#40 - TE Joe Kowalewski

Hes from where I live, so go Joe!

 

Here's a good article from the Syracuse Post-Standard, syracuse.com...

No Quit Joe
Solvay’s Kowalewski looks to make leap from Jets practice squad to active roster
Thursday, July 26, 2007
By Dave Rahme
Staff writer

There is apparently only one way to get Joe Kowalewski to stop playing football.

“Somebody is going to have to kill me,” Kowalewski, the former Solvay High School star and tight end at Syracuse University, said following a recent midweek workout at SU with current members of the team. “That’s basically what it will take.”

Kowalewski, 24, who graduated from SU with a degree in retail and consumer studies but only 33 career receptions, is trying to complete an unlikely journey to the NFL. He is close. A member of the eight-player practice squad for the New York Jets last season, he will report to the Jets’ training camp today at Hofstra University with the goal of making the team’s 45-player active roster.

“I’ve worked hard just to give myself an opportunity to be on this team,” Kowalewski said. “I just have to go out there and be the absolute best I can be to give myself an opportunity. You have to leave it all out on the field every day.”

It is not unusual for an undrafted player such as Kowalewski to make the NFL — roughly 60 percent of the players in the league last season were drafted in the fourth round or lower, among them were many players who failed to be selected in any of the seven rounds and signed as free agents. But Kowalewski’s uphill journey has been especially steep, going back to his days as a running back at Solvay.

A lifelong SU football fan who once said he would have passed up a scholarship to Miami to play for the Orange, Kowalewski attended prep school in New Jersey out of high school in the hopes of solidifying an SU offer, only to suffer a broken ankle in his team’s first game.

The SU offer finally came, but only a few weeks before preseason camp opened in 2001. Kowalewski then endured several position changes before settling in at tight end and slowly working his way up the depth chart. He appeared to be on the verge of a breakout senior season when he caught seven passes for 97 yards in Game 3 against Virginia, but he injured his shoulder during the contest and was never the same. He was unable to play at all in three of the team’s final eight games and caught only seven passes in the other five.

The injury required postseason surgery and left Kowalewski unable to audition for NFL scouts prior to the 2006 draft. His name was absent from the two-day selection process and the flurry of free-agent signings that followed it.

“Mentally, I’ve been hardened over time with injuries and things of that nature,” Kowalewski said. “But you realize you can get through it if you work hard and give it your all. I did it because this game is something special to me.”

Down but not out, Kowalewski finally got a break when his agent called in May 2006 and presented him with three-day tryout opportunities with the Jets and Miami Dolphins. Taking his agent’s advice, Kowalewski chose the Jets and promptly “left it all out on the field” during the audition. Rookie head coach Eric Mangini noted the effort and signed Kowalewski to the practice squad, where he remained the entire season.

“It was big,” he said. “One of the best years of my life, being up there playing with those guys ... an awesome experience.”

As a member of the eight-man practice squad Kowalewski had an opportunity to practice with the team throughout the season, although he was not allowed by league rules to travel with the team. He and his fellow practice squad members were featured in a midseason story published in The New York Times. According to the Times story, Kowalewski was paid $4,700 a week for the 17 weeks for a total $79,900, not bad for a 24-year-old but nowhere near the money a player on the regular roster can make.

Kowalewski said it was a great deal anyway, considering the time he spent being coached by Mangini and his staff and the way he was able to learn from the tight ends on the roster.

“I’m definitely a better player than I was a year ago,” he said. “I have to be. You work on football every day, year-round. This is a man’s game. It is totally different from college. Nobody coddles you here. There is no waiting in line to deserve your chance to start. You have to earn that right here. You have to do it every single day.”

That attitude drew the attention of Mangini. Although attempts to reach him for this story were unsuccessful, he was quoted in the Times story as saying this about Kowalewski: “You always know a practice player is doing his job when he can frustrate the defense and they’re angry throughout practice because of the tempo he’s setting. Joe consistently makes people angry.”

Kowalewski said SU head coach Greg Robinson prepared him for the challenge with frank words of advice on what it would take to make it in the NFL, and he continues to offer guidance.

The next step is to make someone on the Jets even angrier by taking his spot on the roster.

Working in his favor is the fact that the Jets drafted no tight ends in April and thus far have signed none to free-agent contracts. Working against him is the fact that every tight end on the roster last season is back.

“I don’t even think about either one of those things,” Kowalewski said. “I learned real quickly at this level that it doesn’t matter who’s on the roster. If they don’t feel the guys they have are doing the job they will bring in somebody in the blink of an eye. It’s not about the competition that’s here. It’s about me earning the coaches’ trust.”

That challenge continues on Thursday, when Kowalewski returns to the field to compete for a regular job in the NFL.

He says there will be only one way to get him off it. Dave Rahme can be reached at 470-2148 or drahme@syracuse.com.

‘This is a man’s game. It is totally different from college. Nobody coddles you here. There is no waiting in line to deserve your chance to start. You have to earn that right here. You have to do it every single day.’ - Joe Kowalewski

Joe’s competition

The Jets have five tight ends on their camp roster. Last year’s starter, Chris Baker, had 31 catches and four touchdowns. Sean Ryan was his backup.

Ht. Wt. Yrs. College Chris Baker 6-3 258 6 Michigan St. Sean Ryan 6-5 265 4 Boston College Jason Pociask 6-2 267 2 Wisconsin James Dearth 6-4 270 7 Tarleton St. Joe Kowalewski 6-4 250 1 Syracuse

 

Thats the kind of players you need. Players who will do ANYTHING to make a team. I love it.

 

he has been looking really good in camp, catches everything thrown 2 him, good hands and powerful but haven't seen how his blocking is yet