Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian stopped by the Institute of Politics last week and spoke about former Harvard running back and current Colts tailback Clifton Dawson ’07, as well as the Ivy League in general.

Last week, Bill Polian, the president of the Indianapolis Colts, came to Harvard to speak at the former Mayor of Indianapolis Bart Peterson’s Institute of Politics (IOP) study group. The topic of discussion, according to the IOP’s website, was “The Politics of Being an NFL City.” But for the Ivy League sports enthusiast, Polian offered information on Harvard football’s latest NFL entrant, Clifton Dawson.

“Well, I was here [at Harvard] for the Columbia game when he was a junior,” Polian recalled of the first time he saw Dawson. “He really stood out, and so I marked him down as a prospect and then came back to see him the following year—was convinced that he had the ability to play in the NFL.”

But why did it take Polian so long to be convinced?

At Harvard, Dawson set the Ivy League record for career rushing yards (4,841), career rushing touchdowns (60), career touchdowns (66), career points (398), and career all-purpose yards (6,138). But it takes more than gaudy stats to become an NFL athlete.

“There’s an acronym we use called PQs, physical qualities,” Polian noted. “There is a baseline height, weight, speed—particularly speed as regards Ivy League players—that is necessary to play in the NFL.”

Apparently Dawson met those baselines as he was signed by Polian and the Colts as an undrafted free-agent following last year’s draft.

But recruitment to the NFL has long been a problem for Ivy League football players. With such an insular schedule—having only three non-conference games against Lafayette, Lehigh, and Holy Cross—Harvard football players are not generally exposed to the same level of play as other Division 1 teams in, say, the SEC or the Pac 10. As such, NFL scouts have a difficult time assessing a player’s NFL potential with such a limited view.

“If a player does not meet those guidelines, if he’s too small, if he’s too slow, if he’s too light—if he happens to be a lineman—etc., it’s very difficult for clubs to take a chance on him,” Polian said.

Brown’s football team just recently demonstrated that NFL teams don’t take players based solely on their Ivy League performance. In the 2006 draft, the Bears running back, Nick Hartigan, who always kept Harvard-Brown contests close and finished his collegiate career with 2,761 yards, 33 TDs and fifth in the nation in scoring (10.2 points per game), went undrafted.

“In Hartigan’s case, while he was a wonderful college player, he was a bit slow to be a running back in the NFL and not quite stout enough to be a fullback,” Polian said.

But the following year, Brown lineman Zak DeOssie was the 17th pick in the fourth round by the New York Giants.

“I think [DeOssie] ran in the 4.6s at the combine, at 6’4”, 240, that’s going to get you a look, especially in his position,” recalled Harvard football coach Tim Murphy.

“That’s the great equalizer in the NFL—it’s a speed game,” Polian remarked. “So if you have speed, it doesn’t matter where you play college football, not that the Ivy League’s bad football—it isn’t—but it doesn’t matter where you play college football. If you can run, generally speaking, you’ll get a chance to prove you can play.”

This should come as a warning to the four Harvard players on the official workout list at the BC Pro Day, which took place in mid-March. Seniors Steven Williams, Andrew Brecher, and Doug Hewlett and junior Matt Thomas all took part in the March 18th workout, but there’s still no word of any pro team interest.

“I think there’s a little bit of interest in each guy,” Murphy said. “Steven Williams and maybe Brecher as examples are hoping that they can get an NFL contract that can get them into an NFL camp and give them an opportunity to show what they can do.”

With Dawson and others—like Bengals second-string quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05—paving the way for Harvard football players in the NFL, the future of Ivy League players making it into the pro game looks good. Right now there is at least one representative from each of the Ancient Eight teams in the league.

“I was in the weight room this morning and I saw a pretty tall, athletic looking guy,” Dawson said. “He took off his sweatshirt and he had a Columbia shirt on. Ivy League recruiting is becoming a lot more common. It’s just great to see.”

As for this season, Dawson is likely to get significant playing time, especially early on with the Colts playing five preseason games—they will play the Redskins in the Hall of Fame Game. Last season he rushed for 64 yards on 30 carries, with one touchdown.

“He’ll have a chance to mature a little bit more physically and work with Peyton and our other quarterbacks in the offseason program and get really comfortable with our offense,” Polian said about Dawson’s playing prospects for next season.

Of course, even with likely increased playing time, Dawson still has yet to make the full transition into an NFL player.

“You know, he’s a funny guy,” Murphy joked. “He’s very frugal. You know, you come into the parking lot of the Colts or any NFL team and there’s a bunch of Hummers and Escalades.”

But Clifton?

“Yeah I got a beat-up old Volvo mid-way through the season,” Dawson laughed. “I take a lot, a lot of flack from the other guys on the team for my Volvo.”

With the 2008 NFL draft quickly approaching on April 26-27, familiar company could join Dawson as the Ivy Leagues could put some fresh faces in the pros.

“Right now the Ivy League has more guys in the NFL than in a long, long time,” Murphy added. “I think we’re in a very good cycle now.”

— Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphillips@fas.harvard.edu

For more on Bill Polian's IOP visit, check out the Sports Blog.