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Greg_A_Bedard

6-2 1.8, 218 and 4.52 in the 40

Starks close to realizing NFL dream

By Jonah Bronstein Niagara Gazette

NIAGARA FALLS — After James Starks participated in the first day of junior varsity football tryouts as an incoming ninth-grader at Niagara Falls High School in 2001, coach Don Bass was compelled to tell Starks’ father that “if he doesn’t get caught up in the streets and he keeps his grades up, he won’t pay a cent for college.”

“He just had ‘it’”, Bass, now Niagara Falls varsity coach, recalled this week. “I don’t know quite how to describe it, but he was far superior to everyone else out there.”

When the Wolverines put the pads on the next week, Bass changed his projection, telling Starks, “if you stay dedicated, you can do this for a living.”

Bass, now the varsity coach at Niagara Falls, was right on both counts.

After breaking all of the major rushing records in three breathtaking seasons at the University at Buffalo, Starks is almost certain to hear his name called while watching the NFL draft over the next two days.

Starks — or “Buck,” as he’s commonly called in Niagara Falls — has a chance to be selected in the second or third round tonight, though most analysts project him to be taken sooner than later in the final four rounds Saturday.

“I don’t care what round I go,” Starks told reporters during a UB event at the New Era store Wednesday. “I’m going to be happy, and I’m going to be productive.”

Starks was one of the top-performing running backs at the NFL scouting combine in February, running the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds and showing off pass-catching skills that some analysts have said are the best among running backs in the draft pool.

“He has massive hands and he’s learned to catch with his fingertips and not the palms of his hands,” Bass said.

Starks was regarded as a possible first- or second-round prospect heading into his senior year at UB, but season-ending surgery to repair a labral tear in his shoulder in August may have lowered his draft stock.

“I worked hard to get back,” Starks said. “I know I’m healthy.”

Starks comes from a family of basketball standouts — notably his cousin, Jonny Flynn, one of the top picks in last year’s NBA draft.

“He could’ve went Division I in basketball,” Flynn said recently. “But he was always great at football. I remember there was an AAU trip when he might’ve been a sophomore in high school and he skipped it because he wanted to play football. That’s when we knew that was the sport he was going to play.”

“He’s a great athlete,” Bass said. “But he’s a natural football player.”

When Starks first arrived at UB five years ago, then-coach Jim Hofher moved him from quarterback, his high school position, to defensive back.

A year later, Turner Gill took over the UB program, and quickly realized that Starks was his best playmaker, and needed the ball in his hands.

Starks got an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job during his first spring with the Bulls, but was moved to tailback prior to the start of his redshirt freshman season. He raced for the game-winning touchdown in his debut game. Over the next three years he amassed 3,140 yards and 34 total touchdowns.

“Obviously, on the field, Buck is a tremendous athlete,” said Sal Constantino, a former Niagara Falls boys basketball assistant and one of Starks’ mentors. “I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of tremendous athletes over the last few years here, and he is the most humble of them all. He’s a true gentleman.”

Greg_A_Bedard

One of three runners to place in the top 10 at combine in 40, vertical, broad, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle. (Ben Tate, Hardesty)

RyanGrant25

i remember watching film on james starks with coach edgar bennett a couple weeks back..happy for him..now lets get to work