CSUN’s Fann Awaits the Call in NFL Draft

To use a phrase that the Fann family can relate to, it’s show time.

The NFL draft begins today at 9 a.m. and Albert Fann, the standout running back in a family of prime-time players, is expected to be selected--possibly as early as the fourth round.

For many college players, the 12-round draft is a time for sweaty palms and molar grinding but Fann, the top rusher in Cal State Northridge football history with 4,170 yards, seems to be an exception.

“I’m just wondering when my time will come,” he said. “I’m not nervous about it. The draft isn’t the hard part.”

Fann, 6-foot-2 1/2, 218 pounds, has been told he is likely to be selected in the middle rounds of the draft but said he is taking such prognostications “with a grain of salt.”

Barry Voorhees, an eighth-round selection of the New York Giants last season, and Doug Jones, a sixth-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1973, are the only Northridge football players who have been taken in the NFL draft.

“His only problem is that he’s from a small school,” said Don Yee, an attorney with the Los Angeles-based law firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, which will represent Fann in contract negotiations. “He’s shown he can be productive.

Fann finished his career with 7,032 yards of rushing, receiving and kick returns, fifth best in NCAA history and more than such notables as Tony Dorsett (6,615 at Pitt) and Darrin Nelson (6,885 at Stanford).

One scouting report said Fann appeared “a man among boys” at the NCAA Division II level, but Fann said he knows better.

“They question the competition level at Northridge but, of course, I disagree,” Fann said. “I don’t care if CSUN isn’t a household name. It’s a good brand of ball.”

Still, Fann accepts the fact that the Division II label is a strike against him . “I suspect it will hurt in the draft,” he said. “But that all ends at camp when I have the opportunity of showing them what I can do and that I belong.”

The draft’s first five or six rounds are expected to be completed today with the remaining selections made Monday. “I’m not expecting to go the first day. I just hope, eventually, I do and, if not, then I’ll get a tryout.”

Fann’s businesslike attitude already has endeared him to his negotiating team.

“A lot of athletes you have to hand hold, but Albert has not been one of them,” Yee said. “Mentally, he’s at the top of his game. It’s a big jump going from a full-time student to a high-profile, full-time job, but Albert can handle it. When you look at the whole package, he has what it takes.”

Part of that Yee attributes to Al and Barbara Fann, Albert’s parents, both of whom work and teach in the entertainment industry. From them, Yee said, Fann has learned perspective, which is why he is more curious about where he might be playing as opposed to when he might be drafted.

“It’s not about money. It’s about football,” Fann said. “I want to be around a long time. My heart is set on playing in the National Football League, not for the money.”

Fann figures that even if he has to play for the league minimum, he will.

“The most important thing to me is to get in there and make a name for myself in the league,” Fann said. “If I can do that, the money will come in two or three years.”