Dream of playing for Tide died, but Eakin has NFL shot

Remember Kevin Eakin? He's the former high school kid from Florida who attended four football camps at the University of Alabama in the late 1990s and dreamed of playing for the Crimson Tide someday. One of his fellow campers was another aspiring quarterback from Gadsden named Brodie Croyle. - NFL Football -
Eakin's father, Glenn, had once lived in Huntsville. Later he moved to Florida and then to Minnesota, where he met Deb, his future wife.
After the Eakin family migrated southward to Florida, Kevin developed into a fine quarterback at Douglass High in Coral Springs. When Alabama did not offer a scholarship after his senior year, he resolved to come to Tuscaloosa anyway as a walk-on - until Dave Clawson, then the head coach at Division I-AA Fordham in New York City, offered a scholarship.
Even after his first year at Fordham, Eakin toyed with the notion of walking on at Alabama. He chose to stick it out, however, and it turned out to be an excellent decision.
"Things worked out pretty well,'' said Glenn Eakin, who now lives in Toney and works in Hazel Green as a mechanic. - NFL Football -
They did indeed. Kevin Eakin, who grew into a 6-foot-1, 220-pounder, passed for a school-record 6,112 yards and 45 touchdowns at Fordham, completing 62 percent of his throws. As a starter in his last two years, he led the Rams to a 19-6 record and their first Patriot League championship. - NFL Football -
When the University of Richmond hired Clawson after the 2003 season, he brought Eakin with him as the Spiders' director of football operations.
Still itching to play the game, however, Eakin considered trying out for Arena football in Orlando. But in January, the New York Jets stepped up with a better proposition. They signed him to a future contract and sent to NFL Europe this spring, where he played for the Frankfurt Galaxy and beat out Akili Smith from Oregon and B.J. Symon from Texas Tech. - NFL Football -
The Galaxy's leading rusher, incidentally, was Ahmaad Galloway from Alabama.
The next step in Eakin's professional football life begins July 28 when he reports to the Jets' preseason camp on Long Island.

Huntsville Times