News
Carimi takes student-athlete label to heart
28 Apr 11
Gabe Carimi will skip draft for school; NFL days lie ahead
By Robert Klemko, USA TODAY
Carimi isn't among the record 25 prospects who will attend the NFL draft in New York on Thursday hoping to hear their names called in the first round.
The Wisconsin offensive tackle has bigger things on his plate.
Carimi, a 6-7, 314-pound All-American, will be on campus in Madison, Wis., presenting his capstone project. It's one of the final steps towards attaining his Civil Engineering degree in May.
His student group has created a mock engineering firm tasked with the renovation of an on-campus library – a project weighty enough to hold Carimi's attention on the day he hopes to find a home in professional football.
"It was a goal of mine," Carimi says. "I knew how hard it was going to be once I got into the league, so I figured I needed to get it done while I was still here."
Carimi, 22, started 49 games while taking on one of the more difficult majors in Madison.
"You play to your strengths," Carimi says. "Math came easy to me and I think it played into football too. There's addition and subtraction and variables all over the field."
And while the situations vary, Carimi has consistently delivered. In 2010, two Wisconsin rushers eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season and another was four yards shy. For his efforts, Carimi earned the Outland Trophy, awarded to the nation's top offensive lineman.
Despite all this, Carimi is ranked as the No. 3 tackle by USA TODAY's draft service, NFLDraftScout.com, mainly because of his questionable pass-blocking pedigree.
"You see him dominate the point of attack in the running game," says Rob Rang, an analyst for NFLDraftScout.com. "But he's not as consistent with his technique as you would like. He's not extremely athletic so you see him get beaten by fast defensive ends, which is why people see him as a right tackle in the NFL."
One man who disagrees is LeCharles Bentley, a two-time Pro Bowler center with the New Orleans Saints who retired in 2008. Bentley, who runs an academy for offensive linemen, worked closely with Carimi this offseason.
"In the NFL, teams usually have a tackle who's better at pass blocking and another for run blocking. Gabe fits right in the middle," Bentley says. "He's a very balanced football player."
Bentley points to Carimi's Senior Bowl performance, where he stood up to some of the best edge-rushers in the college game.
"There's a high level of talent at that game," Bentley says. "It's usually a place where guys get exposed. Gabe did not."
Yet, questions follow Carimi, who's projected as a late first-round choice. There are questions about the knee injury that forced him to miss three games in 2008 (he started every game since) and questions about his combine declaration that he was the best tackle available (he says the quote was taken out of context). There even have even been questions about his religion.
Nicknamed "The Jewish Hammer," Carimi fasted until an hour before the Big Ten opener in his freshman season, when the game fell on Yom Kippur.
He describes himself as a reformed Jew. When the holiday again fell on a game day last season, Carimi fasted for 24 hours according to the Israeli sundown so he could eat and take intravenous fluids right before game time.
"It's pretty big in my life," Carimi says. "I'm religious, but I try to tweak it so I can still do my job."
When asked whether he would play on Yom Kippur, Carimi told NFL scouts, "I already looked out over the next 15 years, and Yom Kippur doesn't fall on a Sunday."
It's the kind of foresight that allows Carimi to concentrate on schoolwork whilst an NFL-sized payday beckons.
