Aurora – For the record, Corey Nabors had pen and paper in hand Wednesday, but knew he was going to go right past a sign.
While hundreds of Coloradans made it official on national signing day to play college sports, it was just another Wednesday for Nabors, a senior running back at Rangeview. Middle of the school week. Nothing special, out of the ordinary or noteworthy. He had hoped otherwise – even been supremely confident about it – but, no, it didn’t happen.
Division I-A football passed on the Raiders’ record-holder; at least, it didn’t offer any guarantees.
If Nabors wants to be in The Show of college football, he has to do more earning and convincing.
“It’s frustrating to go through this,” Nabors said. “For as hard as I’ve been working, I thought I would have more (offers) than I do.”
At the moment, he can sign with as high as Division II if he wants, but that isn’t what he wants.
What he really wants is Colorado or Colorado State. He said both invited him to take a walk … as in be a walk-on, earn a spot on the team, then take pen and paper in hand to make it official.
Ultimately, he may go to either school. Slamming doors in people’s faces wouldn’t be smart. For now, he said, he’s “going to wait and see what shakes out.”
There is little ingrate in Nabors – if he has to prove it again, so be it; however, he also wants to be sure he can’t slip in late somewhere after signing day.
“Kids forget,” Arvada West coach Casey Coons said. “It’s the first day you can sign. It isn’t over yet.”
But it’s a kind of limbo for Nabors and thousands of his neighbors nationally, who find themselves in this position every first Wednesday in February – athletes who have had stellar scholastic careers, including in all of the two-dozen-or-so prep sports offered, who suddenly realize they aren’t considered top college prospects by those who give out major-college scholarships.
The reasons are plenty. They’re not big, fast or quick enough. They don’t have the grades. They were in trouble. Injured. Forgotten about. Led astray. Were kidding themselves from the start. Played on a bad team. Were out-and-out missed. Need a couple of years of lower-level ball to mature or re-prove their ability. Schools didn’t have enough scholarships to give. The college fired the old coach and the new one isn’t that interested.
Major programs have been known to attempt to stash or entice players through promises of grayshirts and walk-ons; keep talking to them so another program doesn’t get them; or simply drop out at the last minute after they discover someone else.
It also can be a fact of life: The player isn’t Division I-A material, and none of his allegiance to his community and state, his previous recruiting interest, the years of people telling him he was well on his way or lifelong dreams will change it.
Nabors, who was viewed in person by former CU coach Gary Barnett and visited Buffaloes practices in Boulder, refuses to believe any of it. At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Nabors has been told he’ll have to climb to at least 190 pounds and quickly, but insists it has been part of his development and plan all along.
“The only (negative) thing I heard was they don’t question my ability; they question my size,” Nabors said of coaches and recruiters.
His ambitions aren’t without merit. For what it’s worth, his numbers were historic for the Raiders as well as prominent in state annals. Nabors was durable with 708 career carries. He rushed for 5,601 yards, 12th-best on Colorado record, No. 3 all time among big-schoolers, according to state records. Only LenDale White, who had 7,803 yards for South and Chatfield (he declared for the NFL draft last month after three years at Southern California), and Darnell McDonald, who ran for 6,121 at Cherry Creek in the 1990s (he signed to play football and baseball at Texas, but opted for minor-league baseball) had more. Nabors, who twice led Class 5A in rushing, also scored 61 touchdowns and can cover 40 yards in 4.4 seconds.
Academically, he is pushing a 3.4 grade-point average and scored 24 on the ACT. Concerning his character, doing the right thing has been expected in the Nabors household for years.
“This isn’t some bum we’re talking about,” Rangeview coach Dave Gonzales said. “We’re talking about the best ball carrier in the state. You’d think it would warrant more than a look.”
The coach, a multiple masters’ world champion powerlifter, laments the short list of in-state signees annually at Colorado’s major universities with football, but has volunteered to train Nabors daily to get him ready.
At one point, Idaho State and New Mexico also made serious inquiries; there was a sniff by Cornell, as well.
Now, in a sobering turn of events, Nabors is doing the sniffing. It’s not the time to lose his head.
“I’m not going to let it bother me,” he said.
No, he’s going to keep looking and working.
He’s determined to play Divison I-A if he has to exhaust every ounce of his being.
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-820-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
