New Jersey Native Chris Hogan Will Make Super Bowl Debut With New England Patriots
FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Super Bowl LI is next week, and while it may seem impossible to imagine, CBS2's Steve Overmyer may have found a reason for New York football fans to root for the New England Patriots.
The road to NFL stardom is littered with former All-Americans who couldn't cut it in the league, and once in a long while, you find an unheralded, undrafted, unknown player who becomes a hero. That player in this story hails from New Jersey.
Chris Hogan's path to playoff hero began at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.
"He used to watch Tom Brady down in his basement throwing touchdown passes in Super Bowls, and now he's catching them from him," Ramapo High School football coach Drew Gibbs said.
Hogan is one of those guys who rises to the moment. His first start in high school was in the state championship game. His 187 yards helped Ramapo win the title.
Instead of following football, he chose to take a scholarship to Penn State to play lacrosse. After four years in Happy Valley, he went to Monmouth University for one year of football. He didn't go to the NFL Combine, he wasn't drafted, but he still found his way to bounce around the NFL.
"It's never been in me to quit anything in life. When I was cut in San Francisco, that was the first time I've ever been cut in anything I've ever done, and that was a huge shock to me," Hogan said. "But it didn't stop me from doing what I wanted to do."
Overmyer: "He was with the Giants for a minute, he was practice squad with the Giants. Every road block, he finds some way to circumvent it."
Gibbs: "He didn't give up. You get cut once, twice, three times -- do you give up on the dream or not? He never gave up, and obviously it's become a Cinderella story."
"My message to a lot of these guys is that when you get the opportunities, you have to take them and make the most of them, because they are few and far between," Hogan told Overmyer. "You might get one, you might get 10, but if you only get one, you've got to make it count."
He's a precise route runner, a hard worker and surprisingly fast. All have made him the favorite target of a hall of fame quarterback.
Even if that quarterback is a bitter rival.
Overmyer: "So this community, for now, are Patriots fans?"
Gibbs: "Absolutely. For one game, they are Patriots fans."
Hogan's nickname is 7-Eleven -- not because he's a fan of slurpies, but because Reggie Bush, his teammate in Miami, says "that guy is open all day, just like 7-Eleven."