Football | 4/29/2007 11:22:37 AM

From Monmouth to New York, Boss taken in 5th round

MONMOUTH, Ore.--The road from Philomath to Monmouth, Ore. has never detoured to New York--until today.

Western Oregon tight end Kevin Boss was selected in the fifth round of the National Football League draft by the New York Giants. The 153rd pick taken overall, Boss was the sixth tight end selected during the two-day selection process.

"Gosh, this is where I was hoping to go," an excited Boss said today. "As simple as it sounds, this is a dream come true. This is just great!"


The dream was pretty far-fetched when Boss came out of Philomath High School in 2002 as a 6-6, 225-pound football/basketball player. But during his time at Western Oregon, he blossomed into a 6-7, 255-pound, two-time All-American. He had 134 career catches, 19 of them for touchdowns, despite missing the final four games of his career with a shoulder injury.


While he drew attention from NFL scouts during his WOU career, his professional stock really shot up this winter. He posted impressive numbers at the NFL Combine in February, and then had an even better workout at his Pro Day tests at WOU in March.

"Kevin Boss is a gigantic tight end who runs well," said New York General Manager Jerry Reese on giants.com. "He's more of a receiver right now than a blocker. He can catch it, he can run with it after he catches the ball. We think Kevin can come in and develop as a number two tight end for us. He'll start out as a three and develop into a solid number two tight end for us."


"As a receiver, you either have natural ability or you don't. I think it's harder to develop your receiving skills than your blocking skills. The blocking skills come when you get stronger and you get pro coaching and the technique is better for you. It's much easier to develop a blocker than a receiver."


"We wanted to get a tight end out of the draft and where we had him ranked, he was in a nice spot on the board. It goes back to the theme with the players we're picking. It was a value pick and it was a need pick. It was a character pick and a team player pick. That's our theme."


New York's starting tight end is Jeremy Shockey and his back-up is Darcy Johnson.


Boss was the second collegiate player from an Oregon university taken in the draft (Oregon State's Sabby Piscitelli was taken in the second round by Tampa Bay), and he was the first Oregon prep player to be taken (Piscitelli is from the state of Florida). He was selected ahead of highly touted local tight ends Joe Newton from Oregon State and Dante Rosario of Oregon, and even was drafted before Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith (QB) of Ohio State.


Boss is only the second player at Western Oregon to ever be taken in the NFL draft. Offensive lineman Brian Crawford was selected in the seventh round by the Minnesota Vikings in 2001.


Boss, who watched Western Oregon's 2007 team play its alumni yesterday at McArthur Field, will report to the Giants' mini-camp on May 11.