For most graduating Brown athletes, Commencement is a bittersweet time, marking what will likely be the end of their athletic careers. The adage of the NCAA's often-played commercial - "Most of us will be going pro in something other than sports" - rings especially true for Brown's student-athletes, who know that in choosing to attend the University, they have made academics their first priority.
But for a select group of athletes each year, the dream of making it to professional sports lives on. Though it is probably more likely that a Brown graduate will be found in the front office of a professional team or in the announcing booth of a sports network, a number of graduates are making their way onto the playing fields of sports' professional leagues.
This year's crop of graduating seniors pursuing careers in professional sports immediately after graduation is part of a growing number of Brown grads who are proving that the desires to obtain an Ivy League education and to play sports professionally are not mutually exclusive.
Zak DeOssie '07 is the headliner in what is shaping up to be a banner year for Brown graduates going pro. A three-time first team All-Ivy selection at linebacker and two-time finalist for the Buck Buchanan award as the top defensive player in Division I-AA football, DeOssie was drafted by the New York Giants as the 116th pick overall in the NFL Draft.
DeOssie is the highest drafted Brown player in 27 years and the first Brown player to be drafted by the NFL since Sean Morey '99 went to the New England Patriots as the 241st pick in 1999.
While DeOssie's quest to make it to the NFL has grabbed the most headlines, Andrew Daniels '07, a star forward for the men's soccer team during his four years at Brown, has already made his way onto the roster of a professional sports team. Daniels was selected No. 18 overall in the 2007 Major League Soccer SuperDraft by FC Dallas Jan. 12.
DeOssie's '07 teammate, Justin Amoah, a native of Mississauga, Ontario, tried to make it into the Canadian Football League. He was invited to the combine, but was not selected on draft day and has decided to attend journalism school rather than attempt to join a team as a free agent.
Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger said the athletic success of DeOssie and his classmates are "wonderful for Brown."
"A lot of times people don't quite appreciate the level of play at the I-AA level," Goldberger said. "Sometimes people don't quite imagine the level of athletics we have here."
From the Ivy League to the NFL
DeOssie, who stands 6'4", weighs in at 240 pounds and has a wingspan perhaps more fitting for a small forward in the NBA than a linebacker, may be the most highly touted player ever to emerge from Brown.
With an impressive performance at the NFL's scouting combine as well as his strong play in the East-West Shrine Game, a major postseason proving ground for NFL prospects, DeOssie drew the attention of many NFL scouts by proving that he has the athleticism to compete at the next level. DeOssie ran a 4.58 in the 40-meter dash, the eighth-fastest time of any linebacker at the combine, and bench-pressed 225 pounds 26 times. Only four of 34 linebackers in the draft put up more reps.
DeOssie's combine preparation paid off on April 29 when he was selected by the Giants in the fourth round of the draft. DeOssie's father, Steve, spent five of his 12 years in the NFL with the Giants, winning a Super Bowl title with the team in 1990.
DeOssie was playing ping pong in his family's basement when he got the call from Giants General Manager Jerry Reese on the second day of the draft.
"I was just downstairs trying to get away from everything. After I got the call my twin sister, my older sister and my dad all just got in a huddle and broke down," he said. "It was an incredible feeling."
DeOssie will report to the Giants' rookie training camp May 11.
"I'm just pumped to be playing in the Big Apple. It's an honor to be playing for a team that my dad played for. My dad is my hero and it just means a lot to me," he said.
Brown head football coach Phil Estes said DeOssie's success is a boost for the program.
"We're all very proud of Zak and happy for him and his family. To be considered one of the top linebackers in the country and to be taken in the fourth round of the draft is a huge accomplishment," he said.
Along with his sheer athleticism, DeOssie also impressed teams with his ferocious special teams play and skill as a long-snapper. DeOssie learned the art of long-snapping from his father, who, like DeOssie, was a linebacker and long-snapper.
"I know my quickest way on to the field will be through long-snapping and special teams," he said.
Reese told the Boston Globe that DeOssie's combine was outstanding.
"Zak has the size and he has the speed," Reese said. "We helped ourselves at linebacker. He can help us as a long snapper and play on all the core special teams."
In making the jump from the Ivy League to the NFL, DeOssie is in rare company.
At the start of the 2006 NFL season, only 15 of the 1,696 players on active rosters were Ivy League graduates. As Penn grad and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tackle Jeff Hatch once told ESPN.com, "(Being an NFL player) is the only job in America where having an Ivy League degree can actually hurt you."
Though the Ancient Eight was once the premier football conference in the country, dominating college play from 1869 to 1939, the league's national prominence has diminished since its 1981 move to Division I-AA. Because no schools in the league offer athletic scholarships, it is often difficult for teams to compete for top athletic recruits.
DeOssie can take comfort in the fact that a handful of recent Brown football players have gone on to successful NFL careers. Steve Jordan '82, a tight end at Brown who was selected to six consecutive Pro Bowls during his 12-year career with the Minnesota Vikings, achieved arguably the most NFL success of any Brown alum who has played in the NFL in the modern era.
Currently, Morey and Chas Gessner '03 are the only Brown graduates in the NFL.
Gessner, who excelled in both football and lacrosse at Brown, latched on with the New England Patriots in 2003 as an undrafted free agent wide receiver, earning a Super Bowl ring with the team as a practice squad player. Gessner also played for the New York Jets and in NFL Europe before landing his current job with the Buccaneers.
Morey earned a Super Bowl ring with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005 as a special teams player. Though he was a receiver at Brown, Morey has played mostly special teams in the NFL.
Nick Hartigan '06, who helped lead the Bears to the 2005 Ivy League championship and is Brown's all-time leading rusher, is the most recent Brown graduate to take a stab at the NFL. After going un-drafted, he signed with the Jets as a free agent in 2006 but was cut by the team. He is now enrolled at Harvard Law School.
Regardless of how his first NFL training camp turns out, DeOssie, a public and private sector organizations concentrator, feels his future is secure. "I know I will be able to have a future outside of football because I came to Brown," he said.
No CFL, no problem
For much of the year, Justin Amoah was hoping that he would be spending next year deflecting passes and breaking up routs for a team in the Canadian Football League. As a Canadian native, Amoah had a unique opportunity to try to continue his playing career at the professional level. The eight-team CFL requires half of each team's roster to be composed of "non-imports," defined as Canadian-born or Canadian-trained players. The league also reserves its college draft for non-import players.
The CFL, with its quirky rules and June-November season, is mostly unknown to Americans, but it is an extremely competitive league that attracts a large following in Canada. In the past, the league has attracted former NFL players trying to resurrect their careers as well as younger players who started in the CFL before moving to successful NFL careers, such as Doug Flutie.
The 5'10" 175-pound Amoah was a solid if unspectacular player at Brown. He saw little game action until a breakout senior year in which he registered 29 tackles, mostly as a "rover," a linebacker-type position that Brown employs on defense.
Amoah grew up interacting with CFL players who often came to his school to play basketball. He came close to realizing his dream of playing professionally when, in March, he was invited to the CFL TransGlobe Evaluation Camp, the Canadian equivalent to the NFL's combine. Amoah posted solid workout numbers at the camp and was hoping to be selected in the later rounds of the draft as a defensive back.
On draft day, Amoah was in class, receiving updates from his sister by cell phone. In the end, he was passed over.
"It was pretty disappointing not to get drafted but I definitely have no regrets about the process," he said. "Football is in my blood and I wanted to give it a shot."
Amoah said he was expecting to be drafted and was surprised when many of his friends, whom he thought would be drafted in the high rounds, fell to the end of the draft.
"I wasn't terribly heartbroken because I was hoping for the best and preparing for the worst," he said. "I had a good backup plan and I'm hoping to stay around the game by becoming a sports reporter."
Amoah chronicled his pre-draft experience on a blog for the CFL's Web site. In his last blog entry before the draft, titled "On the Clock," he wrote "Today, I reflect back on where football has taken me and I'm happy. It's provided me with not only the opportunity to earn a first-class education but to also earn a living while doing something I love. Football has come to define me. I've considered myself a football player since the age of 11. It's who I am. It runs through my veins... On Wednesday, we'll see if my aspirations bear fruit. As draft day looms my anxiety reaches it's apex. But whether or not my phone rings on draft day football will stay with me."
Amoah, an English concentrator and former Herald Staff Writer, said he plans to enroll at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in the fall.
While Amoah's playing career is likely over, he said he hopes to stay around the game as much as can.
"Becoming a sports writer is how I want to stay connected," he said. Though his dream didn't work out quite as he had hoped, he will be able to carry his experience with him as he transitions away from life as an athlete.
"It was a great experience for me," he said. "I wish it had turned out better, but I'm happy with the work I put in and I think I can learn a lot from it."
Daniels does Dallas
Unlike his classmates, Daniels has already established himself on the roster of a professional sports team while completing his senior year at Brown. While most seniors enjoy their last few weeks on College Hill, Daniels has been getting a taste of his post-Brown life as a defender for the Major League Soccer team FC Dallas.
Daniels, a public and private sector organizations and history concentrator, juggled five courses with his soccer career during his final semester. He flew to Dallas on weekends to be with the team, returning to Providence during the week to complete his course work.
"It's been a little fractured to be in between both," Daniels said. "I've been living out of my suitcase for the past few months."
Daniels says he was focused on pursuing a job in the "real world" until he was invited to the scouting combine, which was held in early January. At the combine, Daniels, who played striker at Brown, turned many heads with his play on defense.
"Once people saw him at central defender they started to show a lot of interest. Coaches would grab me after the scrimmages to ask me about him," said men's Head Coach Mike Noonan.
Daniels performed so well at the combine that FC Dallas picked him in the second round of the draft.
Initially, Daniels tried to complete his course work from Dallas, where he shares an apartment with two second-year players on the team. He quickly worked out an arrangement with the organization where he could return to Brown more often.
"The coach would like me to be there all the time and he knows I feel the same way, but he also understands that graduating from the Ivy League is a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Daniels said.
Daniels said some players tease him about his prolonged absences. "Some of the players pretend they don't know what Brown is," he said. "They are always kidding me that I go to a state school."
Aside from the ribbing, Daniels said coming from the Ivy League hasn't really been a hindrance to his career.
"Once you get on the field, it's not about what school you went to - it's if you are a solid player," he said.
The Ivy League is known as one of the stronger conferences in college soccer. Brown has been highly successful during Noonan's tenure, sending nine players to the MLS and making the NCAA tournament eight times.
"I think its tough initially to get teams attracted to players in the Ivy League, but we have a history of producing players who get drafted. Once you get past that initial hesitation teams start looking pretty hard," Noonan said.
Daniels has been in close contact with Jeff Larentowicz '05, currently a player with the New England Revolution.
"I talk with Jeff about once a week, and he has helped me out with adjusting to life in the pros," Daniels said.
Chris Gomez '05 also played for FC Dallas for a year following graduation, but Daniels said he now has a job in investment banking in California.
Daniels had aspirations of playing professionally coming out of high school "but lost that drive because (he) was so focused on my career at Brown," he said. "But when the opportunity to play professionally presented itself I knew I had to take advantage of it."
Daniels has yet to see game action with FC Dallas. He has been gaining experience with the club's reserve team, which serves as a training ground for many of its younger players. Daniels is one of four rookies on the team. He said he has been adjusting well to his new position but is familiarizing himself with other differences in life in the pros.
"There's a lot of free time during the day because you have practice from 10 (a.m.) to 11:30 (a.m.) and then the rest of the day off," he said.
"It's nice because I have schoolwork to do, so I don't really find myself lounging around watching DVDs all day like some of my roommates," he added.
Daniels said he checks in with DeOssie periodically, and that the two have chatted about their different experiences as they have tried to break into the pros.
"I always say to Zak 'I'm going to play you on Madden,' and he will always say 'I'll be playing you on FIFA,'" Daniels said.
