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Ex-Gator brings speed, many question marks into the draft.
By ERNEST HOOPER
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2001
GAINESVILLE -- With parents who are longtime Bucs fans, Brooksville native and former University of Florida receiver John Capel needs no reminders about Tampa Bay's futile struggle with kick returns.
Capel doesn't miss a beat when told the team has never returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
"They will (have a kickoff returned for a touchdown) if they pick me up," Capel said after his workout for pro scouts at Florida Field. "They'll have more than one. I'm taking it to the house every time I get a chance. If I get a crease, I'm going to the end zone."
Capel runs a 4.38 40-yard dash and won the 200-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic trials last year. When you are one of the world's fastest men, you can make such claims.
Still, Capel stands as one of the biggest enigmas in this draft. His speed and athleticism are unquestioned, but his football savvy is uncertain. He played in only 19 games at Florida, never participated in spring drills and took last season off to concentrate on the Olympics.
Capel's last game was in 1999, and his career statistics are hardly noteworthy: 19 returns for 415 yards, 11 receptions for 88 yards.
Since coach Tony Dungy was hired in 1996, the Bucs have shied away from players who are high on potential and low on production. Capel is at least drawing consideration, however. How can he be ignored when a team has 1,491 kick returns without a touchdown?
"His speed certainly makes him intriguing," Dungy said.
The Bucs are not about to tip their hand and give Capel a ringing endorsement, but Dungy readily concedes that for the first time during his tenure, the team wants to draft a return specialist. In past years, the player's strength at his position was tantamount; returning kicks or punts was a bonus.
This season, the Bucs want a gamebreaker on returns. The Bucs ranked ninth on kick returns with Aaron Stecker and Karl Williams splitting the duty, and 20th in punt returns with Williams handling most attempts.
But getting a return man is not as simple as grabbing the list of NCAA statistical leaders and picking the player whose name is at the top. In the NFL, defenders are better, blocking schemes more complex and courage is a greater priority.
"Generally, it's tough," Pro Football Weekly draft analyst Joel Buchsbaum said of assessing returners. "It's a different ballgame."
Another consideration: Great college returners typically are too good at their positions to return kicks. Miami's Santana Moss and Syracuse's Will Allen are good returners, but the teams that draft them in the first round may not want to risk injury on a return team.
"If they're spectacular, say like a Rod Woodson or a Deion Sanders, you utilize them in that area," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said. "Overall, it depends on the situation that you're in. You have to be careful of the injury factor. Generally, they will let you do a little punt returning because the fear of injury is higher on kick returns."
Two of the league's best are special-teams aces who emerged from the shadows. Atlanta's Darrick Vaughn, who led the league with a 27.7 yard kickoff return average and had three touchdown returns, came out of Southwest Texas State. Arizona's MarTay Jenkins, who ranked third among NFL leaders, played at Nebraska-Omaha.
So if Vaughn and Jenkins can come out of nowhere, why can't Capel? His potential is bolstered by the fact that another NFL player came from almost identical circumstances to become one of the league's top returners. Michael Bates was a bronze medalist in the 1992 Olympics, played sparingly in college but went to five Pro Bowls as a Carolina Panther.
Capel is not relying solely on his track reputation. He spent February working out with Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb in Phoenix to hone his receiving skills.
"Donovan helped me with my confidence," Capel said. "When he told me I catch a little better than most of the receivers he's seen that's coming out this year, that helped my confidence because a lot of coaches felt I couldn't play the game.
"Donovan told me ... you look really fluid running your routes. You're going to be all right."
Opinions from draft experts vary. The War Room said Capel is the fastest player in the draft, and believes he may go in the fourth or fifth round. But Buchsbaum said Capel would have been better off going back to school and has a "long way to go." Buchsbaum and Kiper believe Capel may go undrafted.
Capel answers his detractors with an uncommon brand of confidence. While he admits that returning to track as a world-class sprinter is possible -- "I'm still the fastest man in the world, Maurice (Greene)" -- he has his heart set on making it in football.
"I don't think there's too much out there I can't beat," Capel said. "There's not too many people that's coming out this year that's in the league right now that I can't play with.
"Everybody says, 'He's a track guy just trying to play football.' If I go out there and score four or five times this year, I'm just going to look at the camera and say, 'What now? Now what am I?' "