“People said I didn’t have Division I-A size,” said Seymour, who stands 5-feet, 6-inches. “I didn’t really listen to people. Some coaches look past that and some don’t.”

Head Football Coach Mike DeBord looked past it by signing the Miami native away from the likes of Saturday’s opponent Eastern Kentucky and Southern Illinois.

“He does bring something to our team that we were lacking,” DeBord said. “We have the power guys but we didn’t have the speed guys.”

Senior running back Terrence Jackson agreed, saying Seymour has unlimited potential.

“It’s not like he was playing in a sorry county (in high school),” he said. “His talent surpasses his size.”

EKU Head Coach Danny Hope said he wanted to sign Seymour but got an in-state tailback instead.

“He was top on our board,” he said. “I’m kicking myself in the butt afterward.”

Seymour is just an example of what high school junior and senior athletes could face. The decision between a I-A or I-AA commitment is becoming a game of Risk. Does the athlete want to take the chance of not playing at all at the I-A level or star at the I-AA level?

The line separating college football’s elite programs from the wannabes also is bending.

No longer are the Miami’s, Ohio State’s and Notre Dame’s of the world guaranteed victories.

Teams like Northern Illinois, South Florida and Boise State have all emerged as worthy opponents. Bowling Green proved it can hang with the nation’s elite by beating No. 16 Purdue 27-26 last weekend.

CMU had a close call against New Hampshire. The Chippewas weren’t able to secure the 40-33 win until the fourth quarter, but even then it was a struggle.

“There is a very fine line between the athletes in Division I-A and Division I-AA,” DeBord said. “We have more depth than they have, though.”

Hope agreed depth is an issue, as most I-A teams are five-deep at every position, which becomes problematic for lower 1-AA schools who have even less scholarships.

“The lower the level you go down, it begins to show up on the offensive line first,” Hope said. “The biggest difference to me is the numbers. Sometimes, I call my team together and realize there’s not that many of them.”

Division I-A programs are allotted 85 scholarships where I-AA schools are allowed 65. Players who transfer from a I-A school have immediate eligibility at the I-AA level, DeBord said.

Hope, who was an assistant coach at Louisville, Purdue, Oklahoma and Wyoming said there are many misconceptions about I-AA programs.

“It’s not the population of the school that makes you a big football school,” he said. “A lot of people would assume the Big Ten Conference is better than the MAC. I’m not surprised to see Bowling Green or Toledo compete with Big Ten schools. There are some differences, though.”

Hope said comparing schools in lower level conferences with teams in traditionally stronger conferences is wrong.

“It’s hard to compare levels and conferences,” he said. “You have to compare teams. If you take a top of a line I-AA team, they will compete with a Division I-A team. You can’t compare Ohio State and Michigan to the bottom teams in the MAC.”

Another area where I-AA programs suffer is recruiting.

Hope said recruiting is like a “pecking order,” meaning I-A teams could steal a potential I-AA recruit anytime it sees fit. Hope’s Colonels lost a running back it had heavily recruited to Tulsa at the last minute this year.

“When you coach at Oklahoma or at Purdue, you don’t worry about losing players to Division I-AA teams,” he said. “There’s a saying in recruiting: ‘It doesn’t matter where you go, but how you turn out.’”

New Hampshire Head Coach Sean McDonnell said I-AA programs have to take less chances when recruiting because of scholarship limitations.

“The selling point for us is playing them early and often,” he said. “I worry about kids that take a I-AA scholarship over a I-A because of fear of their commitment. On a high school football team, do you want to play varsity or junior varsity?”

DeBord said he recruits players who will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact.

“I don’t try to recruit anybody to be a backup guy,” he said. “I don’t recruit a guy and say you’re going to play, either.”

Jackson was recruited by a handful of I-A schools including Rutgers, Ohio and Wyoming, but was also hounded by I-AA programs like New Hampshire.

“I wanted to play right away no matter what school I went to,” he said. “Some schools were talking about me playing offense and defense.”

Hope said player height is usually the difference between I-AA and I-A schools, especially in the wide receiver category. However, the amount of recruits is actually larger for I-AA teams, meaning they can sign speedy guys I-A passed on because of height constraints, Hope said.

“The pool of good players is bigger in our level,” he said. “Most people wouldn’t believe that, but there are a lot of I-AA schools that have players I-A teams would like.

“If you’re a receiver and you’re being recruited by a I-A school that doesn’t traditionally throw the ball, you’re going to look at a Eastern Kentucky or Western Illinois, who throw the ball. A lot of times, a guy can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and that’s appealing.”

One main attraction of playing I-A football is the bowl games. Players who commit to Big Ten schools dream about playing in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl. Hope said he prefers the playoff system I-AA uses, as it puts to rest all the controversy of who’s No. 1.

“When you get into the playoffs, you have a chance to be No. 1, whereas only two teams in Division I-A can play for No. 1,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of the bowl games have nothing to do with playing for No. 1.”

Running backs Terrence Jackson, Jerry Seymour were overlooked by most Division I teams. Now they are atEye Level

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