Five years ago, Florida State defensive lineman Andre Wadsworth thought his future was in finance, not football.
He was reminded of that last week when he received a three-page letter addressed to himself in his own handwriting.
Wadsworth had written an essay titled “Where I Will Be In Five Years” for an Advanced Placement English class. His teacher recently mailed the letter back to him.
Wadsworth couldn’t help but shake his head as he read his words over and over again.
“Everything about football was in the past tense,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever suit up again. My thoughts were to starting my MBA and joining the work force.”
Wadsworth still thinks about joining the work force, albeit a different one. He is working to become a future force in the NFL.
Wadsworth said that if he were asked to write another one of those essays predicting his life five years from now, his focus would be a little different: “Maybe it would be my fifth year in the Pro Bowl, and I’d be making them forget about Bruce Smith and Reggie White. Some ridiculous stuff like that.”
That may not be so ridiculous. It also isn’t far-fetched to think Wadsworth will be wearing a Bears helmet in those all-star games.
Wadsworth is rated in most circles as the NFL’s fourth-best prospect, behind Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, Washington State’s Ryan Leaf and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson of Michigan.
Wadsworth led the ACC with 16 sacks this season, achieving conference Player of the Year honors and recognition as a first-team All-American. His 6-foot-4-inch frame carries 282 pounds. He has a 39-inch vertical leap, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds and bench-presses 500 pounds.
“He’s built like a Greek God,” said Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson, whose ninth-ranked Buckeyes face No. 4 Florida State here in the Sugar Bowl Thursday. “He’s fast, physical, big and strong.”
If charm could be translated into speed, Wadsworth would run the 40 in two seconds flat.
Asked about the possibility of playing for the Bears, who draft fifth, Wadsworth’s face lights up: “Chicago’s a great city. It has Oprah. It has the Bulls. It has the Big Hurt. It would give me a chance to see Michael Jordan play. It’s a town that loves (its) sports.
“Everyone says, `You’re from Florida, you won’t get used to the cold.’ But if they pay you that much money, you can go to a store and get yourself a nice jacket with some nice gloves.”
If Wadsworth can’t win you over with his tackling and tormenting of quarterbacks, he will with his intelligence and dedication. He already has a marketing degree and is nine hours shy of attaining a master’s degree in sports administration.
“If you want to look at the perfect role model,” teammate Daryl Bush said, “you have to look at Andre Wadsworth.”
Wadsworth’s life story is worthy of a movie script. He attended Florida Christian High School, a midget among the Class 5A and 6A giants in Miami’s Dade County. His graduating class numbered 65 and no one from the school ever had left with a scholarship to play Division I football.
Wadsworth was no exception. He got offers from Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman, but he wanted to see if he could thrive at Florida State as a walk-on. Considering Wadsworth stood 6-2 and barely weighed 200 pounds, that seemed unlikely.
But in spring practice of his freshman year, Wadsworth impressed the Seminoles coaches enough to receive a scholarship. Things looked promising until that summer, when Wadsworth’s father, Andrew, became ill. A diabetic, Andrew developed gangrene in his left leg and it had to be amputated.
Wadsworth returned to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands to be with his father and help run the family business, an auto parts store.
“It was devastating for me,” Wadsworth said. “I really didn’t want to go back to school knowing he was still in the hospital.”
But in an emotional hospital-bed plea, Andrew convinced his son to return to Florida State. Two weeks later, his condition improved and he was released from the hospital.
Back in Tallahassee, Wadsworth continued to grow. As a freshman, Wadsworth had to fill out a form describing his goals in the weight room. Wadsworth hoped to bench-press 350 pounds and weigh 250.
“I thought all the stuff I was writing down was the ultimate, the bomb,” he said. “But the Lord had bigger stuff planned for me.”
On the field, Wadsworth developed into a starting defensive tackle. Last season his job was to stuff the middle and clear paths for All-America defensive ends Reinard Wilson and Peter Boulware.
When Wilson and Boulware became first-round NFL picks last year, Wadsworth was moved to the outside to make use of his speed. The plan has worked better than anyone imagined and it has left Wadsworth with dominant skills to showcase on Sundays.
But what really sets Wadsworth apart from other defensive linemen is his engine. It never stops revving.
“He still practices and plays as if he’s a walk-on,” draft analyst Joel Buschbaum said.
Wadsworth’s long road to glory has left him with a special appreciation for what he has.
“I don’t think of it as, `I got the last laugh, no one recruited me,’ ” Wadsworth said. “Playing college football is a gift, not a right.”
