Alejandro Villanueva is one of those recruits that truly flew beneath the radar for college football recruiters. You won’t find his name in the Rivals Recruiting database or on Prospect or Commit lists published by Scout or 247Sports his senior year in high school. How do people, who devote their lives to identifying and rating top high school prospects end up missing a 6’ 9” 300 pound player who became good enough to earn a starting position at OT for the Pittsburgh Steelers and selection to the Pro Bowl?

In Villanueva’s case, it’s not too hard to understand how he was overlooked. He was born on a Naval Air Station in Meridian Mississippi to parents who were Spanish citizens, and his father was a Naval officer who worked for NATO. Villanueva played Rugby before taking up football as a student at SHAPE High School in Belgium. Clearly the recruiting raters of Rivals and Scout don’t make it to Belgium very often. He came to Army West Point’s attention when a teammate of his at SHAPE was offered by Army and told the coaches about Ali.

Ali, he was only 6’ 7”, weighed in at 265 lbs and was listed as a defensive end on the 2006 Roster. He added two inches in height the following year, but weighed in at 266 and was still listed as a DE. He was shifted to Offensive Tackle in 2007 under Coach Brock, and the following year, Rich Ellerson moved him to Wide Receiver. He quickly became Trent Steelman’s favorite target with 34 receptions for 522 yards and 5 touchdowns.

After graduation he was commissioned in the Infantry and served tours in Afghanistan with the 75th Rangers, before pursuing his second career in pro football.

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