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Raiders tight end Madsen is NFL's ultimate Cinderella tale
Tom FitzGerald, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Cinderella were a football player - play along with us here - he'd probably be a guy who decides to go out for the sport in junior college on a whim after a so-so high school career. Wait. Make that, he didn't play high school football at all.
He goes to the JC on an academic scholarship, redshirts for a season and becomes a raw but productive receiver the next year. He transfers to a four-year school - as a walk-on. He eventually lands a scholarship and blossoms as a player, taking part in his school's most magical season.
But when he sets his sights on the NFL, his carriage turns back into a pumpkin. A broken ankle late in his senior season keeps him from being drafted, so he has to scrape and claw his way to a special-teams job with one of the league's doormat teams. He works his way into a semi-regular spot at a new position - tight end - catches a touchdown pass and later awards the ball to his proud dad.
That was last fall, but the fairy tale has just begun. John Madsen is one of the co-starting tight ends on the Raiders' depth chart - the other is second-round draft pick Zach Miller. Gone are last year's top tight ends, Randal Williams, Courtney Anderson and James Adkisson.
Madsen is the ultimate stealth pro. If he had flown any lower under the radar, he would have been brushing the treetops.
He stands 6-foot-5 but needs a lot of weightlifting, along with six meals and three or four protein shakes a day, to stay in the 240-245-pound range that the Raiders want in order for him to be a reasonably effective blocker. "I'm telling you, I'm sick of eating sometimes," he said.
Recently he was down to 231, a cause for alarm to the team's higher-ups. "They told me I'd better not be that light again, so I ate as much as I could," he said. "Finally got it back up (to 240), but it's always an uphill battle when you're not used to weighing that much."
The Raiders have had success before with converting a terrific athlete into a tight end. Todd Christensen was a fullback at BYU and in a brief stint with the Cowboys, but the Raiders gave him a new position and he made the Pro Bowls five times in the 1980s.
"I had a few conversations with Mr. Davis last year, and he told me a lot about Todd Christensen and said I reminded him of how he used to play," Madsen said.
Miller, a fine blocker, is considered the favorite to start, but Madsen is going to play a lot, too. If one or both of them show any of Christensen's ability to get open, the Raiders will be delighted.
Madsen's blocking is improving, tight ends coach Kelly Skipper said. "He can play every down - short-yardage, goal-line, all that stuff," he said.
There's no question about his receiving skills. "He's been getting open, running good routes and making plays. His success is because of his work ethic and his will to play. He has tremendous will. I've got to slow him down sometimes because he works so hard."
One of Madsen's biggest supporters is 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. He loved having Madsen as a receiver in Utah's 12-0 season in 2004, when the Utes beat Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, their first appearance in a Bowl Championship Series bowl.
"I remember when we first met," Smith said. "It was the summer after my freshman year. He was walking on. He was 6-5. I heard he only played one year of JC football. You could tell he was a guy who had never run routes.
"In a couple months, you could see how good he was going to be. He had such strong hands for a guy who had never played organized football (until JC)."
Their coach was Urban Meyer, who last season directed Florida to the national championship. Meyer also remembers his first impression of Madsen.
"He walked into our office one day - big ol' guy," he said, then added with a laugh, "His mom's a hair dresser, and in the beginning, I think he was more concerned with how his hair looked.
"He tried to quit a few times, but once he learned what the game was about, he became a star really fast. He's a guy that everybody would love to have because he creates matchup issues."
That is, he's too quick for linebackers and too tall for defensive backs.
"He's got a lot of God-given talent," Meyer said. "With his work ethic, I knew he'd do well in the NFL."
After a redshirt year at two-year Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, Madsen helped the team go 8-2 and reach a No. 16 national ranking. A University of Utah fan since childhood, he headed to Salt Lake City, and from then on, his goal was the NFL. By the time he left college, he had a 391/2-inch vertical jump and ran the 40 in 4.5 seconds.
"You can play in the NFL a lot of years," Meyer told him. "You just need to get the right shot."
The Raiders gave him that shot, and he rewarded them in San Diego last year by catching a pass from Aaron Brooks for 57 yards and, on the next play, a 2-yard pass for his first NFL TD.
The glass slipper fit, and he's still wearing it.
Tom FitzGerald, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Cinderella were a football player - play along with us here - he'd probably be a guy who decides to go out for the sport in junior college on a whim after a so-so high school career. Wait. Make that, he didn't play high school football at all.
He goes to the JC on an academic scholarship, redshirts for a season and becomes a raw but productive receiver the next year. He transfers to a four-year school - as a walk-on. He eventually lands a scholarship and blossoms as a player, taking part in his school's most magical season.
But when he sets his sights on the NFL, his carriage turns back into a pumpkin. A broken ankle late in his senior season keeps him from being drafted, so he has to scrape and claw his way to a special-teams job with one of the league's doormat teams. He works his way into a semi-regular spot at a new position - tight end - catches a touchdown pass and later awards the ball to his proud dad.
That was last fall, but the fairy tale has just begun. John Madsen is one of the co-starting tight ends on the Raiders' depth chart - the other is second-round draft pick Zach Miller. Gone are last year's top tight ends, Randal Williams, Courtney Anderson and James Adkisson.
Madsen is the ultimate stealth pro. If he had flown any lower under the radar, he would have been brushing the treetops.
He stands 6-foot-5 but needs a lot of weightlifting, along with six meals and three or four protein shakes a day, to stay in the 240-245-pound range that the Raiders want in order for him to be a reasonably effective blocker. "I'm telling you, I'm sick of eating sometimes," he said.
Recently he was down to 231, a cause for alarm to the team's higher-ups. "They told me I'd better not be that light again, so I ate as much as I could," he said. "Finally got it back up (to 240), but it's always an uphill battle when you're not used to weighing that much."
The Raiders have had success before with converting a terrific athlete into a tight end. Todd Christensen was a fullback at BYU and in a brief stint with the Cowboys, but the Raiders gave him a new position and he made the Pro Bowls five times in the 1980s.
"I had a few conversations with Mr. Davis last year, and he told me a lot about Todd Christensen and said I reminded him of how he used to play," Madsen said.
Miller, a fine blocker, is considered the favorite to start, but Madsen is going to play a lot, too. If one or both of them show any of Christensen's ability to get open, the Raiders will be delighted.
Madsen's blocking is improving, tight ends coach Kelly Skipper said. "He can play every down - short-yardage, goal-line, all that stuff," he said.
There's no question about his receiving skills. "He's been getting open, running good routes and making plays. His success is because of his work ethic and his will to play. He has tremendous will. I've got to slow him down sometimes because he works so hard."
One of Madsen's biggest supporters is 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. He loved having Madsen as a receiver in Utah's 12-0 season in 2004, when the Utes beat Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, their first appearance in a Bowl Championship Series bowl.
"I remember when we first met," Smith said. "It was the summer after my freshman year. He was walking on. He was 6-5. I heard he only played one year of JC football. You could tell he was a guy who had never run routes.
"In a couple months, you could see how good he was going to be. He had such strong hands for a guy who had never played organized football (until JC)."
Their coach was Urban Meyer, who last season directed Florida to the national championship. Meyer also remembers his first impression of Madsen.
"He walked into our office one day - big ol' guy," he said, then added with a laugh, "His mom's a hair dresser, and in the beginning, I think he was more concerned with how his hair looked.
"He tried to quit a few times, but once he learned what the game was about, he became a star really fast. He's a guy that everybody would love to have because he creates matchup issues."
That is, he's too quick for linebackers and too tall for defensive backs.
"He's got a lot of God-given talent," Meyer said. "With his work ethic, I knew he'd do well in the NFL."
After a redshirt year at two-year Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, Madsen helped the team go 8-2 and reach a No. 16 national ranking. A University of Utah fan since childhood, he headed to Salt Lake City, and from then on, his goal was the NFL. By the time he left college, he had a 391/2-inch vertical jump and ran the 40 in 4.5 seconds.
"You can play in the NFL a lot of years," Meyer told him. "You just need to get the right shot."
The Raiders gave him that shot, and he rewarded them in San Diego last year by catching a pass from Aaron Brooks for 57 yards and, on the next play, a 2-yard pass for his first NFL TD.
The glass slipper fit, and he's still wearing it.
