By JEFF LEGWOLD
The Tennessean

A long time ago, on a spotty patch of dirt that still isn't all that far from his front door, Steve McNair decided he was going to be a quarterback when he grew up.

Exactly one football-playing university agreed with him - Alcorn State.

"I'll always be thankful for the people at Alcorn," said McNair, quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. "They gave me the opportunity, and sometimes that's all somebody needs."

As far as the NFL is concerned, there may be no greater success story for football at historically black colleges over the last decade than McNair. Schools like Miami and Mississippi wanted to switch him to defensive back, but as a quarterback at Alcorn, he carved out a section of college football's record book. As a pro, he's led the Titans to a Super Bowl.

Yes, the NFL found McNair in Lorman, Miss., the then-Houston Oilers making him the third pick of the 1995 draft. But despite his astronomical statistics, including an NCAA-record 16,823 total yards and 152 touchdowns, many NFL personnel executives questioned where he played and the defenses he played against.

"I've always told the story that after we picked him, I got all kinds of calls saying, 'Hey, gutty pick, way to go,' " Titans General Manager Floyd Reese said. "'I never saw it that way. I saw Steve as our guy for a long time, and he has shown what he can do."

In decades gone by, NFL scouts stampeded to historically black football programs like Alcorn State's, programs that produced the likes of Oakland Raiders wide receiver Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State) and New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan (Texas Southern).

Over the past five decades, 16 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame played at historically black colleges. In 1975, five players from historically black colleges were selected in the first round of the NFL draft, including the late Walter Payton (Jackson State).

Players at such tradition-laden schools these days are finding an uphill climb into professional football, however. Those schools have seen just 19 of their players selected in the first round of the last 27 NFL drafts combined.

Tennessee State hasn't had a first-round selection since Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Waymond Bryant were taken No. 1 and No. 4 overall in 1974. McNair is Alcorn's last first-round selection. Current Grambling Coach Doug Williams is that school's last first-round pick - in 1978.

"I've always believed if you've got good players, the scouts will take a look-see. And if you don't, it's just not going to happen for you," said Texas Southern Coach Bill Thomas, a former Tennessee State head coach and player.

But schools like Texas Southern, TSU and Alcorn State are picking their recruits from a different talent pool than they did when college football was segregated.

"I think there has been a change in the respect that there are just a lot more doors open for guys now," Tennessee State Coach James Reese said. "They also have a chance to play more places, to be on TV. So in that sense, it has taken away from the total list of players we may have recruited way back."

But the schools are trying. Three players off the 2002 Black College All American team - Tuskegee's Drayton Florence, Morgan State's Vishante Shiancoe and RaShean Mathis of Bethune-Cookman - were invited to the NFL's recent scouting combine.

"I think we play good ball," Florence said. "We know they'll find you, all you have to do is play. Everybody wants a chance."

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