MORGANTOWN — The first reaction to Selvish Capers being drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the National Football League draft this year was one of nearly total indifference across America.
Seventh-round picks do not get first crack at the money or the jobs in a league where collegiate superstars often don’t make the grade.
But when one casts that draft selection in a different light, it becomes obvious that Capers bucked all kinds of odds to earn his chance to play in The League via the draft.
Consider that the last offensive lineman from West Virginia University to be selected in the draft has already concluded his professional career, that having been Lance Nimmo, who was taken in 2003 in the fourth round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has since retired to New Castle, Pa.
That may not seem a long time ago in the real world, which is measured in decades, but considering that the NFL selected 1,890 players between Nimmo and Capers without naming one offensive lineman from West Virginia speaks volumes about something.
Considering that the Mountaineers had the Rimington Trophy winner one of those years in Dan Mozes, who went undrafted, understand just how strange Capers’ selection might have been.
Certainly, not having WVU offensive linemen drafted wasn’t a case of good players being lost on bad football teams, for these were the glory days of Rich Rodriguez’s run at WVU, and when one analyzes the offensive success of those teams, the offensive line certainly played a big role since they were the foundation of the running game.
You can’t even put the blame on coaching, for during most of Rodriguez’s term here the offensive line coach was Rick Trickett, a feisty little technician who has sent more than 30 offensive linemen to the NFL during his long career … none of them other than Nimmo at West Virginia.
So, what happened? Why was Selvish Capers the first offensive lineman recruited by Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia to go into the NFL draft … and even there an asterisk is necessary.
Capers, you see, came to West Virginia not as an offensive lineman at all, but as a tight end who reluctantly converted to fill a gaping hole on the O-line.
The problem, it would appear, was in the Rodriguez offense, which was constructed for college football.
Let us first note that there was nothing wrong with this. Rodriguez was — and still is, when last looked at — coaching in the college game, not the professional game. It is a game that offers far more variety than does the NFL, a game that often is played so differently as to be almost unrecognizable.
Rodriguez won and turned out his share of professional football players … running backs, quarterbacks, fullbacks, defensive backs, linebackers.
Just not offensive linemen.
His were asked to be lean and mean, while the NFL looks at tackles whose shadows can encompass a three-story building. Rodriguez’s linemen learn to zone block, where in the NFL they have to take on someone who is through a zone before they can establish where that zone is.
Strength and hand speed and quickness were the requirements under Rodriguez. But it just wasn’t enough in the NFL, where you must have all of that combined with size and a completely different technique.
If Rodriguez was selling offensive line recruits the NFL dream when he was recruiting them, he was doing them a disservice. They could get an education, they could play on a winning team, they could block for an NFL quality back, but if they wanted to be at an NFL game, they better order season tickets.
That may change now that the offense has changed. This offense of head coach Bill Stewart and offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen is being built on more NFL principles, included in the offensive line play. While it understands the value of a running quarterback, it isn’t a staple of the offense and while there is a lot of zone blocking, the days of throwing 10 or 11 passes in a game are as ancient as is the Rodriguez regime.
Certainly, Capers isn’t complaining about his position in the draft, even if secretly he was hoping to be picked as high as the second round, certainly the third or fourth.
“How high you get drafted doesn’t matter anymore. I feel like I’m part of something,” he said.
He knows this, when he’s out there trying to win the right tackle spot the Redskins envision for him, no one is going to ask him whether he was drafted or not, only what he can do at that particular moment.
“I’ve talked to some guys and they say the big difference in The League is every play is like a job interview,” he said.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Helmet Camera Captures Calif. Fire Rescue
Beyonce Is Sexy in Sequins
Better than Tebowing, it's Bradying - 2/7
Zip-Lining Man Slams Into Tree
Model's Shocking 20-Inch Waist
Triple Win: Santorum Takes Minn., Mo., Colo.
Maria Menounos in Giants Bikini After Losing Bet
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
TLC's 'Strangest Addictions Yet'?
Snooki Admits She's Bisexual
No Rape Charges Against Son of NYPD Commissioner
Katharine McPhee Strips Down
Raw Video: 15 Lb. Baby Born in China
Ellen DeGeneres Slams One Million Moms
Vending Machine Dispenses 'Morning-After' Pill
Rihanna in Super Sheer Bodysuit
Entire staff removed at L.A. elementary school
Exclusive: Giants Players Talk About Excitement Around 2012 Super Bowl Victory Parade
'Spider-Man' Brand-New Extended Trailer
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
