Dawson Gets Chance for Football Future

This upcoming weekend is the most exciting time for college football players finishing their senior years. The NFL draft will tell them which team they will play for, or if they will even play professionally at all.

April of junior year is supposed to be different.

Those players are preparing for spring ball and practicing for the upcoming season. Professional football is never far from these players’ minds, but the draft, except for the rare cases of exceptional talents foregoing eligibility, is not for a year, and they can start by focusing on winning next season.

All this is true unless you are Harvard running back Clifton Dawson, who was chosen in the sixth round of last week’s Canadian Football League draft by his hometown team, the Toronto Argonauts.

Many expected him to go higher than his 47th pick, but as he is only a junior, teams were not sure what to expect.

“He was highly rated on our draft board,” said Argonaut assistant general manager Greg Mohns. “Obviously he has size and speed and he’s been very productive at Harvard and we know he has NFL skill ability. We know there’s an opportunity he may be drafted [a year] from now.”

Although Toronto did not believe Dawson would leave school next year to pursue a career as an Argonaut, a player of his caliber can be extremely valuable. Rather than draft surefire NFL prospects such as Reggie Bush or Matt Leinart, CFL teams select players that want to have pro careers but may not quite cut it in the NFL.

Even if Dawson does get selected in the 2007 NFL draft, there is still the possibility that he will be injured or cut, in which case Toronto will be there for Dawson to continue to play, if he so chooses.

“We’ll be slow playing it, until we know he’s definitely interested in coming north of the border,” Mohns said. “Basically we drafted his rights and we’ll see how the story unfolds as time goes on.”

For Dawson this is relatively new territory.

Although he grew up watching the Argonauts, Dawson did not see himself making a career in professional football until much more recently. His goal was to use the game simply as a vehicle to get to college, and to gain experience and knowledge.

But with his senior season rapidly approaching, the back can no longer ignore the NFL and next year’s draft.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that your senior year in the Ivy League is the most important,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “If he can continue his strong play and follow up on the little weaknesses he has, I think he’s a very legitimate prospect.”

Dawson’s chances may be upped by the recent increase in Ivy players making the pros.

Former teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 is entering his sophomore season with the St. Louis Rams after his seventh-round selection in last year’s draft, and this year three Ancient Eight players have a decent shot at joining him.

All are expecting 6’5 315-pound Kevin Boothe of Cornell to go early; he is ranked as high as seventh by the pundits at offensive guard.

“[He] will be drafted, that’s very clear from the feedback I’ve been getting from NFL teams,” Murphy said. “He is the most highly regarded player in our league this year.”

Brown fullback Nick Hartigan and Princeton cornerback Jay McCareins will at least be on the radar this weekend, and if they are not drafted they will likely receive free-agency contracts.

“I know there are a lot of players who have the ability to be drafted,” Dawson said. “I don’t know if they will [be]. I certainly hope that more and more Ivy League players get drafted, because that will only help my case next year.”

Preparations for Dawson’s draft year won’t start until after this weekend, and so for the moment he is focusing on what he can do for his current team. Although he will likely sit out of tomorrow’s spring game, Dawson considers next fall to be very promising.

The squad finished 7-3 overall and second in the Ivy League with a 5-2 record in 2005, a season in which Dawson broke the Crimson all-time rushing record of 3,330 yards. In his three-year career Dawson has already surpassed every single-season and career rushing record at Harvard and expects to continue to dominate defenses throughout the league in his attempt to break the Ivy rushing record, a feat which stands just 1,008 yards away.

“I don’t set goals as far as records go,” Dawson said. “I am aware that I have the opportunity to do some really incredible things that I’m really excited about, but they’re not at the forefront of my mind. Individually my goals are to go 10-0. I want to win every game. I want to dominate every game. I want our offense to be number one in the league.”

Throughout his prospective record-breaking 2006 campaign, Dawson will take what he calls “more small steps” to increase his chances of reaching the NFL.

Having already run for some scouts, next season he must continue to impress as agents and scouts roam the sidelines, scrutinizing his every step to assess his potential.

Whether or not the team representatives see his promise, Dawson says that he will play professional ball post-graduation. And if all goes as planned, his career will begin with an NFL squad.

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.