Will the NFL Come Calling?

The NFL draft means many things to many different people: replacing that dreadful quarterback, finding a franchise player, rebuilding a championship team.

For six members of the Harvard men’s football team, the draft means the future.

By the time this weekend is over, seniors Clifton Dawson, Matt Farbotko, Nik Sobic, Frank Fernandez, Ryan Tully, and Michael Berg will each know one of three things about their immediate post-graduate careers: they were drafted to play pro football, they are going to be free agents with a shot, or their football career is over.

According to speculations, the majority will be hearing bad news.

This weekend’s draft boasts such prospects as Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson, LSU’s JaMarcus Russell, and Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn. The Ivy League is not even a blip on anyone’s radar.

Well, unless you actually go here. In that case, according to ESPN you really have four guys to zero in on, including Dawson and Brown linebacker Zak Deossie—the Bears’ first player ever to be invited to the combine. Deossie is projected to be taken in one of the middle rounds, while Dawson’s status is up in the air.

NFL.com has also speculated that Farbotko has a shot after impressing scouts on Harvard’s pro day in March, but if anything, the senior is likely to become a free agent in some team’s camp.

CLIF HANGER

After becoming the Ivy League’s all-time leading rusher last fall with 3,628 career yards and despite setting every major career and single-season record Harvard keeps, arguably the best back in the history of the league is all but a shoe-in.

Although he worked hard in the off-season and took time off from school to train, Dawson was snubbed by the combine voters, falling a few votes short of an invitation. Bouncing back, the Scarborough, Ontario native has traveled to meet with teams, bulked up, and upped his game. In one of his pro day workouts he managed a time of 4.16 seconds in the short shuttle, 7.09 in the three-cone drill, a 37-inch vertical jump, a 9’4 broad jump, and 18 bench presses.

But teams have been concerned with Dawson’s 5’10 frame and mediocre top-end speed. Since bulking up his 40-yard dash has dropped from 4.54 to 4.63 seconds. Although he has done all he can to take care of the size issue, the result has led some to question his ability to outrun pro-level defensemen. But Dawson claims it simply comes with the territory.

“My times are still pretty consistent,” he says. “When I came to Harvard I was a buck 80, maybe a little less, and obviously you do lose some speed when you gain thirty pounds. But definitely the way I’ve tested, compared with most of the running backs out there, I’ve tested pretty well.”

It is not clear whether in fact the scouts agree.

At least three NFL teams sent scouts to watch Dawson during his senior season, and earlier this week he was slated to be taken last in the draft. Now ESPN isn’t even giving him that.

As for Dawson’s view of things, he just wants to be playing football next year.

“I think I have good chance of being selected in the later rounds,” he says. “If that doesn’t happen, which is a very real possibility, I will probably know within about an hour after the draft.”

If he does not go, the back hopes to find himself in some team’s camp to earn his pro-status that way. If all else fails he may eventually end up back in his home province playing for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

And where does that leave Dawson this Saturday and Sunday? In his room, by himself, glued to the t.v., waiting.

“I know some guys throw parties or are around lots of family and that type of thing,” Dawson says. “I think I’ll lock myself in a room somewhere and just hang out until I find out where I’m going to be.”

DOMO ARIGATO, MR. FARBOTKO

The tight end from Brookline, N.H. did not impress many during a disappointing season. Although Farbotko played in all 10 games, he started just five, posting 270 yards receiving and two touchdowns. He was named honorable mention all-Ivy League.

The 6’6 250 pound senior did not see any action in his first two years at Harvard and played in eight games his junior year with just 19 yards receiving.

So why is this middle of the pack player looking to hit it big? Two reasons: head coach Tim Murphy and strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald. During the middle of his junior season, Murphy suggested to Farbotko he had a shot at more than just Crimson football, Fitzgerald simply said “why not?”

And some scouts around the country seem to be thinking this guy could be a diamond in the ruff. Both NFL.com and the Chicago Bears website are among the believers.

Farbotko boasts a 4.81 40-yard dash, 10’3 broad jump, a 36.5-inch vertical jump, a short shuttle in 4.43, and a three-cone drill time of 7.20. Yet the site also lists Princeton quarterback Jeff Terrell—who will undoubtedly not get drafted—as in a similar position.

“Right now I really don’t have any [expectations] I guess,” Farbotko said. “I’m kind of waiting to see what happens. I don’t expect to be drafted. My thought originally was that I was going to have to go through the free agency market, so if I’m drafted obviously that’s awesome...but I don’t want to get my hopes up like that.”

Although he has not received feedback from teams as Dawson has, squads have been in contact to get information. Farbotko believes they would be telling him to bulk up more. A good pro day is important, but long-term size and agility will be more important.

As for where Farbotko stands on this weekend, he will take a more relaxed approach, watching with high school friends as months of work come to a head.

“I think I’m more anxious than nervous, just because all of us have been training since early December and it’s all coming to an end now,” he says. “I’ll be relieved on Monday morning, that’s for sure.”

If the weekend and free agency do not bring good news, the tight end could find himself, like his teammate, in one of the many other football leagues. Although the option is obviously less appealing, he will not pass up the opportunity to continue his football career in any capacity. NFL Europe sits atop his list of potential employment.

FANTASTIC FOUR

There has been less speculation about the other four draft hopefuls, although each has spent the last months in intense preparation after deciding to make the push to go pro.

“We all have our agents, they’re all doing their thing to get us into a camp at least, to try and make a camp,” Farbotko says. “Everyone’s really excited. At first it started off as kind of ‘hey, let’s give it a shot, it’d be kind of cool.’ As we get closer, people started really to think about it, to work hard.”

But hard work in the spring may mean nothing without the additional charm of size and career statistics.

Defensive tackle Mike Berg had one of the stronger seasons, posting 47 tackles and 8.5 sacks for 62 lost yards despite being double-teamed nearly every Saturday. But Berg runs into the recurring problem of size. At 6’2 and 265 pounds, teams worry he will get mowed down by pro defensemen.

Offensive tackle Nik Sobic is bigger at 6’5 and 305 pounds, but the senior’s college career ended unexpectedly, as he fractured his fibula in the second to last game of the season.

Center Frank Fernandez also has high hopes for his football future, as does 2006 captain and linebacker Ryan Tully. Unfortunately, however, the buzz around Harvard players seems to stop at Dawson and Farbotko. If any of these four make a squad, it is likely to be in free agency, and even that may be a reach at this point.

Harvard does not seem to have the next Ryan Fitzpatrick on its hands in this draft, and even he—someone many believed to be a shoe-in—only went in the seventh round. But that’s the beauty of it all. Draft day comes but once a year, but it makes that once worthwhile: when they’re on the clock anything can happen; no one knows what’s going to go down.

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