By Jonah Bronstein
AMHERST — James Starks told us Tuesday that he’s almost completely recovered from August shoulder surgery. Then he showed us.
The Niagara Falls native was asked to reflect on his football journey, which took him from recruited quarterback, to redshirting defensive back, to record-setting tailback, and now, NFL prospect.
“(The NFL) was always my goal, but now it’s finally here, coming to reality. It’s kind of bittersweet, you know. I wanted it so bad, but then I was out for so long,” he said.
Starks then displayed the range of motion in his repaired shoulder by reaching back to clasp the top of his head.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said. “I’m just happy to be in the position I am. I couldn’t pray for nothing more. I think God blessed me with an opportunity to do what I do, and I’m just happy.”
Starks sat out his entire senior season after a labral tear in his right shoulder was discovered days before the opener. Since he had redshirted for non-medical reasons as a freshman in 2005, he had no eligibility remaining.
In three years at UB, Starks set school records for rushing yards (3,140) and touchdowns (34). He had the best single season in school history as a junior, helping the Bulls win a conference championship and play in a bowl game for the first time ever, and entered this year on the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Memorial trophy, given to the nation’s top running back.
UB went 5-7 this season, and though the combination of Brandon Thermilus, Mario Henry, Ike Nduka and Jeffvon Gill did an admirable job, nobody could replace Starks’ gamebreaking ability.
Starks said if the team was invited to a bowl game, he was planning to play.
“Definitely. That’s why I was working so hard,” he said. “I was cheering them on. I thought we would’ve went to the bowl game, and I was trying to be ready for that.”
Instead, Starks wants to prove he’s fully recovered by playing in the Senior Bowl and performing at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“Hopefully, (scouts) believe in me,” he said. “I believe in myself and I’m looking forward to just an opportunity. That’s all I can ask for. I’ve been working my tail off, so I’ll be ready for it.”
He and Naaman Roosevelt, the St. Joe’s graduate who arrived on campus a year after Starks and broke all of the receiving records, are both being projected as possible mid-round draft choices.
“When we’re just sitting around talking, it’s kind of hard for us to picture it,” Starks said. “We haven’t made it yet, but just to have the opportunity is a shocker.”
When coach Turner Gill was hired after the 2005 season, Starks had just spent his freshman season practicing with the defensive backs, and Roosevelt was being recruited by other schools to play cornerback despite setting local passing records in high school. Gill immediately realized that Starks and Roosevelt were two of the Bulls most electrifying playmakers, and it would be a waste of talent to have them chasing players, instead of being the ones getting chased.
“Coach Turner, I’m grateful for him because he put me in a great position to succeed,” Starks said. “He had faith in me when others didn’t, or some coaches didn’t know where to put me. I guess God led him to put me at running back, and that was where I should have been.”
Starks also expressed gratitude for his local supporters.
“I’d like to say thanks to everyone who believed in me,” he said. “Western New York, all you guys who had faith in me. I’ll do my best with whatever opportunities are given to me.”
