Thursday, January 31, 2002
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Wesley attracts WAILUKU, Maui >> The coach of the Aina team in Saturday's Hula Bowl won a national championship for Oklahoma two years ago by stopping the opponents from scoring.
NFL scouts
The cornerback from
Arkansas-Pine Bluff is
basically an unknownBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comSo Bob Stoops knows a defensive stud when he sees one. He just doesn't know the name of his physically gifted defensive back yet, the one who has folks turning heads and checking rosters.
"The corner from, from, ah ... Arizona? No, Arkansas, Arkansas-Pine Bluff. No. 29. He's very impressive," Stoops said yesterday after practice.
Stoops is not alone, for now. Until very recently, the name Dante Wesley was not heard often outside the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
But the NFL scouts on Maui all know who he is, and want to learn more about him. Wesley was ambushed by several after practice yesterday; he gladly answered their questions, knowing that this week in Hawaii is not a vacation, but could be the break he needs.
He never got one at Arkansas, where he walked on in 1997 as a raw 6-foot, 190-pound free safety. After a redshirt year and playing one season, Wesley asked for a scholarship, but couldn't get one.
"I really needed one, because my family couldn't afford to keep me in college without it," he said.
So he transferred to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff is his hometown, so that helped on expenses.
With the Golden Lions, he got bigger and stronger, and faster; Wesley is now 6-2 and 214, and has been timed at under 4.4 in the 40. He went from being a garden-variety safety to an elite prospect at cornerback.
"He's a Mel Kiper special," Hula Bowl CEO Lenny Klompus said, referring to the draft guru's penchant for identifying potential pro talent from relatively obscure schools whose games aren't televised across the country.
"He's an outstanding player, he's got it all," Aina assistant coach Dick Tomey said.
In addition to the physical attributes that go beyond prototype, Wesley has the proper attitude. He played 10 games with a broken bone in his left hand in 2000, but still finished the season with a team-high 17 pass breakups.
Wesley broke up 38 passes in his three-year career at UAPB. Even though teams stopped throwing the ball his way last year, he had 11 deflections and three interceptions.
There's only one question left, and he hopes to answer it this week.
"It's really important for me to be able to show I can play with good competition that comes from the D-I level," Wesley said. "Coming from a smaller school, I'm just trying to show the scouts I can play on a bigger level."
This is his only all-star game.
"I'm enjoying it here. Back at home it's 20 or 30 degrees. I know next week I go right back into the cold," Wesley said.
But only in the literal sense. If he has a decent game Saturday, Dante Wesley will remain a hot commodity, even if the Arkansas Razorbacks didn't think of him as one three years ago.
"I'm very happy how everything worked out," he said. "I'm just trying to do the best in everything I can and see what happens."
Hula Bowl