Mt. Sack Makes a Name for Himself

Alfonso Boone is fast for a defensive lineman, but even he was surprised by how quickly he emerged from relative anonymity and became an NFL draft pick.

Boone, 6 feet 3 and 304 pounds, of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, was selected by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of last weekend’s draft. He was the 253rd overall pick, the second-to-last player chosen Sunday.

Bill Fisk, who has coached at Mt. SAC for 35 years, the last 13 as head coach, said Boone was the first Mountie to be drafted by an NFL team directly out of the community college.

“He’s real low-key,” Fisk said. “He used to make sacks for us and everyone else would be jumping up and down. He would just walk back to the huddle.

“One [NFL] team asked me before the draft, ‘What is this kid going to do if he gets a lot of money?’ I said he’d probably go out and buy a pair of shorts.”

Boone, 24, is still a bit shocked by his selection.

“It’s really kind of crazy,” Boone said by phone from Michigan. “My whole thing was, I was going to go to [a four-year] college [next season] and it all just happened.”

Boone is bound for the Lions’ minicamp both because of what he has--and does not have.

A junior college All-American last season, he possesses uncommon speed for a player his size. He ran a 40-yard dash in less than five seconds for NFL scouts last month.

“We used to marvel every day at how fast his feet were,” Fisk said. “A lot of big linemen don’t like to run, but he does. Sometimes, he would stay after practice and race the running backs.”

Boone, however, is out of eligibility at NCAA Division I schools because he spent a semester at Central State in Ohio after graduating from Saginaw Arthur Hill High in Michigan in 1994. Under NCAA rules, athletes have five years to complete four years of college eligibility once they begin college.

Boone, a running back in high school, left Central State after that one semester and did not revive his football career until 1998 when he came to live with an aunt and uncle in Walnut.

Michigan State, Arkansas and Florida State were among the schools Boone was considering after the 1999 season. But Pat Ruel, a Michigan State assistant, discovered Boone’s eligibility problem in January after checking his transcripts.

Ruel told Boone he could still play for an NAIA school or try the NFL. After thinking about it for a few days, Boone acquired an agent and started preparing for NFL workouts.

In February, Ruel was hired as offensive line coach by the Lions. At an early pre-draft meeting the staff asked Ruel which college linemen had impressed him.

“I gave them some names and then I said, ‘Hey, I have a guy you might take a look at,’ ” Ruel said. “The minute I told them he was a JC guy, they looked at me like, ‘Hey, this is pro football.’ ”

But within weeks, the word on Boone was out.

“We went and worked him out and by that time there were 10 or 12 teams interested,” Ruel said.

Said Boone, “My agent did a good job of getting my tape out. It kind of all snowballed in a week and a half.”

Boone said the Washington Redskins called him twice during the draft before the Lions chose him in the seventh round.

He is preparing for a minicamp in two weeks and another a few weeks later before reporting to training camp in the summer.

“I’m not going to be used to playing against players that are equal or a lot better than me,” Boone said. “I have to play my game, not worry about the people around me, and do what I do best.

“I’m a defensive tackle for now, but they are going to check me out as a pass rusher because that’s what I do best.”

Ruel acknowledged that Boone is a developing player.

“He has the size, the athletic ability and has shown himself on film to perform at a fairly high level, but this is a big jump,” Ruel said. “If he will mentally take direction and realize what’s in front of him, he’s got a chance.”