Central's Mike Reilly took the long road to the NFL combine

INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Reilly still hasn't met Jon Kitna.

He's getting closer, though. He has been following Kitna for a few years now.

Reilly enrolled at Central Washington one decade after Kitna left, and in four years as the Wildcats quarterback Reilly proceeded to throw his way past Kitna among the school's career leaders.

But as Reilly auditions for a job in the NFL, he's still following the path Kitna blazed with an NFL career that has lasted 12 seasons and counting.

"I'm still chasing him, I guess," Reilly said, "to make it in the NFL because that's the one thing he's done that I haven't done so far."

Reilly was one of 21 quarterbacks invited to the NFL's scouting combine in Indianapolis, and the only one who played Division II football last season. Jason Boltus is at the combine from Division III Hartwick.

Reilly spent more than five years in college, earning a degree in mechanical engineering, but first has designs on an NFL career.

He has come a long way since he was a high-school senior whose family moved from the Tri-Cities area to Kalispell, Mont. He came to a team that already had a starting quarterback who had led his team to within a play of the state-championship game the year before. Grady Bennett, former Montana quarterback, then coached at Flathead High School and he warned Reilly that he might not get a chance to play.

"He looked just solidly in my eyes and said, 'I'll beat him out,' " Bennett said.

Reilly had the starting job a month into the season, showing a white-knuckled determination that has been the bedrock for a career he has built from scratch. He didn't get much interest from colleges, but Bennett eventually sold Timm Rosenbach on the kid first at Eastern Washington and then when Rosenbach went to Washington State.

Reilly walked on for the Cougars and after a year there he was still third on the depth chart, paying his own out-of-state tuition and waiting in line behind Alex Brink and Josh Swogger.

"I hadn't really seen a good deal of time on the field, so I was itching to get out and play," Reilly said.

He went from playing at a school with a pedigree of NFL quarterbacks and being coached by Rosenbach to a Division II school that could offer the one thing Reilly truly wanted: playing time.

"At that point in time I was like, 'You know what? I want to play and if it's meant to be it will work out,' " Reilly said.

So it has for Reilly and tight end Jared Bronson, his teammate at Central Washington. Bronson was a high-school quarterback and this weekend ranked in the top third of the 21 tight ends at the combine in the 40-yard dash, broad jump and shuttle run Saturday.

Reilly has been training with former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer, and now Reilly is at the scouting combine, an opportunity for the player from the small school to make his case to play on the game's biggest stage.

The Juan and only

Washington's Juan Garcia made a strong showing at the NFL combine in the most literal way. He bench-pressed 225 pounds a whopping 34 times, tied for second-most among all offensive linemen at the combine. Louis Vasquez of Texas Tech performed 39 repetitions, the most at the combine.

Garcia is being evaluated as a prospective guard, but the fact he's even here is somewhat of a surprise to him after a season that he felt was as disappointing personally as it was for the whole team at Washington.

"The way we were 0-12 and I didn't have a strong year," Garcia said, "I thought my chances of coming to the combine were kind of over. So I was surprised when I got the call."

He suffered a foot injury in April 2008, which prevented him from running until August. He weighed 325 pounds last season and is noticeably trimmer this week, weighing 307. He said a turning point was the East-West Shrine Game, when he felt more like the player he was before the foot injury.

"I had my confidence," Garcia said. "That's one thing I was lacking during the season."

Now it's back.

"Right now, I have that swagger," Garcia said. "I've been busting my butt and I feel like my old self."

This week, he made a strong case for being in the NFL. A very strong case.

Crabtree campaign still running

Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree said Sunday he still intends to run the 40-yard dash during a workout at Texas Tech next month.

Crabtree was reportedly diagnosed with a stress fracture in his foot, but said he will delay surgery until after the workout.

"It's an old injury," Crabtree said. "I've never had any pain in it."

Note

• Brandon Gibson, the Washington State wide receiver, reportedly chose not to run the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine on Sunday, which was a surprise because Gibson is considered a prospect who should use every opportunity to improve his draft stock.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com