Last year, the Sac State football team sent Lonnie Paxton to the pros, where he is a current member of the New England Patriots. This year, Charles Roberts, Ricky Ray, Lamont Webb and Anthony Daisley will all make their bids to do the same. But there is another Sac State alumnus who has made the NFL his home for four years. It?s Daimon Shelton, the starting fullback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Shelton, an All-American prodigy of head coach John Volek when he was a coach at Fresno City College, played one year at Sac State in 1996, where he dominated the Big Sky.

Playing in only nine games for the Hornets, Shelton, a running back in college, carried the ball 172 times for 825 en route to a second team All-Big Sky Conference team selection, and was eventually drafted by the Jaguars in the sixth round of the 1997 draft.

“He?s one of the greatest players Sac State has ever had,” Volek said.

Shelton, who resides in Sacramento with his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Aliya, in the off-season, is back on campus, working out and keeping himself in shape as he prepares for next year.

“I just come down here to lift weights, and hit the track,” he said.”These new tracks (renovated for the Olympic trials) are beautiful.”

While Shelton didn?t make mention of it, Volek was quick to comment on the influence that his former star has on the current, younger players in Sacramento.

“Daimon comes back every year and works with the kids at our summer high school camp,” Volek said. “He?s a great ambassador to Sac State. Every time there?s a Jacksonville Jaguars game on TV, the words ?Sac State? are on there with it. He grew up in the area, lives here now, and he is always giving back.”

Another positive of having a guy like Shelton around the weight room in the off-season is that it gives the future hopeful?s, such as Roberts and Ray, a chance to pick the brain of somebody with experience. Shelton is a player who knows the difference in competition between the NFL and the Division I-AA Hornets, and how sometimes the toughest test can be versatility.

“The level of competition is so much higher,” Shelton said. “For me though, the toughest transition wasn?t the competition, it was changing positions from running back (in college) to the fullback spot. Being a blocker is a lot different.”

The transition was made very smoothly for the six foot, 258 pound bruiser, however, as he spent his rookie year as a special teams player, and then moved right into the starting fullback position in his second season. He has led the way for some quality running backs in Fred Taylor and James Stewart.

“I wasn?t surprised at all that he made that transition,” Volek said. “He?s always been such a strong back. He?s a gifted athlete, he?s fast, and it always took two or three guys to tackle him.”

Like most NFL fullbacks, Shelton?s statistics are not glamorous. He carried the ball only four times last year, and his career best rushing effort was 44 yards on 13 carries in 1997, but his intangibles are what make him irreplaceable to the Jacksonville offense. Especially remarkable are his contributions to the Jaguar rushing attack. With his key blocking ability, Taylor rushed for 1,399 yards last season, and in his four years, Shelton has been the lead blocker in which Taylor and Stewart were among the league leaders in rushing touchdowns.Shelton has enjoyed his career, and he hopes to end it in Jacksonville.

“I?m just loving what I?m doing (playing football), and getting paid for it,” Shelton said. “I plan on being in the league, blocking for Fred (Taylor) for about three more years, and then I?m going to call it a career.”

So, for this former Sac State standout, the dream of the NFL has been his reality, and if the next three years go as planned, he will live the reality that is dreamed by every NFL player; he will leave the game on his own terms.