Amey readies for draft

Mitch McLaughlin

For the second straight year, Sacramento State is hopeful that one of its football players will be selected in the NFL draft.

After becoming one of the top receivers in the history of Division I-AA college football, Fred Amey aspires to become the 10th Sac State player to be drafted by an NFL team in the last 20 years.

Amey was named first-team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association after the 2004 season.

Last year offensive tackle Marko Cavka was selected in the sixth round by the New York Jets. Cavka, who started 42 consecutive games for the Hornets from 2000-03, was on the Jets roster for the entire season but he wasn’t activated for any of their 18 games (including both of the Jets’ playoff games).

Amey was one of the best players in school history after making nearly every Sac State receiving record his. He also set a record for the most career yards in Big Sky history, and that mark (4,049) sits in fourth place on the Division I-AA list. His career reception mark is also in the Div. I-AA top 10.

Amey had three workouts, and he said a total of seven teams came out for the two “pro days” that were held on the Sac State campus. Amey said the Indianapolis Colts came to both workouts, and the other teams who came were the Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles.

Amey’s third workout was in Santa Clara — the San Francisco 49ers’ base of operations.

“The Atlanta Falcons also said they would be interested in me as a possible free agent signing, should I go undrafted,” Amey said. “They told me they didn’t have many picks, but if I ended up as a free agent, they would be interested in signing me.”

As of right now, the Falcons have eight draft picks, one in each of the sixth and seventh rounds, where Amey would most likely be drafted.

Sac State coach Steve Mooshagian has Amey graded as a second-day prospect. The second day of the draft is rounds four through seven. Mooshagian does know his way around NFL receivers after serving four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, coaching receivers. His receivers included Peter Warrick, Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Of the teams that have made contact with Amey, the 49ers and Eagles have the most picks. The 49ers have five picks in the sixth and seventh rounds, and the Eagles have 13 total picks with three seventh-rounders.

Indianapolis, the only NFL team to come twice for Amey’s on-campus workouts, have just two picks in the last two rounds of the draft. The Colts have been one team that prefers smaller receivers, and Amey is considered to be small since he stands 5-foot-10-inches and weighs 186 pounds. The Colts’ top four receivers are 6-foot and under in height, including Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley.

————————————————————————————–

Mitch McLaughlin can be reached at [email protected]