Here’s a math problem for you:

Take the captain of the Harvard football team. Add four years as a starter and team-leader in tackles, including 96 tackles, 11 sacks, 21 tackles for lost yardage, two forced fumbles and five pass breakups in his senior year alone.

Now factor in a second-team Division I-AA All-American Selection and the fact that he was the first football player to be named first team All-Ivy four straight times.

Throw in a shelf-full of other accolades, including a four-time All-New England pick and a finalist for the Buck Buchanan award, given to the best defensive player in D I-AA, and what is the grand total?

The easy answer would be Dante Balestracci.

But does the calculation sum up to a future beyond NCAA football?

The answer to that question will be revealed during this weekend’s 2004 NFL Draft, when Balestracci hopes to follow in the footsteps of free agents Carl Morris ’03 and Jamil Soriano ’03—or, at best, draftee Isaiah Kacyvenski ’00.

Kacyvenski, a standout Crimson middle linebacker before Balestracci, was picked in the fourth round of the 2000 draft—the highest pick ever for a Harvard football alum—and now sees substantial playing time with the Seattle Seahawks.

But despite these tantalizing already-blazed trails of professional success, Balestracci said, he is attempting to head into the weekend with no expectations.

“I have to hope for the best, and be prepared for everything not to fall into place the way I imagine,” Balestracci says.

JUST IMAGINE

What is the prime scenario for the 2003 Crimson captain? At best, Balestracci could emerge as a sleeper pick and be chosen in the late rounds of the draft. Failing that, the next option is to be signed as a priority free agent, like Morris and Soriano last year.

“There’s a pretty vague assessment of later rounds, they don’t give you as much information,” Balestracci says. “They just finished with [predicting] the first two rounds, so later in the week more teams will be in contact with my agent.”

Balestracci doesn’t have to look back any further than 2003 for an example of the uncertainty of draft weekend.

Last year Morris—the Harvard record-holder in eight of nine receiving categories and one of the top wide receivers in Ivy League history—was expected to be picked late in the draft. Instead, he ended up waiting for a free-agent signing to be his ticket into the pros.