From Humble Beginnings, a Florida State Star Is Born

The letter arrived at Andre Wadsworth’s house on Christmas Eve. He looked at the envelope and recognized the handwriting. It was his own.

Inside was a three-page letter to himself, an exercise from his senior year Advanced Placement English class at Florida Christian High in Miami. The students were asked to record their thoughts at the time and their predictions of what they would be doing in five years. Their teacher promised to send them their letters to see if they came true.

Wadsworth figured he’d be receiving his MBA and would enter the work force. And as his high school team prepared to play its last game of the season five years ago, Wadsworth wrote “This is possibly the last time I suit up for any sports.”

In talent-rich Miami, recruiters didn’t bother to stop by his little school. No scholarship offers came his way. In his freshman year at Florida State, Wadsworth made the football team as a walk-on. Tonight, the calendar having turned to 1998, he will suit up one more time for the Seminoles in their Sugar Bowl game against Ohio State. This spring he’ll enter the work force all right--as a high NFL draft pick, potentially the first defensive lineman selected.

Wadsworth might be tempted to denounce his naysayers. Except that when it comes to selling him short, no one seems to outdo Wadsworth.

He recalls his freshman year when Dave Van Halanger, Florida State’s strength and conditioning coach, asked players to set goals they wanted to achieve by the time they were seniors.

For weight, Wadsworth wrote 250 pounds. He has tipped the scales as high as 282.

For the bench press, Wadsworth wrote 350 pounds. He’s now benching 500.

He hoped for a 36-inch vertical leap. He has jumped as high as 39.

No wonder this guy never expected to make the pros.

“Me playing in the pros?” Wadsworth thought. “With those big ol’ men?”

“In school he played football, but he never had intentions” of playing in the NFL, said Lylith Wadsworth, his mother. “But he puts his mind to something, when he gets his mind to it, he succeeds.”

It wouldn’t have bothered her if he quit football. A native of the small British island of St. Christopher in the West Indies, she looked at the sport and wondered if all of that violence was necessary.

“The beating down and beating down,” she said. “I used to get upset about it, but he said he wanted to do it.”

Now it could all pay off with a lucrative contract, and even his mother sees how it’s all worth it--to a point.

“It’s a good living,” Lylith Wadsworth said. “And it’s a good beating down too.”

Scouts love Wadsworth because he is a fearsome pass rusher. He’s one reason the Florida State pressure hasn’t dropped off despite the loss of Peter Boulware and Reinard Wilson. Boulware was the fourth pick in the NFL draft last year and recorded 11 1/2 sacks for the Baltimore Ravens. Wilson was chosen with the 14th pick of the first round by the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Pete was a guy who had great speed, great mobility,” Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said. “Reinard was a guy who played with power. Andre seems to be a combination of the two.”

Wadsworth, a fifth-year senior, has 16 sacks. That helped him become a first-team All-American and the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year. He helped the Seminoles come within three sacks of last season’s school-record 67.

But he also enjoys stopping the run, which is the focal point of the Florida State defense. Its philosophy is to force third-and-long situations, then bring the pain. Opponents average only 52 rushing yards against Florida State and the Seminoles have held four teams to negative rushing yardage this season.

In another ominous statistic, the Seminoles have knocked eight starting quarterbacks out of the game for at least one play, which might make Ohio State’s two-quarterback rotation more of a necessity than a policy.

Wadsworth has done all of his damage at a new position. He played nose guard before, but the coaches thought he was the best candidate to move outside after Boulware and Wilson left.

So Wadsworth shed some of the weight he had put on his 6-4 frame and dropped back to 263. He ran on the track and the treadmill to strengthen his hamstrings for the bursts he would require to rush the passer again and again. And after years of handling double-teams inside, he prepared for life on the defensive end.

“When you’re inside, you feel safe,” Wadsworth said. “You’ve got people around. When you’re outside, you’ve got a whole open field on your side.”

His first game at his new position was at USC on Sept. 6. The Underestimator was at it again, wondering, “How long will I go sackless?” He didn’t have to wait long.

“I can remember that first sack, on the goal line,” Wadsworth said. “I knocked off two helmets and had two sacks that game. That was a good game.”

His ex-teacher asked him to write another letter to himself, projecting the next five years. When asked what he will put down this time, Wadsworth allowed himself to think big, for a change. He smiled.

“Fifth year in the Pro Bowl,” Wadsworth said. “[Everyone] forgot all about Bruce Smith and Reggie White.”