Hidden Pearl

By RICK STROUD
Published May 1, 2005

	[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	After helping Pearl River Community College to a national title, Larry Brackins skipped his final two seasons of eligibility to support his family.

TAMPA - The road Larry Brackins took to the NFL is seldom traveled. It is a dimly lit, narrow trail that winds through the backwoods and no-stoplight towns of the deep South.

Bucs receivers coach Richard Mann knows exactly how far Brackins has come because he made the expedition a few months ago. Just trying to find Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Miss., Mann got turned around more than a dog chasing its tail.

"True story: I went looking around Pearl River, and I couldn't find it. There was nothing there," Mann said. "I went to places, and nobody knew. What happened was there's a Pearl River, La., which is where I was at. I saw this sign for Pearl River, so I thought I was there. I finally (found someone) that told me it was in Poplarville, Miss.

"I think it will be worth (the trip). Time will tell, but I'm delighted to have him."

The Bucs believe Brackins, a fifth-round pick at 6 feet 4, 203 pounds, could be the kind of player scouts are always trying to discover and Hollywood invents. He is exceptionally talented, but his skills are raw and unrefined.

If not for falling one credit short of receiving his high school diploma on time at Dothan (Ala.) High and having a low score on the ACT, he might have been as highly rated entering the draft as Southern Cal's Mike Williams or Michigan's Braylon Edwards.

Instead, he was the only junior college player among the 332 invited to the NFL scouting combine in February.

"Even though I didn't go to a big college, I think I will make a name for myself in the NFL," Brackins said.

He certainly did at Pearl River. In two seasons, Brackins caught 100 passes for 1,865 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also returned 19 punts for 335 yards (17.6-yard average) and three touchdowns. In 2004, he helped the Wildcats cap a 12-0 season by beating Butler (Kan.) 35-14 in the national title game.

Brackins had 11 catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns and was named the game's most valuable player.

"Everything he's done he's taught himself, so that makes it easier," Mann said. "Because he doesn't know that he doesn't know."

In fact, three years ago, it looked like Brackins might never play football again.

A high school basketball teammate, Karl Mitchell, persuaded Brackins to join him at Feather River J.C., in Quincy, Calif. Brackins averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds and three steals to be named the MVP of the Golden Valley Conference.

But Brackins was homesick and returned to Dothan in the spring. He was there for only three weeks when word spread to Pearl River football coach Tim Hatten, who drove five hours to sign his soon-to-be first-team junior college All-American.

Brackins had scholarship offers to Southern Cal and Florida State, but as one of seven children of a single mother, he decided to forgo his final two seasons of college eligibility to enter the NFL.

"Financially, it's an opportunity to help my family," Brackins said.

Certainly, the odds are against him. According to the Sporting News, there were only three players in the NFL last season, Saints receiver Joe Horn, Jaguars defensive back Juran Bolden and Redskins defensive tackle Jermaine Haley, who never played at a four-year college. Bolden now plays for the Bucs.

But each played at least one year in the Canadian Football League before jumping to the NFL.

In fact, Horn was coached by Mann early in his career with the Chiefs.

"Joe Horn was raw," Mann said. "I compare the two because ... both were similar. Joe Horn was the same way. And Joe Horn is a good football player. "We'll groom him up, show him how to get in and out of breaks, how to run the routes. And hopefully, that will add to his game. We'll teach him the offense. You've got to know what to do, and that's the main thing I'm concerned with at this point."

Brackins' size and leaping ability invoked images of Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, albeit dominating lesser talent at the junior college level. But from a personality standpoint, he has more in common with Marvin Harrison as a soft-spoken, almost shy, no-nonsense player.

The three-day rookie minicamp has done nothing to diminish the Bucs' hopes for Brackins, who admits he was eager to finally compare himself with Division I talent.

"I was ready to come out and just be with some guys from D-I schools and show them that Pearl River ... I can do the same things y'all can do," Brackins said. "So I was real excited about that."

With only two proven receivers on the roster, Michael Clayton and Joey Galloway, the Bucs need a player such as Brackins to develop quickly. If he does, that tiny junior college in Mississippi will be on the map.

"It just excites you to see there's a lot of raw potential there," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "I've got a couple friends of mine who coach Major League Baseball. They've got guys who don't even speak the American language.

"They haven't played organized baseball but they can hit the fastball. They can hit the curveball. They can hit. They might not understand all the nuances of the game, but they stick them down there in Double A or Triple A and develop them. Then all of the sudden, holy criminy, look at this guy play. The same in basketball, some of these guys just have raw ability.

"This guy has got a long way to go. But he is going to work at it and if the guy busts his (butt), he's got a chance."

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 23:59:18]