Coming out of high school, LaMichael James was a simple 3-star recruit who was the 40th-ranked running back in his class. Many collegiate programs looked at his size and said, "Oh he's too small to withstand the weekly punishment of a full-time back."

They may have been somewhat right considering he was only 5'9'' and 185 pounds as a graduating senior from Liberty-Eylau High School in Texarkana, Texas. Yet according to Scout.com, as a senior he led his team to a Texas 3A state title and rushed for 2,043 yards. Furthermore, he scored 26 all-purpose touchdowns on his way to an all-state selection.

Despite his size deficiencies, James obviously let his on-field play do the talking. TCU, Nebraska, Mississippi State, Minnesota, Houston, Baylor and Oregon all showed immense interest in the southern speedster. 

When he narrowed down his collegiate choices, he decided to visit the top five and go from there. His first visit was made to TCU, his second to Minnesota, his third to Nebraska and his fourth to Oregon. We can't forget his final visit, which ended up being Mississippi State, even though it was more of a courtesy visit than anything.

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As many of you know, NFL players are obsessive when it comes to honing their craft. This obsessive nature leaves little time for anything else outside the organizational walls. Hobbies and downtime are sparse. When they do have an opportunity to mingle with society, some do it in a constructive manner, while others do not.

San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis had one passion while at the University of Maryland—art. He majored in studio art before leaving the collegiate ranks for the NFL. His long standing affection for the visual arts has moved him enough to become a 28-year-old art gallery owner.

Last month, the Pro Bowl tight end opened a space called Gallery 85 in San Jose. The gallery displays art from emerging artists throughout the Bay Area and Davis himself. According to David Ng of the Los Angeles Times, the gallery serves in San Jose's Santana Row and is used as a fundraiser for the Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts.

Gallery 85 is obviously named after Davis' jersey number—the number he has sported as a member of the 49ers. Ng also mentioned, "The foundation awards college art school scholarships for select  youths from low-income communities."

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Over the last decade, the NFL has turned into an offensive explosion fueled by the quarterback position. Every year in the draft, teams look for the next potential 10-year stud. You can't blame quarterback-needy organizations like the Jaguars and Cardinals for wanting to continuously find the next Tom Brady.

The San Francisco 49ners are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. However, it wasn't too long ago when they were searching for answers of their own. A year before Jim Harbaugh arrived in the Bay Area, the 49ers fielded a roster that included quarterbacks by the name of Alex Smith, Troy Smith and David Carr.

None of the three looked the part, as Mike Singletary seemingly had a quarterback carousel going biweekly.

According to Pro Football Focus, all three quarterbacks finished the season in the bottom half of the league in terms of all-around performance. Alex Smith graded out as a minus-12.6, Troy Smith was a plus-0.5 and David Carr was a minus-3.0.

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Over the course of the past few days I've enjoyed watching Super Bowl media day. Reporters have generally done a good job of asking interesting interview questions, especially when it comes to Ray Lewis and his deer antler spray.

Players are well trained and usually give a politically correct answer, yet sometimes they step outside the box and challenge the reporters. Randy Moss proclaiming he is the greatest receiver of all time has to be one of my favorite answers to a loaded question that was asked yesterday.

Do we really expect him to say anything else? We all realize the size of his ego, plus he must be excluding Jerry Rice from the competition when he compares himself against the greatest wide receivers of all time.

Rice's response to Moss' proclamation was simple, yet spot on:

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When Michael Crabtree was drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft, the San Francisco 49ers envisioned the second coming of Jerry Rice. OK, so maybe not the second coming of Rice, but they did imagine a game changer.

Bill Walsh had Dwight Clark, George Seifert had Rice, Steve Mariucci had Terrell Owens, and Dennis Erickson and Mike Nolan had no one. Mike Singletary wanted to make sure he wasn't left in the cold like Erickson and Nolan were, so he went all in on one of the most productive two-year starters in NCAA history.

Crabtree drew comparisons to Larry Fitzgerald. He was regarded as a top-five lock, considering he piled up 3,127 yards receiving and 41 touchdowns during his freshman and sophomore seasons at Texas Tech. Not to mention, he caught an unprecedented 231 balls and was a consensus All-American in both 2007 and 2008.

However, his pre-draft top-five lock slowly became a fantasy as a fracture in his left foot caused him to miss the next six to 10 weeks of action. It meant the NFL Scouting Combine and his Texas Tech pro day would be a no go.

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Late last week Rob Ryan to the St. Louis Rams was all but done. Both sides had agreed on a contract (via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com) and they were preparing to move ahead with the hire. It was believed the organization would announce the hire of Ryan as defensive coordinator and Frank Bush as linebackers coach.

The Bush hire happened and was announced this morning, according to the team's official Twitter account. But the Rams released a statement about the non-hire of the 50-year-old Ryan: “After extensive discussions involving defensive philosophy, the Rams and Rob Ryan agreed that he was not the right fit for the defensive coordinator position.”

So, that's that apparently. The hire initially raised questions regarding the future of St. Louis' defense, considering Ryan has run a 3-4 defensive scheme for the majority of his career and is obviously more comfortable calling plays from a system that has been ingrained in him for the last four years.

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes in his column that Jeff Fisher has a strong history of assembling a staff that is going to get a long and work well together:

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Today is when the real media circus begins as players and coaches alike hit the field at the Superdome for media day. Sunday and Monday's smaller media sessions were a mere warm up for today, yet they provided some equally interesting quotes and comments from the Harbaugh brothers and their players.

Jim Harbaugh talked (via Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com) about Aldon Smith being named the winner of the Bill Wash Award and his son Jack's future in football. However, no comment was more interesting to me than than one Ed Reed made about Frank Gore.

According to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, Reed talked openly about his collegiate teammate and how he thinks Gore is the best running back he has ever played against:

Surely it's no secret that both players have a history with one another, and Reed may just be saying that because of their relationship, but he may be onto something. As a third-round pick in the 2005 draft, Gore has managed to amass 8,839 yards rushing on 1,911 carries.

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During today's session with the media, head coach Jim Harbaugh seemed a more relaxed and laid back compared to his usual self. It was good to see him in rare form as it allowed members of the media to fully explore all avenues during today's interview.

Of course Harbaugh had some interesting things to say about his kids playing football, President Obama and certain coaches he looks up to. Yet no tidbit of information caught my attention more than his comments about who the San Francisco 49ers named as team MVP.

Most teams will announce via Twitter or the team website who the players voted as its top rookie, MVP, etc. But since the 49ers' season has yet to conclude, there is still a bit of unfinished business to take care of come Sunday. So they had held off on announcing the team awards because of the current deep postseason run.

Whether he meant to or not, Harbaugh let it roll off his tongue that outside linebacker Aldon Smith was named team MVP by his teammates (via Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee):

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