SoFlaJets Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Nick Hartigan, the tailback who led Brown to its first outright Ivy title, is still working out with New York's rookies. 01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 24, 2006 BY MIKE SZOSTAK Journal Sports Writer The best football player in the Ivy League last season finally is getting a chance to show what he can do in the NFL. Nick Hartigan, the indefatigable tailback who led Brown to its first outright Ivy championship in 2005, went through voluntary and mandatory minicamps with the New York Jets last week and still is working out with other Jets rookies at the club's training facility at Hofstra University at Hempstead, N.Y. "It's fun. I feel blessed to be here and have his opportunity," Hartigan said in a telephone interview. Hartigan led I-AA in rushing and was a I-AA All-American and finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the best player in I-AA last fall, but he was neither drafted nor offered a free-agent contract in the days after the draft. "I didn't think I'd go on the first day of the draft. I was hoping for the seventh round or for a free-agent contract. Unfortunately, that didn't come to pass," he said. NFL talent scouts looked at Hartigan as a fullback, not a tailback, because he doesn't have the blinding speed the pros cherish. They seemed to forget that he is a football player who was durable, who rushed for 4,492 yards, the school record, and who scored 54 touchdowns, 52 on the ground. But Hartigan seldom had to block at Brown, and teams were wary as a result. "I definitely think that had something to do with it. For whatever reason, teams weren't excited," he said of the fullback-tailback issue. Perhaps Hartigan also was a victim of the perception in some camps that the Ivy League is not as tough as other I-AA and I-A conferences, even though Ivy alums are playing in the NFL. Sean Morey of Brown won a Super Bowl ring with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. "I was upset at the time. This is what I had worked for. I just wanted to get a shot somewhere," Hartigan said. Phil Estes, the head coach at Brown, said he should have promoted Hartigan as an NFL tailback, not a fullback. The snub, he added, left Hartigan with a chip on his shoulder and a burning desire to prove all of those gurus wrong. The Jets invited Hartigan to a tryout, and he impressed them when they put the ball in his hands. He ran for 35 yards on his first carry and 12 on his second. "I think I did a pretty good job doing different things," he said. But the Jets didn't have a contract to offer, so they sent him packing, telling him to continue working out and to wait for a call. Hartigan graduated from Brown on May 28, a happy occasion that he shared with his family and football classmates. Football, however, still was on his mind. "After graduation, when I hadn't gotten a call, I kept working out and kept my head up, but it didn't look good." The Jets finally called on June 8. Hartigan signed a rookie free-agent contract the next day and started training with his new team. "It's been a lot of work. The other guys had been here for a couple of weeks, so I had a lot of catching up to do. I've been working on learning the playbook and getting used to the schedule," he said. Learning the playbook has not been a mission impossible for this Rhodes Scholar finalist and National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship recipient. "We had a pretty complicated playbook at Brown. I felt more prepared coming into this system than going to Brown out of high school. We didn't have much of a playbook in high school. Besides, there's only so much you can do on a football field. You either pass the ball or run it on offense. A lot of it is terminology," he said. Minicamp consisted of long days of meetings, practices and more meetings. Now Hartigan and the other rookies staying in dorm rooms at Hofstra are training, lifting and running in the morning and studying the playbook in the afternoon. He is enjoying almost every minute. "The other rookies have been great. Everyone is working his butt off. No one thinks of taking a day off. We're all fighting for spots. There are only a limited number of these jobs." The coaches are great and the veterans in camp are real nice, he added. The rookies get a two-week break starting July 7, and Hartigan will go home to Fairfax, Va. They will return July 20 for the start of rookie training camp. The veterans will join them about a week later, he said. Hartigan will have to prove every day in camp that he belongs. He knows it won't be easy. Morey, Stephen Campbell, Michael Malan and Chas Gessner, all Brown offensive stars before Hartigan, learned how difficult it is to make the NFL cut. "It's going to be an uphill battle to make this team," Hartigan said. At least he has a chance. And if he doesn't make it to the opening kickoff of the 2006 season, there is a spot reserved for him at Harvard Law School. mszostak@projo.com/ (401) 277-7340 NICK HARTIGAN Position: Running back. Height: 6-foot-2. Weight: 220. Hometown: Fairfax Station, Va. G Att YardS Avg. TD 2002 3 1 4 4.0 0 2203 10 275 1533 5.4 15 2004 10 323 1311 3.9 17 2005 10 314 1767 5.5 20 Career 33 913 4615 5.0 52 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 NO surprise he is being sterotyped into fullback position- there are a lot of guys in the running there that makes for good competition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietjets Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 he is rather too small to be FB.... if he cant improve the speed then he should hit in the gym bulking up to be a full compliement FB. Can he block? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Intriguing. 220 is probably too light for a FB. Still, there's no downside. He's obviously bright; may be there's a role for him.As far as I can recall, not many RBS from the Ivies-Calvin Hill, Ed Marinaro. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGHT STALKER Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Doubt if the kid makes it...now, if Mangini only wants character kids with brains, then he has a shot. He's a Rhodes Scholar finalist just like someone else on the team...his name escapes me at the moment. http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/scoutingreports/fb/nickhartigan.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireJet38 Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Didn't we have a wideout from Brown last year? Kid looked like a gem on the practice field and a piece of **** on the big stage. Finding skill players at these positions in the ivy is near impossible. Great story for this kid to share at the bars in Boston, pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonehands Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 The practise squad and NFL Europe were developed for guys likes this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFlaJets Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 Didn't we have a wideout from Brown last year? Kid looked like a gem on the practice field and a piece of **** on the big stage. Finding skill players at these positions in the ivy is near impossible. Great story for this kid to share at the bars in Boston, pass. yea Chas Gessner-a lot of people thought we might had finally found our "big receiver" answer to Keyshaun-you're right the guy stunk it up BADLY in game situations.The thing about Hartigan is most of us aren't expecting much from him with his in-between size.Cinderella stories like Wayne Chrebet don't happen often Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Patrick Elias, who played for princeton and the NYG trained at my high school. whoopty-do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 A jump from Ivy League football to the NFL is way too big. The chances of this guy showing anything beyond training camp are slim. Most ivy league players would even have trouble excelling in a D1 division like the ACC, SEC, or Big-Ten, much less the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeniorFlaJet Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 By the time training camp is in full swing the media will have written a feel good story about every UDFA the Jets have signed. This has gone on as long as I can remember. All will have had a good resume from the school they played for. The team wouldn't have signed the fourth string RG from Slippery Rock STate Teachers college. The reality is that most are camp fodder and are gone after the first cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFlaJets Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 By the time training camp is in full swing the media will have written a feel good story about every UDFA the Jets have signed. This has gone on as long as I can remember. All will have had a good resume from the school they played for. The team wouldn't have signed the fourth string RG from Slippery Rock STate Teachers college. The reality is that most are camp fodder and are gone after the first cut. yea just like my boy former UM safety Jarrell Weaver(who I actually SAID we should pick and DID in the 7th round)-Weaver was a feel good story and even made the back cover of The NY Post-then quickly proceeded to get cut.Ian Smart was another guy a LOT like Hartigan-big-time college numbers TD records and the like and actually scored a KOR in pre-season against the Colts that year-gone too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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