There are probably more than 10,000 football players in the nation looking for a job in the NFL. But guess what? Only 1,800 make it there. The players who aren’t good enough for the NFL fall to the minor leagues like the AFL, CFL, and now the new UFL. But those players who make it to the CFL, AFL, and UFL never really get their shine on.

JOSH DHANI

Here is his story, starting from high school, to college, all the way to his tough road to the NFL.

Woodhead started his football career breaking records for North Platte High School in North Platte, Nebraska. He led North Platte to the State finals with a win over Millard North High School 24-21. Woodheadsaved the game by blocking a field goal attempt. Then came Ben Woodhead, Danny’s older brother, who set up a game-winning field goal by throwing a pass deep down the field.

Jake McCarthy kicked the game winning field goal.

Sadly, North Platte eventually lost in the State Championship to another Millard School (Millard West High School), 28-14. Entering his junior year Woodhead sought the championship even more.

In his junior year at North Platte, Danny’s team went 8-1 and won two straight games in the playoffs. But once again they lost to Millard North High School, this time in the semifinals.

Then came his senior season, and North Platte was undefeated with a 9-0 record. This was the first in 40 years that North Platte went undefeated in school history. In the first round they beat Omaha North High School. They later went on to beat Bellevue East High School in the second round.  Once again though they lost to Millard North in the semifinals, the being the second year in a row.

Even though Woodhead never won the state championship, he did have a successful high school career. He finished as Nebreska’s Class A all-time leading rusher with 4,891 rushing yards from 2000-2003. Woodhead also was Nebreska’s Class A leading rusher that year. His teammate, quarterback Derek Enderle, led the state in passing yards that year as well. This also marked the first time in school history that two players led the state in two categories in the same season.

Woodhead also showed his athleticism by running some track as well, breaking the school’s 100-meter time with his 10.5 seconds.

In 2004, Woodhead attended Chadron State in Chadron, Nebraska. He rushed for 1,840 rushing yards in his true freshman year. But those weren’t freshman-like stats; Those were more like senior season stats.

In Woodhead’s sophomore year, he had 278 carries for 1,769 yards including a 6.4 yards per carry average. He also pounded out 21 touchdowns. While the rushing game was good, he pounded in some expectational stats in receiving: 30 catches for 367 yards including 12.2 yards per reception average.

Woodhead had a brilliant season. Some have even said it was Hall of Fame caliber. Through twelve games he had 2,740 rushing yards, passing the record set by Kavin Gaillaird for most single-season division rushing yards. At the end of the seson Woodhead had amassed 2,756 yards. He led his team to the NCAA Division II playoffs, too, but they lost to Northwest Missouri State.

39 games into Woodhead’s career he had accounted for 606 points (that meant he averaged an incredible 15.5 points per game by himself), the highest ever in Division II. Only Dan Pugh of Mount Union College (in Ohio), who had 248 points in 2002, and Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State, who had 234 in 1988, had more points in a season than Woodhead in 2006.

But in 2007, Abilene Christian University’s Bernard Scott broke Woodhead’s record by scoring 39 touchdowns (234 points).

Woodhead got to show his stuff in front of the Atlanta Falcons’ scouts. They wanted to see his 40 yard dash time, and he raced to an impressive 4.41 seconds. That’s pretty fast.  He also wont the 55-meter dash at the RMAC Indoor Meet in 2006 as well.

At the start of his senior year Woodhead already had 7,441 rushing yards in his career, an average of 190.8 rushing yards per game.  He rushed for 200 or more yards in 19 of his 39 games and scored at least one touchdown in 37 consecutive games. Both of those are NCAA all-division records.

After a 208-yard performance against Western New Mexico that year, he became college football’s all-time leading rusher (though you probably never heard about it). He broke former Grove City College (PA) fullback R.J. Bowers record (Bowers played from 1997-2000) for the all-time rushing record. Woodhead was also the sixth player in history to rush for over 1,000 yards in all four of his seasons.

Woodhead ended his career with 9,259 all purpose yards, second all-time behind former Villanova and now Philadelphia Eagles’ runnning back, Brian Westbrook, who played for Villanova from 1997-2000 with his 9,512 all purpose yards.

Woodhead also tied Germaine Race’s (Pittsburg State, 2003-2006) record for Division II career scoring with 654 points on 109 touchdowns. Race is also the all-time leader in two-point conversions with 658 points. Woodhead is also the second player in college football history to rush for over 100 touchdowns.

Barry Sanders is the only player to have more all-purpose yards in a season than the 3,159 all purpose yards Woodhead had gained in 2006. Sanders had 3,250 in 1988, where he won the Heisman Trophy in his junior season. Woodhead was ranked tenth all-time in all purpose Division II yards with 7,349 yards just after his junior season. The Division II leader is Brian Shay of Emporia State as he had 9,301 yards, including 1,207 on kick returns from 1995-1998.

Woodhead was also a candidate for the Harlon Hill Trophy from 2004-2007. He won the trophy in 2006 and 2007. After his career, some people complained that Woodhead could have played for the University of Nebraska. Woodhead later said in an interview that Nebraska didn’t show much interest in him while Chadron State showed 100 percent of it.

At Chadron State he majored in Math education.

Woodhead’s stats:

Amazingly, Woodhead did not receive an invite to the NFL Scouting Combine, so he had to use his Pro Day to show what he’s got. According to a report at NFLDraftWatch.net, Woodhead ran the 40-yard-dash at times between 4.33-to-4.38 in three tries. That would have been the fastest among all running backs attending the Combine for the 2008 NFL Draft. He posted the best pro-agility time (4.03 seconds), second best vertical jump (38½ inches), and the best 60-yard shuttle time (11.2 seconds).

With that said, he still went undrafted in 2008. Moments after the draft was over, he received a call from the New York Jets, who wanted to sign him. It was a dream come true. The two parties reached an agreement on a free agent contract.

On July 26, 2008, Woodhead’s dreams went down the drain as he was waived due to an injury.

See what happens? This is what happens when you give everything you have, but no one cares. People will point to his size (5′7″) and the fact that he weighs 200 pounds. But heck, look at Darren Sproles. He is shorter and is at least 10-20 pounds lighter, and has emerged as a good running back in the NFL.

Is there any love for Woodhead? He had one of college football’s most sucessful careers, but an injury derailed his dreams.

I just hope he pursues a successful career in football, no matter what league it is.

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