Close to the nexus of some fertile football breeding grounds — nearly equidistant to NFL prospect factories Clemson, UNC, Tennessee and South Carolina — lies a small liberal-arts Lutheran school that once was just another exit off the highway for itinerant pro scouts.
For years, it was a drive-by when it came to mining talent.
Division II's Lenoir-Rhyne hadn’t produced an NFL player of note in nearly two decades prior to the 2020 NFL draft, so Hickory, North Carolina wasn’t a place many talent evaluators deemed necessary of spending extra time.