Not recruited at all coming out of tiny St. Martin de Porres High School in Cleveland and now the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year who led the Akron Zips to the NCAA Tournanent this year, Enrique Freeman is the men’s college basketball’s version of Roy Hobbs, the star slugger in the baseball movie, “The Natural,” who came out of nowhere to do big things.

So, then, what Browns players have also far exceeded expectations through the years?

We’ll start with a no-brainer:

*QUARTERBACK BRIAN SIPE — After being taken by the Browns in the 13th round, just a stone’s throw from the bottom of the 17-round 1972 NFL Draft, and then spending his first two seasons on the taxi squad, the forerunner of today’s practice squad, before making the regular roster in 1974, he appeared destined to be no more than a footnote in team history. That he didn’t really seem to care if he succeeded in football or not — he looked to be much more interested in surfing back home in California in the offseason — only served to reduce his chances of stardom even more, as did the fact he was smallish and had an average arm at best. But then fate intervened when Sam Rutigliano, a man who loved the forward pass almost as much as life itself, arrived in 1978 and immediately threw his unwavering support behind Sipe, who had had an up-and-down career at best. Two years later, with the help of Sam and an incredible quarterbacks coach who never got his due in former Browns cornerback Jim Shofner, Sipe had won what is still the club’s last NFL Most Valuable Player award, broken nearly Cleveland passing record and led the 1980 Kardiac Kids, the most exciting Browns team ever, to its first AFC Central championship in nine years.

To be continued.

NEXT: No Flash in the pan.

Steve King