Article On Montey Stevenson

[GEAUX MEAN GREEN]

NORTH TEXAS GRADUATE graduate chasing dreams of playing in the NFL

By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com

The road to goals in life isn’t always wide and easily traversed.

Sometimes it can be long and winding and seemingly never-ending.

In the case of Monta Stevenson, the latter has been truer to him than ever.

He has journeyed from stardom at Alvarado High School by taking all-district honors, to recording tackles behind the line of scrimmage for North Texas against the Texas Longhorns in Austin.

“I was just excited to get my name out there and show that I can play with the bigger schools,” Stevenson said. “When you’re out there against Vince Young and Cedric Benson and Justin Blalock, man, it feels pretty good when you can take one of them down.”

Stevenson became a presence on the Mean Green defensive unit.

In 2004, he anchored a unit that was second in the Sun Belt conference in rushing yards allowed in conference games and first in turnover ratio department at plus 13.

To top it off, the Mean Green won the conference title that year.

He played in every game in the 2005 season and recorded 30 tackles in 11 games.

In the 2006 season, Stevenson played in all of UNT’s 12 games and started three times. He also finished fourth on the team in the tackles-for-loss department with six.

It's not always easy for athletes in college, especially at a smaller school like North Texas, Stevenson said. The Mean Green gets considerably less publicity than most of the major Division I schools.

“Schools like UT and Michigan get more publicity and articles,” Stevenson said. “At schools like that you can be a third-string guy and get publicity and have people know who you are. It’s tougher at smaller schools to gain that.”

But that didn’t stop Stevenson from pressing on towards his main goal: a career in the NFL.

He tried out for the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints after graduation.

The tryout with the Saints was fruitful, and New Orleans sent him to play for their Arena Football League franchise, the Voodoo.

The AFL is considerably different than the NFL, Stevenson said.

The field is half the size of the field in the NFL, and there are foam walls instead of empty sidelines that represent the out-of-bounds line.

There also is an entirely different method to which the game is played, ranging from a much narrower field-goal width to nets being placed alongside the uprights.

“It’s a lot different,” Stevenson said. “It’s a lot faster and takes more time to get used to because of the close quarters, and the walls.

“You can’t do outside things in an indoor game.”

One of the main differences between the AFL and the NFL is the speed.

AFL games are very fast paced and high scoring, and there is a considerably larger emphasis placed on stamina.

“I don’t prefer the speed,” Stevenson said. “You have to have a lot of stamina.”

Regardless of the pace and the different style, Stevenson is happy to be given an opportunity to potentially play for an NFL franchise in the future.

“I’m on a one year contract now with the Voodoo,” Stevenson said. “I leave for training camp in late January. Hopefully, I’ll land in the NFL, which is my big goal right now.”

As for the others out there who are aiming big while living in small towns, Stevenson’s message is simple but honest.

“Just work hard and dream big because it can happen,” he said.

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