Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco knows he has more to prove than most first-round picks.
On top of being the second quarterback taken overall, he has to shed the stigma that comes from playing at Delaware, a Football Championship Subdivision ? formally known as Division I-AA ? school. Flacco said he has his doubters, but he?s spent the past two years proving them wrong since transferring from Pittsburgh.
“I still carry it with me that I?m a I-AA guy and I had to go to the minor leagues of college football to prove who I was,” he said. “I?m going to have to carry that with me the rest of my life, and hopefully I can use that for the best.”
Flacco wouldn?t be the first to go from a small college to big-time success in the National Football League. Just look at the last great quarterback to come out of the University of Delaware: Rich Gannon.
Gannon balked at becoming a defensive back when the New England Patriots drafted him in the fourth round in 1987. He eventually went on to play quarterback in Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City, But he achieved his greatest success in Oakland, where he made four Pro Bowls and led the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 before calling it a career in 2004.
Gannon?s career unfolded quite differently than many big-name college quarterbacks who never lived up to the hype of being a first-round pick, most notably Washington State?s Ryan Leaf, Oregon?s Akili Smith and Tennessee?s Heath Shuler.
Leaf, the second pick in the 1998 draft behind Peyton Manning, is the quarterbacks coach and head golf coach at West Texas A&M after playing is just 25 games with Dallas and San Diego. Smith, the third pick overall in 1999, played just 22 games with the Cincinnati Bengals and was recently cut by the CFL?s Calgary Stampeders. Shuler, who was picked third overall by the Redskins in 1994, played in just 29 games during four seasons before being released.
“I think I definitely have something to prove once I get down [to Baltimore], and I?m going to try to use that to my advantage like I have in the past,” Flacco said. “[I want to] just go out there and play my game and be the best I can.”
Eric DeCosta, the Ravens director of college scouting, said the success of Football Championship Subdivision quarterbacks like the Dallas Cowboys? Tony Romo and recently retired Ravens quarterback Steve McNair is proof a signal caller doesn?t need to come from a major college to have a successful career in the NFL.
“There have been some quarterbacks who played recently in smaller schools, Division I-AA,” DeCosta said. “Tony Romo comes to mind and Kurt Warner?s another guy, just in recent times, who have done extremely well once they?ve gotten the chance to develop a little bit. Joe?s a guy with tremendous, tremendous physical skills as a pure passer. I think he?s going to make the jump and do very well.”
Delaware coach K.C. Keeler said regardless of the public?s perception, there is not much difference between Division I and Division I-AA players.
“Up front, players in the Big 10 or the SEC are just too big, but this is still some pretty good football,” Keeler said. “Just ask Michigan, which lost to Appalachian State. The biggest difference is depth. We have 63 scholarships and they have 85. If Joe had been at one of those big schools, people would be asking why he isn?t the first player taken in the draft.”
