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Message: [QUOTE="TexanMark, post: 714136, member: 35"] As many of you remember Mystery Recruit was introduced to Coach Marrone. Chris played another sport and wanted to help Syracuse out while working on his Masters (like what Greg Paulus did). Unfortunatley he couldn't get accepted to SU (I think the NCAA also had some issues too). Anyways he is with the Bills now at camp. [url]http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130814/SPORTS03/308140052/Buffalo-Bills[/url] [COLOR=black][URL='http://topics.democratandchronicle.com/St._John_Fisher_College/'][COLOR=#004276][FONT=Times New Roman]St. John Fisher College[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][/COLOR] [CENTER][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman]More[/FONT][/COLOR][/CENTER] [B][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman]Related Links[/FONT][/COLOR][/B] [COLOR=black][FONT=Symbol]·[/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=black] [/COLOR][COLOR=black][URL='http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=A2&Dato=20130814&Kategori=BILLSPHOTO&Lopenr=814002&Ref=PH'][COLOR=#004276]Wednesday Buffalo Bills camp[/COLOR][/URL][/COLOR][/FONT] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]If there was one thing more eye-catching than some of the moves made by Miami running back Reggie Bush in Dolphins training camp last summer, it was rookie wide receiver Chris Hogan catching everything thrown his way.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Wowed by what the nondescript Hogan was doing, it was Bush who tagged him with the nickname “7-Eleven” during the taping of the HBO show [I]Hard Knocks[/I]. Bush’s reasoning was pretty simple — just like the convenience store, Hogan was always open.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Fans who have been coming out regularly to St. John Fisher College the past couple weeks, and more importantly Bills’ defensive backs who have struggled to cover him in Buffalo’s training camp, have been coming to the same conclusion.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“He’s always open,” said offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. “He’s done a really good job. He’s one of those guys, from a quarterbacks standpoint, you know right where he’s going to be. He runs very good routes. He’s a guy that definitely opens your eyes. The quarterbacks love when he’s out there.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Almost as much as HBO’s cameras adored Hogan.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Hogan did not blaze a traditional path to the NFL, and his journey became a prevalent storyline during [I]Hard Knocks’ [/I]five-episode run at Dolphins camp.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“The [I]Hard Knocks [/I]thing, that’s something that I’ll have the rest of my life,” he said the other day with a smile following another excellent practice. “It was great exposure for me in the position I was in that training camp.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Hogan played high school football and was an accomplished wide receiver who earned all-state honors twice, setting a Ramapo (N.J.) High School record for career receptions. He was also a baseball pitcher, but after blowing out his pitching arm (left) — “Throwing too many curveballs, and doing it the wrong way, probably,” he said — Hogan switched spring sports and took up lacrosse in his sophomore year.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]His dad, James, had played lacrosse back in the day, and he helped his son with some of the fundamentals and the newbie proved to be a quick study. By the time Hogan was a senior in 2006 he was named New Jersey’s Midfielder of the Year, and he was an Under Armour All-American.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]There were offers from several schools including Connecticut and Rutgers to play football, but he decided to play lacrosse at Penn State.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“It was a tough decision and I went with lacrosse and stuck with it,” said Hogan.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Hogan was a solid middie for the Nittany Lions, earning first-team all-ECAC honors one year, all-CAA honors another, and he finished with 57 career goals. Having lost his sophomore season to an injury, he had one year of NCAA eligibility left, and he decided to leave Penn State so that he could use it to play football.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Although he enjoyed lacrosse, there were regrets and he said, “If I could go back four years, I would have absolutely played football.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]He wanted to play for Doug Marrone at Syracuse, but he couldn’t get into the Newhouse School of Public Communications, so he headed home to New Jersey to play for Monmouth University in 2010. He played both sides of the ball as a receiver and a safety — he caught three TD passes and intercepted three passes — which, along with a 4.47-second clocking in the 40-yard dash got him some looks from pro scouts.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“I had done what I wanted to do in lacrosse so someone brought up the idea that I should play football my last year,” he said. “So I pursued it, talked to schools, sent out old highlight films, and Monmouth ended up working out.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]No one picked him in the 2011 draft, so San Francisco signed him as a free agent, and he later spent time on the practice squad of the Giants and Dolphins before signing with Miami and going to 2012 training camp, where he became an unlikely celebrity.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“I didn’t know that I was going to have a spot in the show,” he said. “I had an idea just because of my background and playing lacrosse and only a year of football, but I really didn’t know it would air. The exposure helped me along the way, when they released me (at the end of camp), having my name out there, people saying, ‘Oh, he was the [I]Hard Knocks [/I]guy.’ ”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]His reality TV show days are behind him, and now Hogan is just trying to make a 53-man roster for the first time, and he has a chance with the Bills. There is steep competition behind Steve Johnson with draft picks Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin, undrafted free agent Da’Rick Rogers, and holdover veterans T.J. Graham, Brad Smith and Marcus Easley in the mix, but Hogan has been turning heads.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]“He has been very consistent for us,” said Marrone. “A big thing about it is availability, and he’s been available all the time. And he’s gotten better, he’s progressed. He’s had a very good camp, and again, it’s one of those things where he’s right there in the mix, playing well, playing hard to make this roster and that’s what you want to see.”[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=black][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][IMG]http://cmsimg.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=A2&Date=20130814&Category=BILLSPHOTO&ArtNo=814002&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=620&Maxh=465&q=90[/IMG][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR] [B][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT][/COLOR][/B] [/QUOTE]

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