TE Saunders hopes NFL can look past his mistakes
Former South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders stands a shade over 6-foot-5, weighs 270 pounds, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds, has soft hands and arms so long he can seemingly catch anything in his area code.
So why hasn’t anyone ever heard of him? Why isn’t he in anyone’s mock draft?
It’s because his life, at least his football life, is a mess.
As one of the top junior tight ends in the country in 2009, Saunders considered leaving with a year of eligibility left to enter the NFL draft. So he stopped going to team meetings. Then, when he decided to return to the Gamecocks for the 2010 season, he was suspended for missing meetings. Last summer the NCAA investigated him for improper dealings with an agent, the same fiasco that claimed the 2010 seasons of North Carolina’s Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn and Greg Little.
Saunders was suspended by South Carolina in August for lying to coaches and dismissed from the team in September, missing the entire season. He has also admitted lying to the NCAA when questioned about his dealings with agents, which he said he did to protect others. The capper to a disastrous year came when he suffered a stress fracture performing at the Scouting Combine in February.
As a result, Saunders is now considered a late-round draft pick — maybe.
“Everyone realizes I made a mistake,” he said. “I suffered greatly for that mistake. (But) I never was arrested. I never failed a drug test. I never was on academic probation. I think we’ll get a chance to prove ourselves.”
As a junior, Saunders caught 32 passes for 353 yards. He says he exhausted every avenue to get back on the team for his senior season, paying his own way to meet with the NCAA a third time after his initial meetings.
“I told them everything they asked,” he said. “I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to get back on the field. I met with the (South Carolina) athletic director (Eric Hyman), I wrote letters, I tried to petition. I did anything I could to get back some way, some how.”
All Saunders got was a collective, “No way.” So he attended every home game as a spectator and cheerleader, even though the experience was awkward at best.
“Some of the fans said nasty things to me in the stands,” he said, “but I tried to tune that out and be there to support my teammates.”
Saunders missed participating in the Gamecocks’ historic season.
“The lowest point probably was when we beat Alabama,” he said. “We beat the No. 1 team in the country. I was there, (but) I wasn’t part of it.”
Running afoul of the NCAA isn’t the only baggage Saunders brings with him. He has a reputation for not working very hard, especially in the weight room, and for being immature and undisciplined.
Even teammate Jarriel King admitted that some have described Saunders as “arrogant.”
“I definitely have changed because I have realized that perception is reality,” Saunders said. “(King) is one of my closest friends, and he knew exactly how I was. Not playing has humbled me so much, that I don’t think there is an arrogant bone in my body. Except when I’m on that field, and I know that there is pretty much no one out there who can stop me. Outside of the game of football, I don’t think there is an arrogant thing about me at all.”
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