Professor

Terre Haute News, Terre Haute, Indiana- TribStar.com - Former Seminole standout seeks NFL chance

excerpt:

TERRE HAUTE — For a free agent who was one of the brighter lights in the Indianapolis Colts’ 23-10 preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, there was detectable anxiety on the part of kick returner Craphonso Thorpe.

Odd considering Thorpe stuck out with his 29.5-yard kick-return average on four returns, including a 40-yarder. He also had three catches for 25 yards, co-leader in receptions with Bryan Fletcher.

Or perhaps not so odd considering Thorpe has been down this road before.

“I don’t know if [Thursday’s performance] helped because I don’t have a [safe] spot on this team right now. I don’t know what plan [the Colts] have for me. I just do what the coaches tell me to do. The Colts brought me here because they wanted to see what I could do. I just thank God for that,” said Thorpe after the Colts’ special-teams practice at Rose-Hulman’s Cook Stadium on Saturday.

Thorpe’s chance with the Colts is conceivably the last for a player who was a fourth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2005, but who has had a bad run of injury luck and has yet to see action in a regular-season NFL game.

Thorpe was highly touted coming out of Florida State in 2005. He finished his Seminole career with 123 receptions for 2,153 yards and 22 touchdowns and he averaged 21.7 yards per kick return. He is one of only two Seminoles to notch a pair of 200-yard receiving performances. He also was the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s 100- and 200-meter champion in 2003.

Thorpe’s collegiate numbers would have been even better if his career hasn’t been interrupted in 2003 — his best season at Florida State with 51 receptions, 994 yards and 11 touchdowns — when he shattered his right leg in Florida State’s overtime loss against North Carolina State. Thorpe injured his tibia and fibula and had a rod placed in his leg to recover.

Thorpe made the practice squad with the Chiefs in 2005, but was cut before the 2006 season as a shoulder injury suffered during the offseason limited his ability to show his stuff, a surprise to some who thought he was showing signs of sticking with the Chiefs before his injury.

He was picked up mid-season last year by the Houston Texans and cut in January. He spent a brief time with the Detroit Lions, but was cut in April and picked up by the Colts.

“I’ve learned that this is a job that you have to put everything you have into it if you want to make it happen. I don’t think I’ve appreciated that sense until now,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe is not likely to be the Colts’ kick-return specialist. T.J. Rushing is slotted to be their go-to kick returner this season and he wasn’t far behind Thorpe on Thursday as he averaged 28 yards on two returns.

Thorpe will likely have to win a battle with John Standeford, Aaron Moorehead and several others to cement a roster spot as a dual threat.

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