Div. III star maintains big plans

Barry Faulkner

Ryan Hoag spent his only season of high school football as the junior

varsity quarterback, then was cut from the tennis and soccer teams as

a freshman at Wake Forest.

Not exactly a stellar athletic foundation for a future NFL draft

pick.

But, after three noteworthy football seasons at Division III

Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, the speedy 6-foot-2,

200-pound receiver will begin pursuit of his NFL dream with the

Oakland Raiders, who selected him with the 262nd and final pick

Sunday.

As the last pick in the seventh round, he also becomes Mr.

Irrelevant XXVIII. As such, he will be celebrated at the annual

Irrelevant Week festivities, scheduled June 23-27 in Newport Beach

and hosted by Irrelevant Week founder and Newport Beach businessman

Paul Salata. Salata, a former NFL and USC receiver, was in New York

Sunday to announce Hoag’s selection.

“In retrospect, I think I am a little surprised,” Hoag said by

phone from the Gustavus Adolphus campus in St. Peter, Minn., where

family, friends, teammates and others gathered in the cafeteria to

watch one of their Golden Gusties capture the national spotlight.

“But as I started to realize my potential, I started working to put

myself in position to be in this situation. I’ve always been blessed

with athletic ability. I played four sports [track and field, along

with football, soccer and tennis, which he said was his best through

high school] throughout my life and I always thought, if I ever

concentrated on one, I might have a future.”

Hoag said the redundancy of practice soured him on football in his

initial football season as a prep, but his passion for the game was

rekindled by playing in an intramural league at Wake Forest.

Upon transferring to Gustavus Adolphus, a return home for the

Minnesota native, he focused his speed -- he has been clocked at 4.33

over 40 yards -- into becoming a receiver. After a one-year stint on

the junior varsity, he started for three seasons on the varsity,

amassing 144 career receptions for 2,232 yards (15.5 per catch) and

29 touchdowns in 31 games. He had a career-high 56 catches for 808

yards and 10 TDs last fall, en route to first-team All-Minnesota

intercollegiate Athletic Association honors. He also gained 397 yards

on 13 kickoff returns, averaged more than 10 yards on six rushing

attempts and blocked three kicks.

His speed helped open the eyes of NFL scouts, who made him the

only Division III player invited to the combine.

Despite his humble beginnings, the 23-year-old elementary

education major, who will graduate in June, said he was always

confident in his ability.

“My first year at Gustavus Adolphus, I remember telling my

girlfriend that my goal was to play some sort of post-collegiate

football,” Hoag said. “I told other people that and they’d say ‘What

do you mean?’ It may have been unrealistic at the time, but I always

believed I’d just work my way up, whether that meant playing in the

Canadian Football League, the Arena league, or whatever.”

Hoag, who also ran track in college and is the school’s Male

Athlete of the Year, is undaunted by the challenge of joining a

Raider receiving crew that includes future Hall of Famers Jerry Rice

and Tim Brown.

“As the draft wore on, I expected to be signing a free-agent

contract with Houston,” Hoag said. “Oakland never showed any interest

and, when they called, I thought it was to talk about a free-agent

contract. Then, they told me I was being forwarded to Coach Bill

Callahan and he told me I was Mr. Irrelevant.

“There is no doubt in my mind I will make that team and bring some

things they may not have with my return ability and the added

dimension of speed,” Hoag said. “I haven’t looked past their top

three guys [including Jerry Porter] and I know they drafted Theo

Johnson [out of Stanford]. But I’ve never settled for anything but

the best and I don’t want to settle for just making the team or the

practice squad. I want to help out and I think I can.”

Hoag, whose blocking ability and lack of physical assertiveness

has raised concern from some scouts, said his relative inexperience

in football, especially against elite-level competition, gives him a

huge up side.

“I think that separates me from the rest of the receivers in my

class,” Hoag said. “I think I’ve proved to people I have a steep

learning curve and I learned and grew every year in college. I think

with pro coaching, there’s no telling what I can do.”