In his senior year of college, Erasmus James is
terrorizing quarterbacks as an All-American defensive end at Wisconsin,
but he didn't pick up the game until after moving from New York to
Pembroke Pines, Fla.
That's where a high school coach finally persuaded James to give
football a try.
"He said, 'You'd make a great defensive end,' so I came out, and he
put
me down in that stance and I've loved it ever since," James said.
He made 53 tackles that first season, including 14 sacks, and was named
second-team All-Broward County. If he hadn't been the high school
teammate of FSU cornerback Bryant McFadden, James' football career might
have ended there.
McFadden was one of the state's most highly recruited athletes, and
several schools who came to see him decided James might be worth a late
scholarship. Miami coach Butch Davis made an in-home visit, and North Carolina State showed some interest. But once James made a trip to
Madison, Wis., his recruitment was over.
"I fell in love with the school and the football program," he
said.
James and the Badgers (9-2) face Georgia (9-2) in the Outback Bowl on
New Year's Day.
James redshirted his first season at Wisconsin, then started one game
as a freshman and 13 as a sophomore. He was poised for a breakout year
when he dislocated his hip early in the 2003 preseason during a
non-contact drill.
"It was a fluke injury," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said.
"I saw him
fall down, and it didn't look very serious."
It was, though.
"For a while, it looked like his career might be over," Alvarez
said.
James basically gave up on the sport when he was unable to return for
the Badgers' fourth game of the 2003 season, as the team's doctors had
originally projected. It wasn't until March, when he returned to his
home and visited with a doctor for the NFL's New York Giants, that he
thought he might get back on the field again.
"He gave me the confidence to go back and work," James said.
He took to his rehabilitation and the weight room with zeal and added
more than 20 pounds to an already fast body.
"I think what it did for him was make him really appreciate football
a
little more, and what he had missed," Alvarez said. "We knew he was
going to be special going into the year."
Despite playing the final five games of the season on a tender ankle,
James recorded eight sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss and was named the
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year this season.
"Whenever Erasmus is in the game, you know you're going to get
pressure," Wisconsin defensive back Jim Leonhard said. "As a
secondary,
you have to understand the ball might be coming out a little quicker."
Only two of the Bulldogs have any familiarity with James. Coach Mark Richt and defensive end David Pollack met him recently on the national
awards circuit.
"I didn't really want to like him, but I did like him as a
person,"
Richt said. "He's a great guy."
James and Pollack provide very similar problems for an opponent, Richt
said.
"(James) gets off the ball faster than anyone else, he jumps over
people, can play the run extremely well and has that high energy level,"
he said, "so that's going to be quite a challenge for us."
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