MIAMI — One day, maybe 10 or 15 years from now, the self-made football player will step back and admire his work. But, at the moment, he can’t. John Bosa is still under construction.
He’s always under construction.
He is, in fact, in the early stages of his most ambitious project yet — shaping himself into an NFL defensive end.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done and how far I’ve come. But I can’t stop and say, ‘Hey, look at you, John, you’ve really accomplished a lot,”‘ said Bosa, the Miami Dolphins’ No. 1 draft pick and an instant starter at right defensive end. “Maybe after I retire and have grandchildren I’ll be able to sit back and reflect on the things I’ve done.
“But I can’t look back and appreciate anything now. I’ve got too much work left to do yet.”
Bosa is intent on building himself into an All-Pro with the Dolphins. Those who know him — or anyone familiar with his rise from small-town/small-tim e high school athlete, to collegiate star at Boston College, to first-round NFL draft pick — will expect him to make it.
“He’s driven,” said Miami rookie running back Troy Stradford, a teammate of Bosa’s at Boston College and his roommate in Miami. “He’s obsessed with working out and making himself a great player. He has to be the best at what he does.”
When Bosa straps on a hard hat, things get done. Improbable goals become attainable.
“The summer before he went into the seventh grade, we were talking one day and he said, ‘Papa, do you think I can be a football player?”‘ said Bosa’s father, Arthur. “I said, ‘John, you can be anything you want to be if you’re willing to work hard enough for it.’ He looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to be a football player.’ And that’s what he’s been ever since.”
Although he worked hard and became captain of his high school team and an all-state performer, he left Keene (N.H.) High School a lightly regarded — and light — college prospect. Boston College was the only Division I school to offer Bosa — then a 6-foot-3, 218-pound tight end/defensive end — a scholarship.
Bosa turned down offers from several small schools in the East and accepted the challenge of playing at BC.
“He said, ‘Am I good enough to play Division I?’ I told him to go to BC and find out,” Arthur Bosa said. “He said, ‘I am.’ That’s when I knew he was going to make it.”
Others weren’t so sure, including BC coach Jack Bicknell.
“We really didn’t expect much from him. He came from a small high school and he weighed only 218 pounds. We signed him hoping he might develop, but we weren’t counting on it,” Bicknell said. “There are hundreds of freshmen around the country just like him every year who don’t make it. We had no idea of knowing how he would turn out.”
Bosa knew right where he was headed — into the BC weight room, where he went to work building himself into a player.
During a redshirt freshman year, Bosa added 17 pounds of muscle and was ready to play the next fall. He lettered as a freshman, then started as a sophomore. He weighed 255 and was a force in his junior season.
Last year, at 263, he became one of the best defensive linemen in the country. In one game (Army), he had 25 tackles, forced three fumbles and had a sack.
The 218-pound freshman with a 225-pound bench press had built himself into a 263-pound monster with 4.8 speed in the 40-yard dash and a 475-pound bench press.
“When he got here, he saw some of our dedicated senior players and he decided he was going to dedicate himself the same way,” Bicknell said. “He made himself a great player. He got bigger, stronger and better each year.
“I’ve never been around a harder worker. He was a great influence on our other players. Whenever some of our young players would go by the weight room, he’d always seem to be in there, quietly killing himself to get better.”
Bosa grew quietly into a first-round draft pick. Playing on the same team as a Heisman Trophy winner (Doug Flutie), then in the shadow of an Outland Trophy winner (nose tackle Mike Ruth), Bosa was an unknown except to opponents and pro scouts.
“The Outland Trophy and John Bosa never even came close to being mentioned in the same breath,” Bosa said. “But that was OK. I knew I could play, and so did the people who counted most.”
The Dolphins, in desperate need of defensive help, made him their first-round pick in last April’s draft.
“We knew he was a hustler, a hard worker and a guy who gives 100 percent in whatever he does,” said Dolphins’ defensive line coach Dan Sekanovich. “He made himself into a top player. He’s dedicated his life to football, and that’s the type of player we want.”
A contract dispute kept him out of camp until the week of the final exhibition game, but he reported in shape (of course) and ready to play.
After two full days of practice, he forced a fumble and had a sack against the Buffalo Bills to end the exhibition season. His effort earned him a starting job in the season opener against New England.
“I think that what he accomplished at BC is just the start of things,” Bicknell said. “He should get better and better each year with the Dolphins. He’s the type of player who is always learning and always working to make himself better. He won’t relax now. His work habits will carry over into the pros.”
Because Bosa lost valuable practice time in the exhibition season, the Dolphins are asking him to learn faster and work harder than ever. The Dolphins have counted on him starting and making an impact since draft day.
“Bosa has done well considering the time he missed,” Miami coach Don Shula said. “But there is no way you can reach back and regain that time. All we can do is try to get him ready as quick as we can. That means on-the-job training, which is something you don’t like when the scores count.”
Because he cannot go back, Bosa pushes forward. Each practice is a chance to get better, each play on Sunday is a lesson learned.
Much was gained in a shaky first start against the Patriots.
“At first I thought I played poorly, but then after studying the films I saw that I didn’t do that badly. The important thing is I’ll get better because of that experience,” Bosa said. “My goal right now is just to get better each week. I can feel myself getting better in each practice. I don’t feel any pressure from Coach Shula or anyone else. The only pressure I feel is the pressure I put on myself. And I’m used to that.”
Bosa expects a great deal from himself.
“I don’t like to look too far ahead, but I want to be the best at my position in the NFL. I want to be an All-Pro, and I want to have a long career in the league,” he said. “I feel I can achieve those goals.
“Whether I do or not is up to me. I have to keep working like I always have. If I do, I’ll have the chance to reflect on some good things when I get older. The work is worth it.”
