Jacobs is Giants' all-around back

He took long route to top

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Never in his years down in the bayou in a town of 700 called Napoleonville, La., did he feel it. Nor did he in those two seasons along the Verdigris River in a place called Coffeyville, Kan., close to the Oklahoma border.

But at Auburn University? Now that was different. Oh, how Brandon Jacobs will tell you of the isolation he felt down there in Alabama. After all, try being the third tailback in a system that was built for two - especially when the names ahead of you (Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams) had the NFL draft pickers salivating.

"The stuff I went through at Auburn? It didn't matter anymore. I just wanted to play football," said Jacobs, who will get his wish one more time this season Sunday when he pulls on his No. 27 for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The fact that he'll have a starring role on the biggest sports stage is a tribute to the people who've stuck with him all these years, though one of those supporters suggests the credit belongs strictly to Jacobs.

"In his heart of hearts, he wanted to be a running back," said Dicky Rolls. "With his size [6 feet 4 inches, 264 pounds], everyone wanted to move him, but Brandon wouldn't let [them]. A lot of this is Brandon's fortitude. As coaches, we think we always know what's best, but Brandon knew best."

Rolls is an assistant coach at Coffeyville Community College. It's a town that has long been known for the tragedy more than 115 years ago when seven people died - including four of five members of the infamous Dalton Gang - in bloodshed during a bank robbery. But to the slice of the American sports public that follows junior college athletics, Coffeyville is home to one of the nation's finest football programs.

Upward of 11 Coffeyville CC graduates are on NFL rosters, including Jacobs, whose story may not be the most unlikely, but certainly offers the most circuitous route.

"It's been a long, hard road. A crooked road," said Rolls.

Hard knocks

It began some 50 miles south of Baton Rouge, in the heart of LSU country, where football is serious business. Jacobs, to no one's surprise, loved the game, but what perhaps shaped his life was the embrace put upon him by his mother, Janice, and his aunt and uncle, Dianne and Phil Cheavious. They steered Jacobs away from the rougher parts of town and toward football at Assumption High outside New Orleans.

It was football that prompted Auburn to call, and while at first it appeared that avenues had been opened for Jacobs, what happened next was just the first hurdle that would challenge his determination.

"He had been in special education classes in fourth grade, and in Louisiana, [those] classes don't count toward a high school diploma," said former Coffeyville assistant Sean Cherico, who used to recruit players from the football-rich belt between New Orleans and Houston.

At Assumption, Jacobs ran for 3,022 yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior, but during the recruiting process, it was discovered that the educational system had failed him. Without a high school diploma, he couldn't accept the scholarship offer Auburn had extended, which is where Cherico and Coffeyville CC came in.

They provided an environment in which Jacobs could complete his education and play football, but years later, they'll tell you that it was the young man from Napoleonville who enriched them.

"Brandon didn't have the foundation. He needed to be taught," said Rolls. "But he sucked up the education. He was like a sponge."

Said Jacobs's head coach at Coffeyville, Jeff Leiker: "What I loved about him was his great personality, his great laugh. He understood that he was here to take care of business and he did that."

Advancing the prospects of talented athletes was nothing new to the coaches at Coffeyville, and the roster of NFL players who went there is impressive. Keith Traylor and Paul Soliai of the Dolphins, Leonard Little of the Rams, Travis Fisher of the Lions, Aiken Ayodele of the Cowboys, Reggie Nelson of the Jaguars, Dashon Goldson of the 49ers, Darrell Shropshire of the Falcons, Johnathan Joseph of the Bengals, and Ryan Lilja of the Colts. They share a Coffeyville experience with Jacobs, though none of them made two Division 1 collegiate stops, as did the big, powerful running back.

The first was at Auburn, mostly out of loyalty. Jacobs felt he should honor the offer that had been extended a few years earlier, even though Brown and Williams were already in the mix.

"Auburn probably should have let him go," said Rolls. "They had two great running backs who had already put in their time [as freshmen and sophomores while Jacobs was at Coffeyville]. But Auburn probably didn't want to play against him, either."

Leiker, who has stepped down from coaching to become Coffeyville's athletic director, appreciated the dilemma Auburn coaches faced, but he also believed in Jacobs. Earlier in his career, at Garden City CC in Kansas, Leiker had coached Corey Dillon, so he had a good reference point.

"Corey was always 215 pounds, awfully powerful, and he just loved to play," said Leiker. "Brandon was huge. Everyone thought he should be a defensive end or a linebacker or a tight end. But I've always been an I-formation guy and Corey was a good I back and so was Brandon."

Rolls - who concedes that he had harbored doubts about Jacobs's ability to play tailback, despite the trusted word of Cherico - knew the 2003 season wasn't a good fit at Auburn. Jacobs had resisted offers to redshirt, and he struggled for playing time. He ran for just 442 yards, and his coaches at Coffeyville knew he needed to go in another direction. Jacobs had given so much to the Coffeyville program in 2001-02 that Leiker, Rolls, and Cherico were determined to return the favor. They directed Jacobs toward Southern Illinois University.

After stops in Napoleonville, Coffeyville, and Auburn, Jacobs was headed to Carbondale.

Not small-time

Jerry Kill heard the skeptics that Leiker, Rolls, and Cherico had heard, only by the fall and winter of 2004, they belonged to the voices of men who worked for NFL teams.

"They'd say to me, 'Can he play H-back or tight end?' " recalled Kill, whose offensive-minded approach to the game showcased Jacobs's talents. The big back ran for 922 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Salukis and consistently showed he had the necessary tools to play tailback.

"He's got a big body, yes, but mentally, he's tough and he's got great feet. He's a gifted kid and he's proven that he was right [to stay at tailback]," said Kill.

Taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, Jacobs spent two seasons as a backup in a system that featured Pro Bowler Tiki Barber. He had just 134 carries for 522 yards, and while Jacobs did show immense power (16 touchdowns), the knock continued to swirl: The kid was out of position, or so said the pundits.

To counter that, the onetime Giants star offered much-needed support.

"[Barber] said, 'A lot of people think Brandon runs too tall,' " said Rolls. "He said, 'But all of us have something to overcome. I had to prove I wasn't too small.' What people discovered was, Brandon thinks he's 180 or 200 pounds."

At Coffeyville, Jacobs had become close friends with a teammate, Damien Nash. A talented back with tremendous speed, Nash later went to the University of Missouri and was drafted by the Denver Broncos, but almost one year ago, he dropped dead after taking part in a charity basketball game in his native St. Louis. The death stunned not only the Broncos family but those at Coffeyville, including Jacobs.

"Nothing is forever, so you better enjoy this," is the message Leiker has passed on to his players, and Jacobs personifies that.

With Barber retired this season, Jacobs inherited the starting tailback position and did nothing but shine. Despite missing five games with injuries, he had 202 carries for 1,009 yards and 4 touchdowns. Of the 17 backs who amassed at least 1,000 yards, only two surpassed Jacobs's averages of 5.0 per carry and 91.7 per game. In three stunning playoff wins that got the Giants into the Super Bowl, Jacobs carried 48 times for 155 yards and 3 touchdowns.

All the while, the coaches who came to believe in Jacobs have sat back and smiled and said countless times to themselves, "I told you so," though more accurately, they've said, "See, I told you Brandon said he could do it."

Cherico points out that Jacobs has comparable career numbers to those of Miami's Brown and Tampa Bay's Williams, both of whom were first-round draft picks in 2005. He's run for 1,531 yards on 336 carries in 42 games, while Brown (2,517, 567, 35) and Williams (2,184, 569, 32) aren't appreciably better. Combined, Brown and Williams have 23 touchdowns, matching Jacobs's output, playoffs included.

Where Brown and Williams are no match for Jacobs is in the conference championship department. Jacobs owns the only one among the three, and while the joy felt by his former coaches doesn't reflect upon the backs for Miami and Tampa Bay, it is a testament to the feelings they have for No. 27 of the Giants.

"He's a hardhat, lunchpail guy," said Kill, who recently was named coach at Northern Illinois. "But he's very appreciative, very humble. He still calls me back when I leave a message, and a lot of kids won't call back. He does not forget where he comes from."

Which is Napoleonville, Coffeyville, Carbondale, and, yes, even Auburn.

No matter that the football year didn't meet his high standards, Jacobs will always have a soft spot for Auburn. It's where he met his wife, Kim, with whom he has a son, Brayden.

Together, they've enjoyed this Super Bowl ride, and so have the people who've been part of it.

"I love him like a fat kid likes cake," said Rolls. "He's a big bruiser, but he's a good man on the inside."

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.