LeFevour's story far from local these days as Central Michigan QB

Four years ago, despite his best efforts, Dan LeFevour couldn't get anyone from a high-profile university to offer him a scholarship.

But this week ESPN.com followed around the 2005 Benet Academy graduate so closely that it published a picture of LeFevour entranced in "butterfly pose" during his Wednesday morning yoga class.

Doesn't get much more high profile than that, though everyone and their brother wants to tell LeFevour's story right about now.

So what is the Downers Grove native's story?

Here's the short version: LeFevour, beginning his third year as Central Michigan's starting quarterback, leads the Chippewas into second-ranked Georgia at 2:30 p.m. today.

Coming off a season in which he became the second player in major-college history to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same year - joining ex-Texas All-American Vince Young - LeFevour has become the media's popular choice for "best non-BCS player you might not know."

It has been a great hook for the 6-foot-3, 229-pound redshirt junior as well as for Central Michigan, which has done its utmost to elevate LeFevour's profile.

This summer CMU rented a 30-foot by 60-foot billboard at Detroit's Comerica Park that made LeFevour bigger than life.

In late July, recognizing the Big Ten two-day media confab would bring hundreds of sports writers to Chicago, CMU set up shop at the same hotel on the same dates and offered interviews with LeFevour once the Big Ten sessions were over.

And, of course, ESPN.com traced LeFevour's steps for two days this week.

But here's the twist to the 21-year-old's story: LeFevour, who rarely threw the ball while operating Benet's double-wing offense, had to go the extra yard trying to attract colleges' attention.

In addition to attending one-day camps at schools such as Illinois, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Purdue and Indiana, Dan and older (by 14 years) brother Ed spliced together a highlight tape and distributed it on their own.

"I was just hoping he would get his school paid for somehow," said Ed LeFevour, a former Benedictine University assistant who now coaches at Lincoln-Way Central. "I was thinking maybe Div. II, maybe I-AA."

In the end, LeFevour chose between Eastern Illinois, Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.

"(CMU) offered me first," Dan said. "Coach (Butch) Jones was here then and I felt really comfortable. I haven't looked back."

But because he has turned out to be such a brilliant passer and runner - he owns 6,900 passing yards, 1,685 rushing yards and 83 touchdowns in 29 career games while leading CMU to back-to-back MAC championships - everyone wants LeFevour to look inside and explain himself.

As ESPN.com noted, LeFevour was loaded with other national media requests this week. He has gone from too little attention to too much.

"That's definitely the thing that has changed the most - the responsibilities to the media," Ed LeFevour said. "He's flattered by it, of course, but playing football is more fun."

During one interview, LeFevour was hesitant to reveal his ACT score (strong) and GPA (also strong) and asked if they needed to be printed. Almost as if he didn't want anyone to know he's intelligent.

"He doesn't like bragging, he really doesn't," Ed said. "He doesn't want to talk about himself. I think he'd rather talk about the team.

"I talked to him earlier this week. Obviously, he's excited about playing Georgia. He wants to see as a team where they're at."

lwillhite@dailyherald.com