[ HULA BOWL MAUI ]
At the Hula Bowl,
a few players hope
to lose baggageMoa, Schneider and Smoker
hope to convince NFL scouts
their troubles are in the past
WAILUKU >> The girls in the ti leaf skirts at the luaus aren't the only ones dancing at Hula Bowl Maui events this week.
For the players and scouts here, the entire exercise is an elaborate waltz that, when stripped to its bare essentials, is a job-seekers' and head-hunters' ball for some very specialized entry-level talent.
NFL jobs are on the line here -- for the players, who want to get them, and the scouts, who want to keep them.
Hula Bowl Maui
When: Saturday, 3 p.m.
Where: War Memorial Stadium, Maui
Tickets and information: (808) 874-9500 or www.hulabowlmaui.com
TV: Live, ESPN2
The practices and the games are just half of it. For some players especially, the interviews they go through with the NFL reps (all 32 teams are here) are even more important.
Ben Moa, Ryan Schneider and Jeff Smoker are the rare travelers to Hawaii who want to lose their baggage.
The Utah tight end and Central Florida and Michigan State quarterbacks are undoubted in the talent department. It's what they do off the field this week and how they answer questions that could either move them up in the NFL Draft or stick them with a don't-touch label.
"Whoa, they've got a lot of questions. And I can't do nothing but be honest," said Moa, who was shot and nearly killed while a full-fledged gang member early in his Utes career. "I ain't mad at them for asking, because everyone has a background and they need to know. I just tell them my story, be honest and see how they like it. If they like me as a player and see that I'm a changed man, they should overlook that. They just do their thing, and I'm just here to play football."
By all indicators, including an ESPN profile that aired recently, Moa no longer has any gang ties. But the scouts are a skeptical group, and this week is their chance to find out things for themselves.
Smoker also appears to have put his problems behind him. He sat out a big chunk of his junior season while rehabilitating from substance abuse. Smoker, who led the Big Ten in passing efficiency as a sophomore, returned to the field this year and sparkled with 21 touchdown passes and led the conference in passing yardage and total offense.
He's been very impressive in practices this week. But the round he gets picked in will be decided as much by his one-on-one chats with the scouts.
"You can really get a feel for his personality, something you probably wouldn't be able to do at a school call. They're shielded by their coaches," Minnesota Vikings scout Jamaal Stephenson said. "This way you kind of get them out in the open and you're able to talk to them a little bit more and dig deeper into their personalities. On the field is good because you get to see them as players and how they move around. But the interview time is real special. You get one-on-one time and administer tests. With the time that they give you, if you really wanted to talk to every one of them you could sit down and have a five-minute conversation with each guy. But you try to narrow it down to the guys you really want to spend time with, probably guys who have the character issues."
COURTESY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Central Florida QB Ryan Schneider was suspended late in the season for signing a teacher's name on an absence excuse.
The wounds are still fresh for Schneider, who broke some of Daunte Culpepper's records at UCF and might have made more of them his own if not for a late-season suspension this year. Schneider admits to having signed a teacher's name on an absence excuse. Part of his job this week is to prove to potential future employers that action was out of character.
"My agent worked really hard to get me out here and now I have an opportunity to meet the scouts face-to-face and let them know what really happened. There were a lot of rumors that went around. People tell me they heard that I had drug possession or raped somebody. I just want people to know the truth about what happened," said Schneider, who chose Central Florida over Hawaii after a visit to Manoa. "Forging a teacher's signature. It was a mistake that happened. I learned from it and it was a one-time thing and I'm moving on and doing my best to get ready for the next level. I'm ready for the next step."
Wynn Silberman, one of many agents here, said the NFL realizes many young people make mistakes that don't indicate a propensity for future wrongdoings.
"I think character is something that's built through a lifetime," Silberman said. "Whether there's been some sort of aberration, some sort of difficult experience, I think any professional team's going to recognize when it's just a slip-up versus some sort of real character flaw."
There's also the aspect that fans often appreciate a player who has been able to overcome some rough patches, even of his own doing.
"I get a lot of that," Moa said. "A lot of people look up to me because there are a lot who were or are in my situation. They might not think they can make it if they get too far in. But I was in deep, as deep as you can get, and I made it out."
The scouts have to play psychologist as much as they play golf this week. And just as there are no guarantees a player will live up to his physical potential, there's no telling what might happen to a man emotionally or mentally in his 20s, whatever his background. Still, the scouts must try to see the future.
"It's too early to really tell. A lot of guys change as they progress and get older and mature, so it's really hard to tell if they'll be troubled guys in the league. A guy who doesn't have problems in college could go to the league and have problems," Stephenson said. "You certainly want to use this time to get the best indication you can if someone's going to be trustworthy enough to bring into your organization."
BACK TO TOP |
Japanese players face
tall challenge
WAILUKU >> There is one player who was about the size of 5-foot-7, 135-pound Shinnya Ohtani who made it big in the modern NFL. But Gerald "The Ice Cube" McNeil had blazing speed -- and just as importantly, a lot of experience playing football against top-level competition in high school and college.
McNeil, an outstanding return specialist, played in the Hula Bowl and the Pro Bowl. Ohtani, a wide receiver, will do the former tomorrow, but as even he admits, the latter is very unlikely.
Ohtani, through interpreter Maiko Hanawa, said his goal is to become the best player he can and become a standout in Japan, where the game is gaining in popularity.
How about tomorrow's Hula Bowl, in which he goes up against some players nearly a foot taller and nearly 200 pounds heavier?
"It's kind of scary, but the speed helps," Ohtani said.
The four Japanese players at the Hula Bowl are all small for their positions, and that is also true of the players at the 300 colleges and 100 corporations who play the game there.
"A Japanese player cannot play defensive line or offensive line yet. They are too little," said Katsu Ibaraki, athletic director at Osaka Sangyo University. "Japanese defensive linemen are linebacker-size."
Japanese players have made inroads. Last summer, linebacker Masa Kawaguchi was in the 49ers camp after playing in the NFL Europe.
Until the size issue changes, NFL personnel directors and those who follow the game closely in Japan say it will be awhile before the first player from the Land of the Rising Sun makes his debut in an NFL regular-season game.
But they agree it will happen. Someday.
"This is a game of size. So it will be tough," said John Dorsey, Packers director of player personnel, who has made two trips to watch football in Japan. "I think the first breakthrough will be as a kicker, punter or maybe at one of the skill positions, either a wide receiver or a defensive back.
"There's also a cultural switch and a language barrier involved," he added. "Inevitably there will be a breakthrough. It's just a matter of time and (what team) is willing to take the opportunity and the risk associated with it."
Dorsey said the relatively few large young athletes in Japan still end up in sumo, the national sport.
"When I went over there I went to a stable. We just marveled at the first explosive step in sumo. I was really amazed. There's some hope there. But they all gravitate to the sport of choice over there, which is sumo," Dorsey said.
Larry Lacewell, the Cowboys' director of player personnel, said football is becoming more international all the time.
"You never say never. We've seen the influence of a player from Mexico, (Japanese) guys making arena ball teams," Lacewell said. "If high school or whatever they do there improves, and if we keep going over there and playing every year. Who knows? There may be one."
While pro athletes need the right genetics to have a chance to make it to the highest level, environment is also important. Dallas linebacker Dat Nguyen is of Vietnamese extraction, but he played high school football in Texas and starred at Texas A&M.
"Who would ever think that we would have a Vietnamese player playing for us? Dat Nguyen is a great player," Lacewell said. "He's a 5-foot-11 guy who doesn't run very fast, but he's very, very smart, a great player who should be at the Pro Bowl this year."
