In just one weekend, the Big Man on Campus became less valuable than Mr. Irrelevant.
Fifteen months after shunning the bright lights and big bucks of the National Football League for one more year at Northwestern, Damien Anderson saw the roles reverse.
In the span of seven rounds, teams passed on the former Heisman Trophy candidate 261 times.
Anderson watched the draft from his suburban Chicago home but did not return calls after the draft. The running back was considering free-agent offers from several teams Sunday night, according to former teammate Billy Silva.
Players from Delaware, Hampton, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Widener, Sacred Heart and Albany State – in Georgia, not New York – all received phone calls from NFL personnel welcoming them to the league. Anderson, who rushed for 2,063 yards and 23 touchdowns his junior year, did not.
Anderson could have bolted for the professional ranks after that tremendous 2001 campaign, but the haunting memories of a 66-17 defeat to Nebraska in the Alamo Bowl and the opportunity to improve his draft status with another big year was enough to lure Anderson back to Evanston.
The tailback – who broke most of the single-season and career rushing records in NU’s books – had his degree in hand when he decided to return for his fourth year of football eligibility. But he said at the time, “It really wasn’t a hard decision. I just had to find where my heart was at.”
Now, that choice looks questionable at best. Plummeting production and a dislocated shoulder that cut his season short in the eighth game of the year made his stock tumble in NFL war rooms.
“You can’t help but feel bad for him,” said former NU linebacker Kevin Bentley, who was taken early in Sunday’s fourth round by Cleveland. “I didn’t know why he came back. I thought, ‘He had his degree, so why come back?'”
Anderson would have likely fallen anywhere from late in the first round to the fourth had he left after his All-America season. Coming back seemingly promised him a place as one of college football’s most feared players, especially since he was returning with nine other starters on one of the most potent offensive squads in the game.
Sam Simmons, a wide receiver who was taken in the fifth round by Miami, said staying for a fifth year was the correct decision at the time for Anderson.
“Of course everyone says, ‘I told you so,'” Simmons said. “That’s the nature of the business. Things didn’t go the way he wanted. It happens to a lot of players – it’s a sad situation.”
Anderson’s shoulder wasn’t the only concern that might have cost him. Scouts also questioned his blocking and pass-catching ability. Also, the breakaway burst that made his 2000 season so spectacular wasn’t there in 2001. Routinely, it seemed as if holes big enough for Anderson in his junior season couldn’t spring him free for a big gain his senior year.
With the success and national attention also came the focus of defenses throughout the 2001 season. Anderson often squared off against seven- and eight-man fronts, something he didn’t see in his breakout season with the spread offense still baffling opponents.
“It’s disappointing because he got hurt and didn’t have the senior season he hoped for,” Bentley said. “Hindsight is 20/20.”
The Daily’s Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report.
