chance on the cornerback’s size. The academy gave him that chance.

That doesn’t mean Rembert hasn’t thought about leaving.

“It’s really hard. I’ve thought about going somewhere else. Anyone who says they haven’t is lying,” he said.

Rembert wakes up five days a week at 7 a.m. and puts on his blue trousers and buttons up his blue shirt. He heads to mandatory breakfast at 7:20 a.m. He may or may not eat. Four hours of class and then military drills. Marching is followed by another mandatory meal—lunch this time. He gives up the trousers and shirt for pads. Workout, practice, lift, watch film. Shower, dinner, homework, under the covers by 10:45 p.m. Repeat.

The academy is known for having one of the most rigorous academic programs in the nation, and it expects the best from student-athletes. The NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate (APR) report on May 11, in which the academy ranked second out of 120 Division I football programs.

The APR tracks the academic progress of each student-athlete during a period of four years and calculates an overall score based on criteria such as eligibility, retention and graduation. The academy ranked second to Stanford by only one point.

The academy was the right choice for him according to Rembert. He’ll be guaranteed a job and the option to retire in 20 years.

“It’s all worth it in the end,” Rembert said.