Todd Lowber Of Delran High School Now Free-Agent WIth Vikings

He's 6-3 and ran a 4.11 40-yard-dash, which would have made him the fastest player at the NFL Draft Combine. If what you're about to read is 100 percent true, and the Vikings do make him a project, watch out.


Delran's Todd Lowber signs with the Minnesota Vikings despite never playing football

By JEFF OFFORD
Burlington County Times

A football player usually begins his career in grade school, on a small field in front of a few parents. Not at age 25 in front of 63,000 screaming fans in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.

Todd Lowber has never played a down in his life, yet there's a chance the former Delran High School track and basketball star could be on the Minnesota Vikings' roster next September.

Lowber recently signed a three-year deal with the Vikes after impressing team scouts during a workout. The deal — like most contracts in the NFL — isn't guaranteed, meaning Lowber's dream is a long way from becoming reality. Yet, considering his height (6-foot-3) and speed (he's run several sub 4.4 40-yard dashes), all the natural tools are in place.

All Lowber really has to do now is learn the playbook.

And prove he can take a hit.

“I know I've taken the long road,'' Lowber said. “But I'm not shocked that I've made it this far. I don't want to come off as cocky but I'm confident I can do this. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time.''

Lowber first considered playing professional football about 10 months ago. He had always participated in basketball and track and field, in both high school and college but never gave football much thought.

Last August, Lowber decided to make the switch. It wasn't as if Lowber wasn't having much success at his other two sports. He won the NCAA Division 3 high jump title by clearing seven feet for Ramapo College last spring — and that's after not having high jumped since high school. And he averaged 12 points a game in 45 games for the Ramapo men's basketball team and was playing professionally in Germany last summer.

Yet, over the last eight months of running and jumping and catching passes, Lowber has learned to love a game he barely knows.

“When it came to football I always had tunnel vision,'' said Lowber, who now lives in Riverside. “I guess I just didn't want to get hurt. I was concentrating on the other two sports and wanted to keep it that way. Who knows where I'd be right now if I had gotten involved in football at an earlier age? Then again, everything happens for a reason.''

Lowber has been working five days a week since January with Jim Garrett, who has been involved with the NFL for 40 years as a player, assistant coach and scout.

Garrett, who also was a head coach on the collegiate level, last worked as a scout for Cowboys in 2003.
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Garrett, retired now, helps develop football hopefuls at GoodSports USA in Wall Township. Over the years Garrett has seen a lot of talented players come and go, but few better than Lowber.

“The kid is really fast and he can jump,'' Garrett said. “We had a workout for six NFL teams and he ran a 4.11, a 4.21, a 4.28 and a 4.3 40-yard dash. And he had a 421/2 vertical leap.

“Plus, he's such a nice kid. In all my years, he's the nicest kid I've ever been around. So polite and so respectful of his elders.

“With Todd, I didn't want to get involved in a bunch of technical stuff with him because I didn't want to confuse him. I mean, the kid's never worn a helmet before. So I just told him to watch the other kids and do what they do. He's a quick learner.

“I don't want to burden him with expectations. But I can see him making the (Vikings) final roster. But they have to take him from Point A. They have to bring him along from the beginning because he never played the game before. But he has the talent.”

Lowber has worked out for several NFL teams since March 29. According to his agent, Jim Ulrich, a Mount Laurel resident who works for Atlanta-based Enter-Sports Management, the Eagles were one of those teams who came to see Lowber. The Eagles liked what they saw but wanted to wait until after next weekend's NFL Draft to make a decision on signing him.

Lowber and Ulrich didn't want to wait that long. Neither did the Vikings.

“I wanted to get him into a situation where he could get some one-on-one instruction before the minicamps begin,'' Ulrich said. “I would have loved him to sign with the Eagles but they just couldn't pull the trigger.

“Minnesota is a good situation for him. They actually have a bigger need at wide receiver than the Eagles do and they have some great coaches to work with.''

Ulrich, like Garrett, doesn't want to make any hasty predictions right now but thinks Lowber has a legitimate chance to make the Vikes' final roster.

“One of the scouts on the Vikes asked me how I thought he would do, and really, I told him I have no idea,'' Ulrich said. “He's never played football before. But he's got incredible talent and a huge heart. He wants to do this.''