Shayne Skov, who has signed with San Francisco as an undrafted free agent, got his first taste of football with the Guadalajara Carneros (Rams).
Looking for a different life experience, Skov’s parents moved to Guadalajara in 1999 when their son was 10.
After trying out soccer, he joined the Carneros, the city’s largest football organization, which runs several youth teams.
Less bulky in those days, Skov began his football life as a wide receiver and corner back. By age 16, Skov had returned to California and enrolled at Piedmont High School, where he began to shine as a linebacker. The following year he moved to New York and his high school career took off. He attended the Tustin High School in Pawling and helped Trinity-Pawling to Erickson Conference and New England Prep titles as a senior, and was named 2008 Erickson Conference Player of the Year.Scouts took notice of his abilities and in his senior year he received 30 invitations from universities before selecting Stanford. Skov called the choice “obvious” given the outstanding academic quality of the Bay Area university.
He earned a starting place in his freshman year, although a serious knee injury during the 2011 season affected his play the following year, even though he led the Stanford Cardinal in tackles with 81.
Skov really came into his own in 2013, ending the season with a career high in tackles (109), tackles for loss (13), sacks (5.5) and forced fumbles (3). He was named a third team All-American by the Associated Press.
In total he played in 51 games as a Cardinal, and his squad went 41-10 in those contests, including three BCS bowl wins in four BCS bowl appearances.
Surprisingly, during last week’s draft, all 256 picks came and went without Skov’s name being called. After his glittering college career, Skov was disappointed not to have been one of the 31 linebackers drafted to the NFL.
The SFGate website speculated that his previous injuries and relatively slow pace – at a workout for NFL scouts in April, he ran the 40-yard dash in 5.11-seconds (not NFL caliber, according to some experts) – probably discouraged some teams.
Skov admitted that he wasn’t “100 percent” in 2012 but felt fully fit last year. He told SFGate that he is grateful for the chance to prove himself with the 49ers. “At the end of the day my play and my abilities are going to dictate whether I ever see the field or not and what my future is as a player.”