February 7, 2011

Tom Bergeron
RivalsHigh Senior Editor

If National Signing Day came and went last week - and you're without a Division I offer - now is not the time to feel story for yourself. Now's the time to get to work: Your inspiration just won the Super Bowl.

So says Sterling Jackson, the high school coach of Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers. The same Aaron Rodgers that went to junior college because he didn't get a single offer out of Chico (Calif.) Pleasant Valley High in 2001.

"You can't pout about it," Jackson said. "Not everyone gets seen. You have to find a place that can get you to your goal. That's often a junior college route."

Or it's the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) route.

That was the case for the Packers defensive hero, Nick Collins, who also didn't have a single I-A offer when he was a senior at Cross City (Fla.) Dixie County that same year.

Collins ended up at FCS school Bethune-Cookman.

"That really was the perfect place for him," his high school coach, Brent Wilkerson, said.

In both cases, major schools overlooked these major players because of their physical size.

"(Rodgers) didn't pass the eye test," Jackson said - as in how the player looks to a recruiter. "He passed every other category. You have to understand, at that time, people were looking for guys who were 6-4, 6-5. Aaron was just over 6 feet."

Jackson tried to tell scouts he would grow (after all, his older brother was 6-5 and his dad was 6-4) but there were no takers. Instead, Rodgers went to Butte Junior College in Oroville, Calif.

There, Rodgers put up some heady passing numbers - not to mention a few inches and a few dozen pounds - and transferred to Cal, where he became a first-round draft pick.

Collins had two things going against him coming out of high school.

He was undersized and not overwhelming fast (5-11, 170 with a 4.5 40 time). And while he broke the school rushing record his senior year, it was his lone big season in high school.

"Some scouts wondered if he was a one-year wonder," Wilkerson said.

Bethune-Cookman was a natural fall back choice, Wilkerson said, because his dad played there. And while Wilkerson said Collins wasn't the type to play with a chip on his shoulder - "he's just too good a person" - Wilkerson said he can't help but feel Collins wanted to show people what he could do.

Collins hasn't stopped since. In fact, his nifty return for a touchdown after his first-quarter interception brought back some memories for Wilkerson.

"Watching him find his way into the end zone reminded me of the way he looked in high school when he would always find a way to score," Wilkerson said.

The Packers roster is filled with top high school recruits who went to schools such as Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Alabama.

But Rodgers and Collins prove that just because you don't get a big-time offer, it doesn't mean you don't have a shot at the big time.

And they're not the only ones. Two other game heroes - Jordy Nelson and Clay Matthews - were walk-ons in college.

"The number one thing we talk about here is your desire," Jackson said. "That fuels everything. You have to have the desire to do it."

Jackson warns, however, it's not an easy road.

"You have to work," he said. "No one is going to give you anything. But when people see that desire and work ethic, they'll see that character. That's what has to happen."

Spoken from someone who has seen it first-hand.