junk
I've got moxie
- Messages
- 9,294
- Reaction score
- 247
Cowboy is rising by leaps, bounds
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
February 24, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - He knows he saw it. Yes, with his own two learned eyes, Dr. Randall Wendling knows what he saw.
He looked at the screen in front of him and saw, of all people, his son, John, take an improbable leap, an unbelievable, almost unnerving leap. A leap into the future, into the unexpected, a leap into his vocational life.
"And I looked at that and I thought, 'My God, what is going on here?' " Randall Wendling said. "But many people have seen it. I think everybody reacts to it in some way. You just don't see that too often."
While preparing for his senior season at Wyoming, John Wendling finished an offseason conditioning workout last summer with a leap over a 66-inch hurdle - that would be 5 feet, 6 inches worth of elevation - before landing on his feet.
That feat, caught on video, has gotten plenty of attention.
NFL scouts near and far had seen it for themselves, before it played on the scoreboard in War Memorial Stadium, before it aired on television throughout the region.
"I talked to a lot of people who said they've seen it on TV - they played it during the games - or have seen it at the stadium," John Wendling said. "Obviously, some scouts have asked how high the hurdle was.
"It was just something for people to see some athleticism. But, hopefully, when it comes down to it, when I'm finished at the combine, when all of the workouts are done this spring, I think I'll have a lot more to show than jumping over a hurdle."
Certainly the teams looking for a safety in the April draft are watching for the same thing. Wendling, at 6-1, 222 pounds, has spent the better part of two months in Tempe, Ariz., getting ready for his appearance at the scouting combine here.
And while his combine workout won't come until Tuesday, the Rock Springs, Wyo., native is expected to open some eyes with his speed, agility, football intellect and, yes, that leaping ability.
In the process, he will carry the pro football hopes of a town wishing him the best.
"The great thing about going back home is being able to talk to people to see how excited they are about all this," Wendling said. "How proud they are. I just love being around the kids. I remember when I was a little kid, how I looked up to University of Wyoming athletes.
"To see kids see me the way they do, that just signing your name on a piece of paper means something, it's really satisfying, and you kind of understand it's really a privilege. It makes it all worthwhile. . . . I just think of how excited I am right now, and they may be even more excited."
When the 2006 NFL season began last fall there were only two Wyoming natives on rosters - the Steelers' Brett Keisel and the Packers' Brady Poppinga.
That numbers game isn't lost on Wendling, who knows what it means to those in his hometown of slightly more than 18,000 along Interstate 80 in the southwest corner of the state.
Wendling led Rock Springs High School - his father is the principal there - to an 11-0 record in his senior year, led the school to a state championship. So dominant was Wendling, he was named an all-state player at three positions - running back, defensive back and kick returner - in the same year.
"So I've always sensed a pride around the state for him," Randall Wendling said. "There is a lot of people behind him, a lot we don't even know about. . . . But this, the possibility of the NFL, it's been very exciting, a new arena. It's uncharted for us; with every story from John comes something new and unexpected.
"It's really been an educational process, a great learning experience. But you're sending your child into the world. You hope you've given them the skills to make the right choices and cope with the things they face. We hope we've done the right job."
Wendling, a 2006 finalist for the Draddy Trophy that goes to the nation's top football scholar-athlete, was recruited by Ivy League schools and Stanford because of his combination of skills in the classroom and on the field. Colorado State and Brigham Young also wanted him.
"I was about 195 (pounds)," Wendling said. "I was sort of rangy, a little skinny. I didn't know how it was going to turn out. I hoped, I was confident about what I could do, but I didn't know. But the Ivy League schools don't give athletic scholarships, so that didn't really work out. But in the long run, where I really wanted to be was be at Wyoming.
"So it's a very big deal to me to have the opportunity to be one of the few natives of the state to be in the NFL. For me, just growing up in Wyoming, you watch football (and) you don't see many guys who make it to the next level. For me, just to have the opportunity, it's quite surreal at this point. Exciting, but a little bit surreal in a way."
Scouts whose territory includes the Cowboys' campus in Laramie say they have no question about Wendling's athleticism.
Having seen all he can do - the double-take leap over the hurdle, his 41- inch vertical jump and the 4.38-second 40-yard dash he was credited with last spring - they believe he has the physical makeup for an NFL career.
Those scouts say what remains is for Wendling to confirm all that in his combine workout, his on-campus workout March 27 and then show quality football instincts once he gets the pads on in training camp.
"In the end," said Buffalo Bills general manager Marv Levy, a Hall of Famer, "you want to see players with those kinds of athletic, physical skills then transfer that to the field. Because the job is to play football, not sprint in a T-shirt or jump. They have to go together, those physical attributes and playing the game. That's for any player."
So that's it. Wendling has made the leap, the one that took him from dreamer to prospect. The leap to now see what is beyond.
"He's probably about the most fit and the most explosive athlete I've ever coached," Wyoming strength and conditioning coach Scott Bennett said. "John has been working out in (Tempe) to get ready for the combine, and he's been working with a former graduate assistant of mine, and he called and said, 'What did you do to this guy? There are cornerbacks down here who can't keep up with him.' That's just John. There aren't very many like him."
"I jumped over the hurdle," John Wendling said. "I was happy to do it, proud to accomplish it, but I think I can be more than that. That's my goal. To be more than that."
And the video:
http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/video/popup-w.cfm?VID=022307wendling
I'd be real happy if Dallas found a way to add him.
