D-3 Players in the Pros

[Pat Coleman]

Bryant Shaw is a D-III alumnus, Mississippi COllege.

[Ron Boerger]

IMO Urban is definitely on the bubble and needs a good game Thursday night to stick with the Cowboys.   While there can be little doubt that he is working hard and doing everything the 'pokes are asking he has not yet excelled on the field.  Last Saturday saw him get an assist on punt coverage, three fair catches on punts, and one punt return inside the ten for two yards.  He saw very limited time at WR, not entering the game until very late and did not have a ball thrown his way.

I am certainly keeping my fingers crossed because Jerheme is a class act who improves the more he is on the field, but the Cowboys seem to have a love affair for another couple of young WRs (their fourth round draft choice Stanbeck who played QB in college and another the name of Miles Austin).  Stanbeck has started to show something; Austin has dropped/fumbled more passes than Jerheme has seen in pre-season play, yet they keep giving him chances.   Urban probably has to beat out one of those two guys to make the team and his flexibility will be a key. 

[gordonmann]

Washington is the vanguard of Division III football players in one sense.  Along with Schmitt, the roster includes Bryron Westbrook (Salisbury), Ryan Hoag (Gustavus Adolphus) and London Fletcher (John Carroll).

And I don't know how much of a safety net the NFL Europa extensions carry since the league folded this summer.

[BoBo]

Pete Schmitt has also survived the first cut-down. 
From www.warhawkfootball.com:

No news was good news for former Warhawk, Pete Schmitt, on Monday.
The first major cutdown day is Tuesday, Aug. 28 for NFL teams. The Washington Redskins announced six cuts on Monday and Schmitt was NOT on the list.
The complete list of released players is as follows: Jerametrius Butler (CB), Jamaal Green (DE), Kevin Jones (LB), Jerel Myers (WR), Todd Pinkston (WR), and Bryant Shaw (DE).
Schmitt remains the No. 2 fullback on Washington's depth chart despite the team signing veteran fullback Fred Beasley late last week.
The Redskins' roster currently stands at 79 players. The team has until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to reduce the roster to the league-mandated 75 players. The Redskins have four players with NFL Europe exemptions, so they may not need to release any additional players.

Pete Schmitt was in fact put on waivers today. Redskins.com says Schmitt has a shoulder injury. Sounds like they hope he clears waivers and they can re-sign him and put on IR. Last week, the Redskins signed fullback Fred Beasley, an 8-year NFL veteran who adds more experience behind starting fullback Mike Sellers.

For more :  http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=21964

[K-Mack]

This is a great thread. I wish the main website kept a running archive of past and present players that made it to the next level. It might help recruiting and exposure for d3 football.

I consider the board part of the main site, but there is an ever-changing list of current players linked from the front page, under FAQ, referenced in the posts directly above yours.

If by archive, you mean a list of players who have logged NFL time going back to 1973, the first year of Division III, or all-time alumni of current Division III schools who have played in the NFL, I would file that under "things that are easy to maintain but would take quite a bit of time to compile."

There was once a book here at Sports Weekly, which is now out of print I believe, called the Football Encyclopedia or something, and it listed every player from every school who had ever appeared in a regular-season NFL game. I used to skim it from time to time, there were definitely some neat connections, but many of them were from way way back.

We've been told our site is cluttered, and yet there are more lists and links we feel are relevant to our readers than we know what to do with. This would be another. Would be a fun project though. Maybe if someone can volunteer the time, I can point them in the right direction as far as what to search for and how to compile it. I don't see anyone on the D3 staff having the time to go back the 70s during the season, although we will monitor the current guys.

Lastly, I don't know if it's our place to help recruiting, even in general vs. other divisions. The NFL link I think would be a decent recruiting tool for individual schools though, if you can bring a kid in on a visit and point to an alum or two on the wall and remind them that the dream doesn't necessarily have to die in D3. Then again, NFL futures are not what we're made of and they aren't reality for the vast majority of our players. They aren't generally what these coaches are selling -- that's usually the chance to play college football at a complex level, and graduate from a top-notch small school.

FWIW.

[Ron Boerger]

In the first half of the Cowboys-Vikings game, Jerheme Urban had a nice 95-yd punt return for TD early in the first quarter (where he broke a tackle or two on the way), three short catches for 13 yds (two first downs gained), fumbled his first catch on a tackle from behind, one kickoff return for 23 yds (as the up man on ahalf-ending squibbed kickoff), ten yards on two other punt returns.  The guy he's probably competing against has two catches for 20 yds but had two 15-20 yd catches wiped out by penalties. 

[smedindy]

Running back a punt for a TD is always a good way to impress the coaches.

[Ron Boerger]

We'll see, Smed.   He didn't play much more than a series in the second half and had one more short catch.   Too bad about the danged fumble, it gives them too much to think about. 

[Ron Boerger]

On the day when his little brother got his first collegiate catches and returns, Jerheme Urban got cut by the Cowboys, who elected to keep ten offensive linemen rather than seven WRs.

[historymajor]

Unfortunately word came into the TU pressbox at 1:45 that the Cowboys cut Jerheme Urban and chose to keep rookie Isaah Stanback.... Hope Jerheme lands on another roster (Green Bay are you listening?)

[Charlie Kohawk]

2003 Coe College graduate and two-time IIAC MVP Fred Jackson made the Buffalo Bills' 53-man roster today!

[gordonmann]

Congratulations to Jackson and Whitworth's Michael Allen who made the Kansas City Chiefs' roster.  They appear to be the only two new Division III players to survive cut-down day.

[Ron Boerger]

Congrats to Jackson and Allen ... and Urban got claimed off waivers by the Cardinals today!

http://www.azcardinals.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=1881

[reality check]

Derek Stanley signed on to the Rams practice squad today. 

Jason Trusnik was signed to the Jets practice squad that was announced today on nyjets.com.

[K-Mack]

Ron, you beat me to the Jerheme news.

AP gave your Tigahs some love ... by getting the name right!

Cardinals get defensive end Moses, wideout Urban off waivers

September 3, 2007

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- The Arizona Cardinals have claimed defensive end Quentin Moses and wide receiver Jehreme Urban off waivers.

To make room on the roster, the team placed defensive end Chike Okeafor on injured reserve and released tight end rookie Ben Patrick.

Moses was Oakland's third-round draft pick this year out of Georgia, but was released when the Raiders made cuts to a 53-man roster on Saturday.

Urban, an undrafted free agent out of Trinity University, played 11 games in three seasons with Seattle, then was signed by Dallas last October and spent the rest of the season on the Cowboys' practice squad.

Okeafor, projected as Arizona's starting outside linebacker, is out for the season with a torn triceps tendon.

Patrick was the Cardinals' seventh-round draft pick this year out of Delaware.

Good for Stanley, Trusnik, et. al.