FORT LAUDERDALE — A year ago about now, Kyle DeVan was a substitute teacher in California, his dream of playing in the NFL was barely on life support.
“I was a teacher, that’s true but the truth of it is I learned so much more from those kids than they did from me,” said DeVan, who still has trouble believing that he’s going to be the starting right guard for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night.
In the spring of 2008, DeVan — 6-foot-2, 305 lbs. — graduated from Oregon State, an undrafted offensive lineman looking for a job. He caught on with the New York Jets, who actually cut him three times and again, briefly with the Washington Redskins.
After that unsatisfying season, DeVan went back to his home in Vacaville, Calif., and caught on as a substitute teacher at $100 a day. As a former high school wrestler, he also helped to coach the wrestling team.
“I enjoyed being around the kids and they rekindled something in me. They went out and competed every day. It was a lesson for me to stick with something I thought was important.”
He was starting to feel motivated again when he got a call from the Boise Burn of the now-disbanded arenafootball2 league. He drove to Idaho, played four games for the Burn at $250 a game and then got signed by the Colts to come to training camp after a workout.
He made the 53-man roster out of training camp and took over the starting job mid-season.
Coach Jim Caldwell calls DeVan’s accomplishment “extraordinary.”
“Coming from the arena league to the NFL and grasping this system so quickly, it’s a tribute to hit grit and determination,” Caldwell said.
“I walk around with a smile on my face all the time,” DeVan said. “I love going to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s meetings or practices or games.”
DeVan quickly has become a favourite of the veterans. He knows that because they ride him mercilessly.
“Pork Chop?” said centre Jeff Saturday, invoking DeVan’s new nickname. “He can make his life sound like a real struggle. He can sound pitiful. But look at him. He’s over 300 lbs. He wasn’t missing a lot of meals.”
DeVan’s mom and dad are divorced but they’ll both be at Sun Life Stadium tonight and he knows he’ll have a lot of very interested followers, especially the wrestlers, back in Vacaville.
“In a way, I owe them a lot,” he said. “I hope some of them are as excited as I am that dreams really can come true.”
ken.fidlin@sunmedia.ca
