Maybe if he’d grown to be so big earlier in life or started playing football sooner, Falcons offensive lineman Ryan Schraeder would have signed with a big-time NCAA program and heard his name called on NFL draft day.
Then again, taking the traditional route to the NFL would have meant missing out on what Schraeder said were some of the advantages of playing for Division II Valdosta State.
“You didn’t have to deal with noise (in stadiums),” he said. “The fan base, they were real tight with the players. It was neat. It wasn’t something you wouldn’t get with a bigger school.”
Playing for the Blazers also worked out professionally for Schraeder, who starts at right tackle for the Falcons. He was one of about 100 players from NCAA Division II schools on NFL rosters as of the summer, according to the NCAA. (Current counts are difficult because of the daily roster turnover).
Most players who make the leap from “D2” to the NFL are late-blooming prospects who escaped the attention of the top college programs. That describes Schraeder, who didn’t even play football in high school. He had a late growth spurt from 5-foot-7 to 6-7, went to Kansas State for one year strictly as a student, and then played football at Butler (Kan.) Community College before finally making his way to Valdosta State.
“Every NFL scout that came to me and talked to me about him, I kept saying his best football was in front of him and he hadn’t reached his potential because it was so early in his career,” Valdosta State coach David Dean said.
The Falcons have benefited from Schraeder’s late development. He follows in the footsteps of center Roberto Garza and cornerback Brent Grimes, two other players from Division II schools who flourished with them in recent years.
Most players from Division II schools have to take a winding road to the NFL similar to Schraeder’s. Dean said they are suited for taking the hard route after playing for a small program.
“The biggest difference in ‘D2’ is the ‘want to,’ of the players” he said. “A lot of the guys are not on full scholarship. They are walk-ons or getting $1,000. The play because they love the game. Some leave practice and go to work. It’s a different mentality.”
The best D2 players will find their way to the NFL because NFL personnel will find them. There are now online digital databases of game video for even the smallest schools. NFL personnel departments are robust operations with large staffs of scouts who scour the country to see every prospect in person.
Dean said 25 of the 32 NFL teams have sent scouts to Valdosta State games this season. “If you’ve got the ability, they will find you,” Dean said.
The harder part for D2 prospects is making it in the NFL because, in the vast majority of cases, they are long shots to make the roster after being selected in the later rounds of the draft or signed as rookie free agents. They also have the extra burden of proving they can make the big leap up in competition.
At Valdosta State, Schraeder was a two-time All-American who won a national championship in 2012 while playing with guard Edmund Kugbila, a product of Central Gwinnett High. The Panthers drafted Kugbila in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, but a series of injuries prevented him from playing a game before he was released in May.
“That’s one of the reasons we won that national championship was how good that offensive line was,” Dean said.
With the Falcons, Schraeder was just a rookie free agent from a lower-division program. A series of injuries on the offensive line opened a chance for him to make the team and play 13 games (four starts) with mixed results. Schraeder steadily improved until he became a solid starter by the end of the 2014 season.
Now Schraeder is a mainstay on the Falcons’ offensive line, but he said he doesn’t forget his modest football roots. He plans to be there when the Blazers face Florida Tech in their homecoming game at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, a field they share with Valdosta High.
“It took a lot of work, a lot of stuff behind the scenes,” Schraeder said of making it from D2 to the NFL. “It’s more about perseverance. As far as getting an opportunity, it takes a little longer for undrafted small-school guys to get their shot. But when you do, you’ve just got to make the most out of it. It wasn’t easy.”
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