High fidelity

Sporting News, The, August 19, 1996 by Brian Schmitz

Quarterback Daunte Culpepper stayed true to his principles in playing for Central Florida

Emma Culpepper taught Daunte Culpepper about loyalty long before he threw a 40-yard touchdown pass off one foot. Long before he bloodied a receiver's hand with a razor-sharp spiral. And long before he authenticated his high school legend by completing his first 12 passes in his college debut.

Emma, Daunte's grandmother, adopted him as an infant after a father he never knew and a mother in trouble with the law couldn't raise him. Does a young man need a more shining and enduring example of commitment than that?

Culpepper, one of the best quarterbacks in the country and a player who should burst into national prominence this season, is coming off a freshman year in which he completed 168-of-294 passes for 2,071 yards and 12 touchdowns. That he'll be playing his second year for Central Florida, an independent making the jump to Division I-A from I-AA, and not Miami, Florida or Florida State, has a lot to do with the life lessons he learned from Emma.

Three years ago, a veritable who's who of football powers called on Culpepper, now 6-4, 230 pounds with a 40 time of 4.6. Central Florida called, too, figuring he could help ease the school's transition to Division I-A.

But Culpepper floundered in the classroom as a junior at Ocala (Fla.) Vanguard High, finishing the year with a 1.5 grade-point average. He says he was lazy and a procrastinator. The drop caused Florida's three powers and other big schools to back away, figuring it was unlikely Culpepper could meet the NCAA-minimum 2.0 GPA and 17 on the ACT. It looked as if he would be headed to junior college.

Central Florida assistant Paul Lounsberry believed otherwise. He went over Daunte's transcript with him class by class and worked with him and Vanguard coach Phil Yancey in outlining a study program that could make Culpepper eligible as a senior. Culpepper went on to lead Ocala Vanguard to the Class 5A state title game, passing for 3,070 yards and 31 touchdowns. He won Mr. Football honors in the talent-rich state, and Dwight Thomas, Emmitt Smith's former high school coach in Pensacola, called Culpepper "the greatest quarterback I've ever seen." But more important, Culpepper recorded a solid "B" average his first semester. He still needed two A's and four B's in the final semester, but the major powers were interested again.

On the morning of national signing day, he received a call from a big-name coach who wanted to make a last-minute pitch. But Culpepper could hear his grandmother's influence ringing in his ears. Loyalty. He knew, should he become eligible, who really deserved his allegiance and signature on a grant-in-aid.

Thanks but no thanks, he told Steve Spurrier.

In the final semester, Culpepper earned the two A's and four B's he needed ("You make your bed hard, you gotta lay in it, my grandma always told me," he says). His 3.4 GPA raised his overall average to 2.03, and his ACT was good enough to make him NCAA eligible. He was Central Florida bound.

"UCF stayed with me all the way, so I felt I should stay with them," he says. "Other schools backed off me. They didn't think I'd make it (academically). But I don't blame them. You don't want to put your money into something you don't think will pay dividends."

Culpepper already had shown some of that loyalty during basketball season. A three-sport star, he canceled four recruiting trips during basketball season. A three-sport star, he canceled four recruiting trips during the playoffs because he didn't want to miss a game and let down his coach, Jim Haley, whom Culpepper had known since the second grade. His only visit was to Central Florida.

"To the big schools, he was a lost cause," Central Florida offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek says. "Every college in the country wanted this kid. But it took somebody as hungry as UCF to take the step that made the difference."

As a freshman, Culpepper showed remarkable poise despite operating on a Cliff's Notes version of a West Coast offense installed by Kruczek, a former Steelers quarterback. And in one game, he got to play in front of Emma, who still lives in Ocala.

It didn't take long for Daunte to get noticed. He completed his first 12 passes in a three-touchdown debut, hitting 20-of-25 for 254 yards to lead the Knights over fifth-ranked Eastern Kentucky.

"I saw a quarterback last night that has the best throwing motion and is the best passer I've seen in ... I don't remember," Joe Namath said after watching the game on television. Tom Braatz, the director of scouting for the Miami Dolphins, said, "Even as a true freshman, he's better than at least 80 percent of the quarterbacks starting for Division I-A schools right now."

Culpepper received a chance to measure himself against a Division I-A school he turned down when the Knights traveled last September to then-No. 1 Florida State. Several of his passes were dropped, but he still connected on 14-of-28 for 161 yards. He'll have several more opportunities this season to prove himself against high-level competition in games at South Carolina, Georgia Tech and East Carolina.