CMU quarterback Dan LeFevour faces new type of spotlight at Senior Bowl

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Much of Dan LeFevour’s career at Central Michigan has been spent in the spotlight.

In every sense of the phrase, LeFevour has been CMU’s “big man on campus” since his football career was made relevant early in his redshirt freshman year.

But in Mobile, Ala., the scene of the 2010 Under Armour Senior Bowl, the annual pre-draft all-star game featuring many of the nation’s best seniors, the spotlight — at least in this sense of the word — has diminished. He is not near the hottest commodity in southern Alabama this week.

Less than three weeks ago, the CMU quarterback was named the GMAC Bowl’s Most Valuable Player after leading his team to a 44-41 double-overtime win against Troy. On Saturday, he will play in Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the second time in a month. But this time, he doesn’t hold near as much name power as he did during his first visit.

Florida’s Tim Tebow, one of three quarterbacks on the South squad, has two national championships and a Heisman trophy on his resume.

Suddenly, and maybe for the first time in recent memory, LeFevour is in the shadows.

Tebow sensation

If you take the time to browse ESPN.com’s Senior Bowl coverage, or any national media for that matter, Tebow seems to be the only player at the game worth watching.

While many people have prematurely called him college football’s greatest player ever, it also is a spectacle to watch him attempt to transform into an NFL-caliber quarterback — one who has a quick, over-the-top delivery, with zip on the ball and, just as importantly, knows how to properly take snaps from under center and drop back without too many false steps.

Tebow struggled in his first day of practice on Monday, said ESPN’s Todd McShay.

“He ended up looking very awkward (taking snaps under center),” McShay wrote. “He fumbled snaps, took false steps in his drops and had trouble setting his feet at the top of his drops.”

And yet, at one time, LeFevour heard eerily similar comparisons with the Florida star. Once dubbed “Tebow-lite” by Sports Illustrasted, the word on LeFevour is mum at this point.

McShay said Cincinnati’s Tony Pike had the strongest arm of any North quarterback. However, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News noted today that LeFevour possesses the best throwing mechanics and arm of any North quarterback.

He surely has a cleaner delivery than the windmill-throwing Tebow. And his size? All but confirmed.

While many universities fabricate their players’ heights and weights, LeFevour measured in at a clean 6-foot-3 and 229 pounds.

But much of what is asked about Tebow will arise in conversation about LeFevour.

Double the pressure

LeFevour, who ran a spread offense under Butch Jones and Brian Kelly, has to transform his game to make it suitable for pro-style offenses. In the process — and unlike Tebow — he has to prove he belongs with top-tier talent.

Many people who pay close attention to college football and the NFL draft process point to the NFL Scouting Combine and individual college pro days as the most vital stages for athletes to prove themselves.

But for LeFevour, there is more to prove than running an adequate 40-yard dash time or excelling in strength and agility drills.

LeFevour has to prove he can adapt, and that he belongs with the big boys.
He has never seen such elite talent at every position on the defense. He has dominated the Mid-American Conference for much of his career and, in a few games against teams from BCS conferences, his production has been sporadic.

This week in Mobile, LeFevour will be in the spotlight — but not the type he is used to — during every snap and every step of every practice.
While many seniors can afford the opportunity to skip such a game because they have already proven what they can do against top talent, this is different for the Downers Grove, Ill., native. He will undergo the most important week of practices in his life.

In a way, the transformation from college quarterback to pro-ready quarterback details everything wrong with how the college game is played.

In any other occupation, college gets you ready for professional life. Only in college football does the process impede your progress, at least for quarterbacks, thanks to spread offenses.

And in LeFevour’s return trip to Alabama, he will have to fight through the transformation process while also attempting to prove himself against a level of competition he is not accustomed to.