Danny Woodhead, one of the non-draftee invites at rookie camp this past weekend for the Jets, is an interesting story to watch. Standing taller then his 5′ 7.5″ stature would tell you, Woodhead is the current all time NCAA career rushing leader, and he finished his 2007 season at Chadron State with the second best career total in college football history, 9,479 all purpose yards. The running back who spent four years in college and won the Harlon Hill Trophy twice has heard about his small stature more than once in his college days, and hopes to make a different more lasting impression in the pros.

“A lot of other people have thought: ‘You’re the underdog, so you probably really want to do good. Honestly, I just think of it as being any other football player. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me.”

And with those stats, it only looks like he got cheated out of one thing: Not being drafted. When the Jets made the deal for Woodhead, agent Chris Gittings thought it to be a shame that other teams passed on the 200 pound back for others with similar height such as Rutgers’ Ray Rice (5-8), and Michigan’s Mike Hart (listed at slightly under 5-9).

To be honest, Woodhead probably wasn’t drafted because of the school — the fact that he wasn’t a D-I football player didn’t help. Yes, he has those two very important records to his name, but when you play at Chadron State they are really skewed stats. Nevertheless, he did set the records and he did play four years of college football. Who knows if Darren McFadden played four years of college? You also have to take into consideration the fact that he probably started from somewhere in his freshman year onward. Still, he had to have possessed some sort of talent to set those records, and it was a cheap gamble for the Jets who are gobbling up UDFA’s.

We’ll see how Woodhead fits into the scheme this year. If he makes the team, he could be competing with Jesse Chatman for the backup kick returner. Why not, right?