Immokalee's James hoping to make impact at Combine on Sunday

Immokalee's James hoping to make impact at Combine on Sunday - ANDY KENT, Naples News

Throughout his entire football life, Javarris James has always had to answer different questions and debunk different perceptions than most anybody else, he isn’t expecting anything different this weekend at the NFL Scouting Combine.

James is one of 28 running backs working out Sunday on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in front of coaches, general managers and scout representing all 32 NFL teams and the Immokalee native is hoping to make the kind of splash expected out of players coming out of the University of Miami.

James arrived in town under the radar, with some mock drafts projecting him as a fifth-round pick mainly over concerns about his injury history with the Hurricanes. After a phenomenal freshman year during which he rushed for 802 yards -- the second most by a freshman in school history -- and five touchdowns, ankle and neck injuries slowed him as a sophomore and then he missed four games his junior season in 2008 with a leg injury.

Thankfully for James, the MRIs, X-rays and comprehensive medical exams done by team doctors the first two days of the combine cleared up his health status heading into April’s NFL Draft.

“I was completely healthy, no extra MRIs or any of that stuff, so that let the teams know that I’m completely healthy and ready to go,” said James, who will be evaluated side by side with the likes of Clemson’s C.J. Spiller, Stanford’s Toby Gerhardt, Georgia Tech’s Jonathan Dwyer and Dexter McClusker of Ole Miss.

“Those questions didn’t come up in the interviews like I thought they would," James said. "I thought it would be a whole lot worse than that. A lot of coaches were like, ‘Hey, we play football and we know this is a physical sport.’ They weren’t really tripping about my injuries; they were just trying to see how my body was and if it was fully healed.”

When he was healthy at Miami, James had his fair share of highlight-reel runs and big games, including a 148-yard, one-touchdown performance in his first start against Houston as a freshman. This past season, he saved his best game for the ‘Canes’ most thrilling victory, a 21-20 win over Oklahoma and the nation’s top-ranked rushing defense. He erupted for a career-high 150 yards on 15 carries and became the first Miami running back ever to rush for 150 yards against Oklahoma.

James’ teammates never doubted his ability or his leadership skills, and a lot of them are surprised with what they have been hearing and reading in the media when it comes to his potential in the NFL. Among the more outspoken is left tackle Jason Fox, who is in Indianapolis with James and fellow Hurricanes tight ends Jimmy Graham and Dedrick Epps and linebacker Darryl Sharpton.

“Javarris is a special kid,” Fox said. “I mean, I think he’s probably the most underrated running back here because he’s been banged up in his college career, so he hasn’t been able to really show everybody what he’s capable of yet. But he had an outstanding freshman season and there have been a lot of special backs to come through there. Now that he’s fully healthy, I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”

That process began for James up in Orlando last month at the East-West Shrine Bowl, where he caught up with former Gulf Coast and Minnesota linebacker Lee Campbell. In addition to being able practice in front of NFL coaches and scouts, he also got some of his interviews out of the way as well as the Wonderlic test and some of the other aptitude tests going on this week. So when he got to Indy, he could focus on the workouts and the other interviews.

The majority of skill position players have pointed to the 40-yard dash as where they want to make the biggest impact, but James has his eyes set elsewhere.

“I’m really excited about doing the shuttle run and the position drills just to show my natural ability and show how I can move for my size and just show off my talent,” said James, who weighed in at 212 pounds and measured out at 6-foot. “Some guys you have to take out in third-down situations, and I feel like I’m a guy who can stay in on those situations and who can pick up blitzes, understand the defense and catch passes out of the backfield, so I think that’s definitely a strength of mine.”

Those familiar with James from his high school days and youth football days in Southwest Florida will be following him closely Sunday and the rest of the time here, and he wants to proudly represent Naples, Immokalee and the entire region. Other former players from the area, like ex-Golden Eagle and Hurricanes linebacker Spencer Adkins, have helped James prepare for that next step.

“We always had talent around there, it’s just now we’re finally getting the recognition,” James said. “Spencer always took care of me when I first got there. Us coming from that area, we always make sure we look out for each other around there and he’s been doing pretty well. I asked him a couple of questions as far as how the NFL is and he’s been helping me out a lot.”

So far, James has been able to stay very close to home while playing football and he wouldn’t mind keeping that trend going with the Miami Dolphins. His interview with the Dolphins went well, and he will have another chance to further impress them after the combine.

“It was pretty good, being the hometown team, so they kept it real simple," he said. "They told me they’ll have a Miami date where all the local guys go there, so they’ll finish up the rest of their time with me there. Coach Parcells showed up at a couple of our practices and that was nice to see. It definitely made you step up your practice speed a little bit.”

Of course, that has never been a problem for James.