If I told you back in the fall of 2004, the last season he played for Bunnell, that Marcus Easley was NFL-bound, you wouldn’t have believed me. If I told you that before spring 2009, you still wouldn’t have.

But a tremendous spring last season at UConn, coupled with a tremendous senior season for the Huskies and a fantastic couple of months of offseason workouts, has landed Easley at the NFL Scouting Combine.

And Easley’s not just there as a feel-good story. He is moving up the leader boards in several of the wide receiver drills. Just a few weeks back, there were talks about him playing on the new United Football League team in Hartford this fall. Now he’s being considered as a fourth-round pick in some mock drafts.

Easley’s story is intriguing. After two very good seasons at Bunnell, Easley didn’t get any offers from BCS or sub-division schools and decided to focus on academics as a student at UConn.

But after attending a few games his freshman year, Easley got the itch and decided to walk on. In his third season, he started four games for the Huskies when they opened games in multiple receiver sets, but wasn’t necessarily lighting the stat sheet on fire (four catches that season, five for his career).

Even a dominating performance in the Blue-White game last April didn’t land Easley atop the depth chart. Midway through the 2009 season is when Easley became a star. He ended the year at the team’s leading receiver: 48 catches, 893 yards, eight touchdowns and an average of 18.6 yards per catch.

By the way, Easley did not receive a football scholarship until just before the beginning of this final season. The contract he signs should easily cover Easley’s student loans.

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