After a year off from football, former Ball State University defensive end and linebacker Cortlan Booker is hoping to be given a chance to play in the NFL.
Booker was captain of the 2007 team that played in the International Bowl. But after an injury late in the season, he saw the interest in him dry up. Booker tore his pectoral tendon in the ninth game of the season against the University of Illinois.
"I was playing outside linebacker, and their quarterback Juice Williams had rolled out on an option look," Booker said. "He rolled out towards me. My assignment was to tackle him. So that's what I did. I hit him as he was pitching the ball, and I hit him pretty solid ... when I swung him to the ground the right side of my body hit before my arm hit."
Booker said his chest slumped down and on the next play he realized he couldn't lift his arm. He came out of the game, was given some painkillers and went back in a few plays later. Booker had torn off his pectoral tendon and knew he needed surgery.
He could have opted to miss the rest of the season and have the surgery right away in order to help his chances of being drafted, but instead he played the remaining four games while only able to use one arm.
"I knew I needed to have surgery, but I was captain of the team, and I believe that even with one arm I was able to help," Booker said.
Cortlan's mother, Sana Booker, tried to convince her son to do what was best for him and have the surgery after the Illinois game.
"I don't know what else I could have said," she said. "I told him, 'I care about your future' ... but quitting was never an option for him."
Former Ball State head coach Brady Hoke said Cortlan Booker was a true leader who refused to quit on his teammates.
"I think he wanted to play for his teammates," Hoke said. "That's part of what we were all about as a program and as a team. Him being a senior and a leader I think that was a huge part of wanting our team to be successful."
Sana Booker said her son looked at the injury as an inconvenience, but scouts and agents saw it differently. Before the start of his senior season, Cortlan Booker said agents contacted him even though they aren't supposed to. Booker told them to contact him after the season, but with the injury none of those agents got back in touch after the season.
Booker had the surgery in February following the International Bowl and was unable to work out for scouts and NFL teams. He went undrafted in the 2008 NFL Draft and didn't receive a free agent contract. Instead, he concentrated on his student teaching as an eighth grade English teacher at Wilson Middle School in Muncie and went on to graduate in May.
After graduation, Booker returned home to West Lafayette and got a job as a manager at Meijer Superstore. He also became an assistant coach at his alma mater, West Lafayette High School and helped the team to a No. 1 ranking before losing in the sectional game.
Meanwhile, he continued to rehabilitate and push himself back into shape. This February, a year after surgery, Booker was in good enough shape to perform in front of scouts at Ball State's Pro Day.
While Booker said he didn't perform as well as he could have, he was satisfied with his performance. He was listed at six feet two inches and 244 pounds as a senior and said he is around that size again.
With his performance, Booker said he hopes he did enough for at least one team to be interested.
"My No. 1 goal right now, because I take it step by step, is drum up enough interest in an old man for somebody to say, 'Hey come to camp and we'll see what you can do,'" he said.
Booker could receive an offer any day because he already went through the draft process and is considered an undrafted free agent. However, he said he doesn't expect anything until after the draft is complete this weekend because teams tend to wait until they know who they got in the draft.
Hoke said he thinks Booker is good enough to be given a shot.
"Book really had some great moments in his career, and he's got the physical presence and the ability to possibly get a shot and get into a camp," Hoke said.
Sana Booker said she doesn't understand why a team wouldn't want her son.
"Who wouldn't want a player that doesn't give up on his team and doesn't give up on himself?" she said. "When you look up football player in the dictionary you should see his picture."
Cortlan Booker said he hopes to have his shot but he doesn't put much weight in what his mother says about him.
"You can't talk sports with her because she thinks I'm the greatest sports athlete of all-time," he said.
If Booker's opportunity in the NFL never comes, he said, he will still have options. Booker said he would consider playing in the Canadian Football League or the new American Football League if a team was interested. He's also said he is considering going back to Ball State for graduate school.
His high school coach, Marshall Overley, who is still the head coach at West Lafayette, said Booker is always welcome to come back to be an assistant coach again.
If Booker's days of playing football are indeed done, he said he will move on.
"I'm going to do what everybody else does when they stop playing sports, I'm going to have a job and keep working," he said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
