SLIDE 1 of 6 East Orange (NJ) High School

"Freakish athlete. Just a freakish athlete." - Marion Bell

A guffaw almost overtakes his answer as he says it, but former East Orange head coach Marion Bell is very deliberate when describing his first impression of Rasul Douglas.

"He could play offense and defense. He played wide receiver for us, too," said Bell. "We had a very good team, so we had a whole slew of good players on that side of the ball. He wasn't the main guy, but he was one of them. On defense, he was a star at free safety. He was very good."

During Douglas' senior year, East Orange went 9-2, losing only to defending state champion Montclair (NJ) and then a 7-0 slugfest in the state tournament to Piscataway (NJ). The defense shutout four of the first five opponents, and in that season-ending loss, Douglas and Co. held the opposing team to just four first downs.

Unlike what Mountaineer fans - and NFL scouts - are accustomed to now, though, Douglas wasn't shutting down an entire side of the field. He was busy laying big hits on receivers, playing the role of the intimidating safety. Think New Jersey's version of Karl Joseph.

"If I had a safety, I would have played him at corner, but he was a great, hard-hitting safety," said Bell. "Not just average. He would really hit you. He could cover, he could hit, he had the whole package."

But, when it came time to get recruited, Douglas heard next to nothing from Division One schools. Bell said it was a product of preconceived notions from college coaches on inner-city schools, and the fact that they would only look at the "top" player at East Orange and then move on.

"The school we coached at always got overlooked. He was one of those kids that had a team full of good players, and schools would come in and if you weren't the No. 1 guy, they would pass on you," said Bell. "If that team were in, say, Georgia, they all would have had offers."

Think it's just coach speak? It's not, according to Curtis Gilliam, former Head Coach at Nassau (NY) C.C.

"Coach Bell sent me so many kids throughout the years that weren't getting recruited that ended up being Division One guys," said Gilliam.

And one of those guys was Douglas. Gilliam "kept calling" about Rasul, trying to get him to come there for a couple of years, but there was one unexpected hurdle - basketball.

"I had to convince Rasul to give it a shot; he wanted to play basketball," said Bell. "I told him, 'you're 6-2 and you're not a point guard. Are you going to play shooting guard? You can't shoot that good. Football, you got a great future there. Thankfully, he decided to take my advice."