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The Detroit Lions rolled the dice on raw, but athletically gifted defensive end Larry Webster in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- Before Larry Webster ever stepped on the football field for tiny Bloomsburg University in central Pennsylvania, he was a 220-pound, high-flying forward for the school's basketball team.

A four-year starter, Webster averaged 11.1 points per game for the Huskies. But his true calling card was defense. In 2012, his final season, he was named a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year while setting the school's all-time record for blocked shots.

After his basketball eligibility expired, it was suggested Webster try out for the football team. He had played the sport in high school and Division II rules allow students to play a second sport for two semesters.

After four years away from the game, Webster decided to give football another shot.

"I've always loved playing football, it's just in college, I ended up getting a scholarship for basketball," Webster said. "I tried out for the team and I made the team. It just kept going from there."

Often, when a basketball player switches to football, they're slotted to play tight end. But the Huskies had depth at that position. Given Webster's height and length, as well as his high school experience, the team put him at defensive end.

The first order of business was adding weight, something that wasn't a problem for the 6-foot-6 Webster.

"I felt like it was pretty easy because football lifting and basketball lifting are obviously very different," Webster said. "Once I starting lifting for football, weight came very naturally."

With a program focusing on his legs, hips and core, Webster quickly added 20 pounds while maintaining much of his speed and athleticism.

Of course, Bloomsburg's football coaches weren't exactly sure what they were getting in Webster or how quickly he could get up to speed. The original plan was to utilize him exclusively in pass-rush situations.

"So that first spring, I thought situational rusher," Bloomsburg defensive line coach Bill Perkins said. "He'll come in and give us some heat off the edge, doing the things he does athletically. I wasn't sure what I'd get beyond that.

"As the season progresses, as you can imagine, he became more comfortable with the game, the speed of the game," Perkins said. "He just became one of those kids that had a knack for the big play, a knack for knowing where the football was."

By the end of that first season, Webster was an every-down player. He finished the season with 39 tackles and 13.5 sacks. He even got some snaps on offense as a red-zone receiver, catching two touchdown passes.

Webster believes the skills required to play the post in basketball helped accelerate the transition back to football. Perkins agrees.

"It's similar," Perkins said. "In essence, you're trying to get off a block to an open area in basketball. He was able to use his body to that advantage. In all the plays I watched Larry, there were guys who could block him, but nobody ever got a lot of wood on him, just because he has a great sense of body positioning and awareness in space."

Things went well enough that season the Bloomsburg coaches believed Webster could had been drafted had he declared himself eligible. But he opted to stay for another season.

Webster went home to Maryland that summer and worked with his father, former NFL defensive lineman Larry Webster Jr. Bloomsburg head coach Paul Darragh noticed the difference as soon as Webster returned to campus.

"When he came back, you could tell he had a little something extra, some subtleties on how to get to the quarterback," Darragh said.

Despite no longer being under the radar, Webster still managed to record a second double-digit sack season, dropping opposing quarterbacks 12.5 times and earning first-team all-PSAC honors.

Webster cemented himself as a solid draft prospect at the NFL's scouting combine, running the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds, second only to No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney among defensive ends.

"I think that helped me a lot actually," Webster said. "I did pretty good in all the rest of the drills, so I feel like that helped me out a lot."

The Detroit Lions surprised many, including Webster, when they selected him late in the fourth round. He had visited with the team before the draft, but many analysts didn't expect him to come off the board until the later stages of the draft's third day.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and coach Jim Caldwell just couldn't pass up Webster's untapped potential.

"He's got a huge upside," Caldwell said. "Obviously, he's a guy that certainly has explosion. He has speed, he has quickness, he's intelligent. (He has) great desire to play the game and he's rooted in the game," Caldwell said.

Mayhew said Webster projects as an open end in Detroit's defensive scheme, lining up on the opposite side as the opponent's tight end. That should lessen his run responsibilities, an area Darragh believes will be one of the most difficult adjustments for his former star.

Webster also needs to continue to add strength as he nears 260 pounds, up 40 from his basketball-playing days just two years ago.

"He's very raw in regards to the weight room," Perkins said. "I think at the next level, they're going to coach him up a lot different than we did and you should see a greater transformation there."

But the consistent theme, from every coach who worked with Webster at Bloomsburg, is that the rookie is a tireless worker.

"I really believe every challenge that's been put in front of him, he's accepted that challenge," basketball coach John Sanow said. "He's very coachable. He's a humble guy. Around the right people, in the right environment, he's only going to get better and better."

Darragh praised Webster's accountability, consistent effort in practice and participation in the meeting rooms.

Perkins, who doubles as Bloomsburg's strength and conditioning coach, believes it will take Webster one year to adjust to the NFL. But after that, look out.

"I think he'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with, just based on his natural ability," Perkins said. "The more coaching he gets, the more dangerous he'll be."

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