Throwback Thursday: Mike Sherrard

The road to fame for a college football walk-on is paved in glass.
The first steps are the worst.
Early on, forget about the fatigue and the pain and the frustration. Imagine simply feeling unwanted. For a walk-on is on a football team not because the coach deemed it necessary to have an animate object allow itself to be punished on a daily basis.

"The first year, I was just a tackling dummy," former UCLA wide receiver Mike Sherrard said. "That was a tough time. Maybe every once in a while you get an opportunity. "The year before I got there they recruited one wide reciever. My year, they didn't recruit any. The year after, Karl Dorrell. Everyone graduated and it was like, 'What to do we have left?' Got to the point where I just got an opportunity. And that's the thing with a walk-on, they're going to give chances to scholarship players first."

In Mike Sherrard's case, there were none.
Maybe that's why now, Mike Sherrard will serve as honorary captain for UCLA's game against Kansas State tomorrow.

Sherrard's rags-to-riches story has gone down in UCLA lore: unrecruited walkon who was supposed to go to a JuCo near Chico, Calif. to All-American and first-round draft pick, from tackling dummy to John Elway's target.

"John was awesome," Sherrard said. "He was great. The funny thing about John is, I played with Joe Montana and Steve Young, but no one with an arm like Elway. As a receiver running a deep out, you turn your head and the ball should be halfway, or else you won't get to the ball. A couple times I'm coming out of my break and John hasn't thrown it and Im thinking, 'I'm not going to get it.' Then he wings it and it's like, 'OK, I got it.' The ball did not have to be halfway with him throwing it."

Before there was Elway, there was UCLA.
Sherrard stuck with the Bruins after his acceptance, even though he wanted to try for a Division-I scholarship after attending a junior college. His friends told him that he was crazy, that he could not ignore UCLA, even if the Bruins had ignored him.
So he tried out, made the team, got pummeled but proved he could rise again, and eventually...

"When I got my opportunity," Sherrard said, "I took advantage. They saw me making plays, running by guys, making diving catches. First time we went to a bowl game, Bluebonnet Bowl, coaches said why don't you practice with regular team. Then my sophomore year when I got a chance to start, Rick looked for me a lot. Set that record for sophomore receptions in a season. Then, my teammates, people around the Pac-10, they noticed me. I's funny talking to my old teammates now - we recruited guys like Flipper Anderson, James Washington - and they thought we had no wide receivers. They didn't even look at me. It wasnt until I got out there and proved what I could do in practice I could do in a game."

Rick, his quarterback? Rick Neuheisel.
It is a friendship that remains.
"UCLA has the right guy in charge," Sherrard said. "He's a go-getter. No one tells Rick no. Being a walkon himself, hes determined to make this thing work."
And it starts tomorrow, Sherrard said.

"They can't have a letdown," Sherrard said. "I know Kansas State lost to Louisiana-Lafayette and (UCLA) will be favored heavily. But they can't let down. They cant let down against anyone. They haven't had enough success over the last few years to have a letdown. I think the coaches will do a great job of reminding them that they havent done anything yet. They're 2-0 but if they lose their next 10 games, its a horrible season."
Mike Sherrard does not want that for the Bruins.
He wants a bowl game.
If only for these guys to play one more game together.

"I miss being with the guys. It's different playing in the pros. College, everyone's the same age, you know it's the same time span. In the pros, you don't get that same dynamic. You come in the league, you're playing with guys who are 30, married, and you're taking someones job. In college, you want everyone to do well. You'll be gone in a couple years anyway. The jealousy is not the same. College, we're all kind of broke. I had a great time. You just have fun playing, and the friendships I made in college are my closest friends today."