CSC FOOTBALL
DANNY WOODHEAD PREPARING FOR NFL DRAFT
By John Axtell and Associated Press
Apr 17, 2008 - 9:08:59 PM

The NFL draft is next weekend, and former Chadron State running back Danny Woodhead is learning again that when it comes to evaluations of him, football is a game of inches.

NFL personnel men have told his agent Chris Gittings that they will pass on college football's all-time, all-division rushing leader and two-time Harlon Hill Trophy winner because he's too small...the same thing Woodhead heard from Division-1 recruiters before he joined CSC.

Gittings says it's frustrating that small running backs from Division-1 are considered NFL draft prospects while Woodhead is on the fringe.

Rutgers' Ray Rice is 5-foot-8 and 199 pounds...just about the same measurements NFL scouts gave for Woodhead at Nebraska's Pro Day workouts.

He's expected to go in the draft even though his 40 time and vertical leap at the NFL combine were both short of Woodhead's numbers.

Other small backs considered draft prospects include Michigan's Mike Hart...a preseason Heisman favorite... Georgia's Thomas Brown, Justin Forsett of California, and Houston's Anthony Alridge.

Gittings says they're getting looks because they competed against the big football schools while Woodhead rolled up his nearly 8,000 career rushing yards for Division II Chadron State, but Gittings says it's questionable whether top prospect Darren McFadden of Arkansas could have matched Woodhead's numbers if he played in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Woodhead had reputation at CSC for training hard, but has said he's been working even harder since the end of the season to prepare for a shot at the NFL. He says he's not doing it so he can prove his doubters wrong, he's doing it because he wants to keep playing.

Woodhead says his sights are squarely on the NFL, either as a draft pick or free agent. He admits being intrigued by playing on the wider fields of the CFL or in the fast-paced Arena Football League, but says his heart is set on the NFL, and he won't allow himself to even call those options "fallbacks" right now.

Chris Gittings says the general manager who takes a chance on Woodhead...either as a draft pick or afterwards as an undrafted free agent...will be glad he did.




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