Seventh-round pick brings history of durability, persistence

[img_r]http://cmsimg.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=U0&Date=20081004&Category=PKR01&ArtNo=81004052&Ref=AR&Profile=1058&MaxW=150&Border=0[/img_r]Theres high school football tough.

Theres college football tough.

Then theres National Football League tough.

In high school back in Tyler, Texas, Matt Flynn broke his foot in the first round of the playoffs. His team went four rounds. Flynn did not miss a game.

For him, there was no other way, said Ty Wright, Flynns childhood friend and high school teammate. He just kept playing. During the week, he didnt practice too much and was in a boot. Come game time, he took the boot off and went out there and played.

In his only season as a college starter at LSU, Flynn separated his shoulder early in the third quarter of a game against Arkansas.

It happened at the beginning of the third quarter, and they shot it up, Flynn said. It wore off right before I threw a Hail Mary (at the end of regulation). Right before overtime, I went back in and they shot it up again.

Flynn, the Green Bay Packers rookie backup quarterback, has virtually no NFL experience. That could change Sunday, when the Packers play the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field. Starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers has nursed a sprained right shoulder all week and was listed as questionable. No one could possibly predict how Flynn might do in his first start, but those who know him say theyre sure of one thing: hell be virtually impossible to knock out.

That first became evident as a toddler, when Flynns paternal grandfather nicknamed him Ironhead.

Part of Matts personality is that hes pretty stubborn, said Flynns father, Alvin. Down here in Texas wed call him hard headed. He couldnt have been more than 3 when my dad just said hes got a head as hard as iron, so he called him Ironhead. Thats just part of the inner composure or drive or whatever it is that Matt has. Hes real stubborn and very confident.

If not for his persistence and confidence, Flynn almost certainly would not have made it this far in football. As the son of a former college quarterback Alvin was a starter at Baylor in the 1960s Flynn set out to follow in his fathers footsteps. His best friend (Wright) nearly got in the way. As sophomores, they were in a head-to-head competition for the starting quarterback job on the varsity at Robert E. Lee High School. After splitting snaps early in the season, coach Mike Owens opted to go with Wright.

Matt was so focused on playing quarterback, Owens said, that he worked his rear end off between his sophomore and junior year.

After that sophomore season, Wright turned his attention to baseball, and Flynn, who had played baseball and basketball in junior high, quit everything else to focus solely on becoming a quarterback.

He came back the next year and looked like a totally different quarterback, said Wright, who is an outfielder in the Chicago Cubs minor-league system. He was smarter, throwing better balls and really worked on his speed and his agility.

Once Flynn got the job, he never let go.

He had the flu so bad one time he barely could hold his head up, Owens said. But he was out there for us.

At LSU, Flynn entered the program with another highly touted quarterback, JaMarcus Russell. Both redshirted as freshmen before Russell settled into the starting job. Flynn was the No. 3 quarterback in 2004, the backup in 2005 (when he started the Peach Bowl game in place of an injured Russell and won the MVP) and again in 2006. Even though he couldnt beat out Russell, he never strongly considered transferring.

He just never thought he was not going to start down there if that makes any sense, Alvin Flynn said. Thats just the way he is. He just never thought that he would not play down there and do some good things. It just took him longer to do those good things than he thought it would.

When Russell left for the NFL before his senior season, Flynn finally got his chance. He started all but one game he missed the SEC championship game the week after he sustained that shoulder injury and helped the Tigers to the BCS national championship.

Flynn was viewed as a borderline prospect in the NFL draft, which was why he was available for the Packers in the seventh round at pick No. 209 overall. In training camp, he beat out fellow rookie Brian Brohm (a second-round draft pick) to become Rodgers backup.

Hes been through a lot of adversity from high school all the way through college, Alvin Flynn said. I think thats a significant contributing factor into his demeanor and how he looks at things and how he approaches the game.

Which brings Flynn to Sunday, when he could become the lowest-drafted quarterback to start as a rookie since Ryan Fitzpatrick (was picked 250th) started for the St. Louis Rams in 2005.

Im not surprised that hes playing in the NFL, Owens said. I am surprised and Im sure he is too that he may have an opportunity to play right away. You always figure youd sit around for two or three years and then become a starter, but I guarantee you its not bothering him. He may be a little nervous like anybody would be, but its not going to be one of these things where he chokes. Thats not going to happen.

Hell do whatever he can to win the football game. If that means having to break his leg on the last play to score, then thats what hell do.