So I'm taking this opportunity to remind you of Chris Hogan, the pride of Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, N.J. Hogan, who is also known as "7/11," was a four-year starter and leading scorer at Penn State. Unfortunately for him -- at least, given his present situation -- the sport he starred in was lacrosse, not football.
That's not to say Hogan didn't play college football. He did -- as a fifth-year senior at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. If he didn't exactly establish himself as a lock to make the NFL, the two-way player did put up one of the greatest, oddest statistical lines in the history of the game. Of the 15 balls he caught during the 2010 season, three were touchdowns. Three were interceptions.
Professional football? Why not?
"I didn't want to live with any regrets," Hogan told me Sunday afternoon.
During a pro day at Fordham, Hogan benched 225 pounds 28 times, which is not bad for a 6-foot-2, 220-pound guy. "I had a hell of a pro day," he said. "Right up there with the best in the country."
Still, his body of work was too skimpy for the scouting establishment. Hogan went undrafted and embarked on a typically anonymous and very high-risk career: He became a practice-squad player. While with the San Francisco 49ers, he rolled his ankle in a scrimmage. He got cut. He went home to Wyckoff, N.J., where he worked out and coached lacrosse. Then he signed with the New York Giants. He got cut again. Finally, during the last week of last season, he had a good workout with Miami.
"I don't have any doubt in my physical ability," he told me. "I'm trying to be a reliable guy, a guy coaches can trust."
I asked him if he's a receiver or a safety.
"A receiver," he said. "I'm a lot more comfortable running routes than backpedaling. I'm fast, physical, quick."
Hogan reportedly ran the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds. Even more importantly, he can get open. That's why Dolphins running back Reggie Bush famously christened him "7/11" -- as in, open 24 hours -- on last week's episode of "Hard Knocks." However, after Hogan caught just one ball in the team's preseason opener, Johnson was arrested and cut, and Hogan's story went dead. In other words: I'm not just a hard worker. I'm an athlete.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...-overload-dolphins-chris-hogan-worth-watching
That's not to say Hogan didn't play college football. He did -- as a fifth-year senior at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. If he didn't exactly establish himself as a lock to make the NFL, the two-way player did put up one of the greatest, oddest statistical lines in the history of the game. Of the 15 balls he caught during the 2010 season, three were touchdowns. Three were interceptions.
Professional football? Why not?
"I didn't want to live with any regrets," Hogan told me Sunday afternoon.
During a pro day at Fordham, Hogan benched 225 pounds 28 times, which is not bad for a 6-foot-2, 220-pound guy. "I had a hell of a pro day," he said. "Right up there with the best in the country."
Still, his body of work was too skimpy for the scouting establishment. Hogan went undrafted and embarked on a typically anonymous and very high-risk career: He became a practice-squad player. While with the San Francisco 49ers, he rolled his ankle in a scrimmage. He got cut. He went home to Wyckoff, N.J., where he worked out and coached lacrosse. Then he signed with the New York Giants. He got cut again. Finally, during the last week of last season, he had a good workout with Miami.
"I don't have any doubt in my physical ability," he told me. "I'm trying to be a reliable guy, a guy coaches can trust."
I asked him if he's a receiver or a safety.
"A receiver," he said. "I'm a lot more comfortable running routes than backpedaling. I'm fast, physical, quick."
Hogan reportedly ran the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds. Even more importantly, he can get open. That's why Dolphins running back Reggie Bush famously christened him "7/11" -- as in, open 24 hours -- on last week's episode of "Hard Knocks." However, after Hogan caught just one ball in the team's preseason opener, Johnson was arrested and cut, and Hogan's story went dead. In other words: I'm not just a hard worker. I'm an athlete.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...-overload-dolphins-chris-hogan-worth-watching
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