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Spencer moving up draft boards
San Francisco, Seattle, Miami and Houston have already experienced the Spencer whirlwind, and by the time the Pitt cornerback is finished, he'll have visited 18 NFL franchises in all, including the Steelers.
If you haven't guessed, the kid from Woodland Hills High School is a hot commodity on the pro circuit, a potential first-round pick when the 2004 Draft commences April 24.
Expert Mel Kiper Jr. projects Spencer as the 28th overall pick in the first round by Philadelphia.
"The Eagles need a big corner after the loss of Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, and Spencer created a buzz at Pittsburgh's pro day workout -- overshadowing even Larry Fitzgerald," Kiper Jr. wrote, recently.
Spencer, 6-foot, 176 pounds, can hardly believe the attention he's been receiving. He wasn't even invited to the NFL combine in February and was shunned by every postseason all-star game.
Typically, such omissions indicate that a player will go undrafted.
"That's what I would have thought," Spencer said from a hotel adjacent to the Giants' complex in East Rutherford, N.J., earlier this week.
Spencer's standing changed dramatically at Pitt's pro workout three weeks ago at the Cost Center, where he wowed 100 NFL representatives with his athleticism. He was clocked at an impressive 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash, posted a vertical leap of 34- 1/2 inches and ran the 60-yard shuttle run in 10.5 seconds. A time of 11.0 or less in the shuttle is considered top-rate.
"Everybody knows about him," said Gil Brandt, a senior analyst for NFL.com and former director of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys. "He was tremendous at his workout."
Immediately after the workout, agent Peter Schaffer got swamped with calls regarding Spencer, who had only three scheduled visits at the time, including a stop at the Steelers offices at the UPMC facility shared by Pitt.
"This is unprecedented," said Schaffer, who also represents Panthers players Rod Rutherford, Claude Harriott, Lousaka Polite and Kris Wilson. "We had to turn down six teams because we don't have enough dates to see them all. This is unheard of. I've never known of a guy who had invitations from 24 teams after getting shutout of the combine and all the all-star games."
It was peculiar that Spencer was overlooked in the postseason, considering he was a four-year starter for a Pitt program that went to bowl games in each of those seasons. He finished third on the team in tackles last fall with 82, while also accumulating two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and 10 pass breakups. He had 13 tackles in the regular-season finale against Miami and 11 a week earlier vs. Temple.
For his career, Spencer amassed 203 tackles, eight interceptions, 53 pass breakups and once boasted a stretch of 27 consecutive games without allowing a touchdown pass.
Pitt defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Paul Rhoads stopped short of calling Spencer's omission from the combine and postseason all-star games a travesty, but was clearly disappointed.
"His name was given as part of a prospect list," Rhoads said. "Somebody didn't put him on the list initially, however, and he fell through the cracks. It was ridiculous that he wasn't at the combine."
Rhoads helped boost Spencer's status by distributing practice tapes featuring the cornerback going head-to-head against Fitzgerald and former Panthers great Antonio Bryant. Fitzgerald finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up last season and is a potential top-5 pick in April's draft, while Bryant was a second-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 2001 and won the Biletnikoff Award three years before Fitzgerald did in 2003. They are the greatest pass-catchers in Pitt history.
"Those tapes really helped him because people could see his abilities," Schaffer said. "Then, the scouts went back and watched films of Shawntae against Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse and they saw how good he really is."
Rhoads said it was difficult for him to coach in the East-West Shrine All-Star game in January because none of the corners were as good as Spencer, who sat at home with similar thoughts in his head.
Now, Spencer could be one of the first six defensive backs taken in the draft.
"I think it's just a crazy rumor," Spencer said of his projected first-round selection. "The draft is a crazy process. My expectation, to be honest, is the third or fourth round. I might have raised some eyebrows recently, but I don't expect to go in the first round. I really think that's stretching things, but I guess you never know."
| The Top 10 |
Cornerbacks in this year's NFL Draft
1. DeAngelo Hall, Virginia Tech
2. Dunta Robinson, South Carolina
3. Will Poole, USC
4. Ricardo Colclough, Tusculum
5. Shawntae Spencer, Pitt
6. Chris Gamble, Ohio State
7. Ahmad Carroll, Arkansas
8. Nathan Vasher, Texas
9. Derrick Strait, Oklahoma
10. Jeremy LeSueur, Michigan
Source: NFL writer Jerry DiPaola
| Spencer for hire |
Pitt cornerback Shawntae Spencer's vital statistics
Size: 6-feet, 176 pounds
Speed: 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash
Vertical leap: 34-1/2 inches
Strength: 225 pounds for 9 repetitions
Standing long-jump: 10-8
2003 stats: 82 tackles, 2 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries
Career stats: 203 tackles, 8 interceptions, 53 pass breakups
Noteworthy: Combination of height, speed and physicality makes him a coveted NFL prospect
