NFL

Burton, Keenan

bo05 kburtonCard: Bowman Sterling 2008
Acquired: 2014 BB, Target Autograph Memorabilia

Keenan Burton had a pretty respectable career playing in the SEC for Kentucky- despite nagging injuries that plagued his first two years at the school. In 2006, his first injury free year, Burton caught 77 receptions for 1,036 yards and 12 TDs for the Wildcats. He finished his Senior season, with an additional 66 catches for 741 yards and 9 touchdowns. Invited to the combine, Keenan tested well in many of the metrics and ran a 4.44 40.

Selected 128th overall in the 2008 Draft (4th round) by the St. Louis Rams, Keenan had 13 receptions for 172 yards and a TD his rookie campaign.  Things looked great in Burton’s second season as he led the team with 25 receptions entering Week 10, but after landing awkwardly, he blew out his patella effectively ending his career.

G/Gs 22/7       Rec 38        Yds  425        Avg 11.2       Td 1       Lg  30t

 

NFL

Hageman, Ra’Shede

sage14 hagemanCard: Sage Hit 2014 (#32/250)
Acquired: 2015, Box Breaker

At 6’6″, 310 Ra’Shede Hageman was considered an intriguing prospect coming out of college. Originally a tight end and basketball player, Ra’Shede converted to defensive tackle as a Freshman. He appeared in 46 games at Minnesota,  and finished his career with 91 tackles, with 10 sacks for minus 76 yards, 24 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and two blocked kicks. He displayed a nice blend of strength, size and athleticism that can translate to the NFL level.  He was the top performer at the bench press (32 reps) and has rare leaping ability for his size which really impressed the scouts at the combine.   Hageman however is considered raw talent with his lack of experience and background.

The Falcons drafted Hageman in the second round of the 2014 draft and have slowly edged him into the lineup, finishing the season with 17 tackles and a sack. In 2015 Hageman had another 27 tackles and a sack.

NFL, WLAF

Harris, Elroy

ultwlaf92 eharrisCards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 2/15    Received:  3/5    (18 days)

At the time of his departure from EKU (Eastern Kentucky University) fireplug Elroy Harris was the All-time leading rusher in school history with 4,555 yards in 3 years, a whopping 5.9 yards per carry, and scored an Ohio Valley Conference Record 58 career total touchdowns. Among Elroy’s accolades was being named the Conference player of the year in 1988 after accumulating 1,543 yards, which led all Division I-AA schools.

Elroy was a 3rd round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in the jam packed 1989 NFL super draft.  Looking for a change of pace in the backfield the Seahawks were stuffed with talent at RB with guys like Curt Warner, John L. Williams, James Jones, Derrick Fenner, and Kevin Harmon. Thankfully Chuck Knox and his infamous ‘Ground Chuck’ offense required so many backs to share the load. Elroy did what it took to make the roster and was utilized primarily on special teams. As a returnman he made appearances in 14 games for Seattle, returning 18 kicks for 334 yards.

wcwlaf92 eharrisElroy was not retained for the 1990 season, but with the WLAF on the horizon, he made an excellent candidate for the league. Originally a draft pick of the Montreal Machine, Harris had a speedy debut against the Birmingham Fire.  Elroy managed to squeeze out 250 yards and 2 TDs, but found himself cut after Week 4. It’s always been a mystery to me as to why it happened, but regardless, the Machine were content with Ricky Johnson taking the lionshare of the workload to go along with Broderick Sargent.

Elroy did not go unemployed for long. He quickly was picked up by a familiar foe- the Birmingham Fire, whose coach, Chan Gailey is a mastermind (even today) of squeezing the most out of players that he can in his offensive systems. Harris stepped into the lineup and contributed another 290 yards and a TD, finishing 4th in the league in rushing, and helping the Fire make the playoffs.

Elroy returned to the Birmingham Fire for the 1992 season, and put up a respectable 470 yards on the ground and 5 TDs, sharing the backfield with Jim Bell as the Fire returned to the playoffs.

psetwlaf91 eharrisWhy looking for Elroy Harris for 7 years sticks out in my mind is because he has a card in each set that’s very nice looking.  I thought that finding him was going to be much easier than this, but who would’ve thought there were hundreds of Elroy Harris’s across the United States? It took a bit of extra effort cross referencing cards and public data to finally track down the elusive Fire runningback. While I just threw a prayer to the wind, I had a gnawing feeling that this address was the one. I was just surprised to get a response so quickly, and a nice note to boot. Elroy is currently a head mechanic and a coach at his local high school. Apparently he gets little fanmail, as he was really happy to receive this treat letter from me and wished my father and me all the best.

NFL  14/0     RUSH 8   YDS 23   AVG 2.9    TD 0   LG 8
REC 3   YDS 26    AVG 8.7   TD 0   LG 11
KR  18    YDS 334     AVG 18.6     TD 0   LG 25

WLAF   RUSH 271    YDS 1010   AVG 3.7    TD 8  LG 41
REC  17     YDS 83     AVG 4.9      TD 1     LG 16

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.