The road less traveled is that way for a reason. Almost no one would choose to take what would seem like a series of wrong turns to achieve a goal.
Take J.T. O'Sullivan, for example. A flat-out stud on the Division II level - full disclosure, I went to UC Davis and watched him play for a couple seasons - O'Sullivan was the Big Man on Campus during his time in Cow Town, a 10-minute drive from Sacramento.
But after being drafted in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL Draft by New Orleans, O'Sullivan became an afterthought on pretty much every team he joined. He was the guy that was just good enough to make a coach feel bad for cutting him or trading him. They knew something was there, but now was not the time. In total, he was yesterday's leftovers for eight teams before finding his way to San Francisco this summer. Just a few months later, O'Sullivan is now starting for the San Francisco 49ers, a team that has one of the greatest legacies in sports.
Sound like someone we know from Gilroy?
Don't answer that; let O'Sullivan's college coach Bob Biggs.
"Their paths are very, very similar," Biggs said, referring to Jeff Garcia. "There's also other guys in the league who have had similar paths. Kurt Warner is a similar path. Jon Kitna came from Central Washington. There's stories out there and sometimes you have really good players and they just need the opportunity."
Opportunity is a word that pretty much defines Garcia. He sees it, he seizes it. You also might recognize the names Biggs listed off above. All Mike Martz guys.
A great college quarterback at San Jose State, Garcia played in the East-West Shrine Game and then couldn't get an NFL Team to take a glance at him. Spending the next five years playing in the Canadian Football League for Calgary, he worked his way up the depth chart, eventually leading the Stampeders to a Grey Cup championship in 1998. The next year he was wearing the uniform of a team he idolized as a kid growing up in Gilas, the same scarlet and gold O'Sullivan will be wearing in the first regular season game of 2008 this Sunday against Arizona.
O'Sullivan's career achievement to this point was leading his team to World Bowl XII in NFL Europe, similar to how Garcia had to go out of the country to prove himself.
Obviously the two are light years apart currently after Garcia's four Pro-Bowl appearances, but Garcia wasn't exactly a savior when he first arrived in San Francisco. A backup to Hall of Famer Steve Young, Garcia was yanked in and out of games, sometimes because Young was back healthy again and other times because Garcia just didn't play well. A season later, he threw for 4,278 yards, 31 touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl. It was a starting opportunity and he choked the life out of it.
Working under Steve Mariucci, Garcia was a fit in Bill Walsh's West Coast offense that was then being directed under Mooch.
O'Sullivan was brought in because of his ties with Martz in Detroit last season, which gave him the upper hand on Alex Smith and Shaun Hill during training camp this summer. A system is what a quarterback needs.
"J.T. got the upper hand because he knew the system," said 49ers G.M. Scot McCloughan in a recent press conference when asked if Smith and Hill had a fair shot at the starting job. "That's fine, but nothing in football and in the NFL or life is going to be fair once it's said and done. We have to go with who we think is going to give us the best chance to win."
Again, Garcia isn't always pretty, but he definitely allows his teams the chance to win. O'Sullivan is hoping he's the same way.
"I don't know him very well," O'Sullivan said regarding Garcia recently. "I'm a fan of his obviously. I've seen him play growing up."
For both, it seems it just took the two time to find the right road. Coincidentally, they have the same agent.
"J.T. is a guy that's very smart and picks things up," Biggs said. "And when he finally got an opportunity to compete he showed what kind of player he is. I fully expect him to do well this year. He's that kind of player."
Success may not come right away, but when you've fought this hard to get to where you want to be, there's no reason to deviate from the path that got you there.
Josh Koehn Josh Koehn is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at jkoehn@svnewspapers.com.
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