There are two things for which I know Mike Mamula. The first is from when I was a student at Boston College. There was a rumor that football players were not allowed to live in dorms for seniors called the Mods. These are townhouses built directly adjacent to each other. The alleged reason football players were not allowed to live in these dorms is Mamula lived in them with some of his football player friends and knocked down the wall separating his living room with the living room of football players living next door to turn it into one big dorm.
The second thing I know about Mike Mamula is that he is considered perhaps the biggest NFL Draft bust for defensive linemen ever. After dominating the Combine, he was selected with the 7th pick of the 1995 Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. Every year when I was a kid, my family would go on vacation in Cape May, New Jersey, at the Southern tip of the state. On the way down, my father would put on the sports radio station, WIP, and without fail people would call in ripping Mamula. He is a name fans hear every year about workout warriors at the Combine and complete first round busts.
I am not sure whether the story about the college dorm is true. The fact is Mamula was not a complete bust as an NFL player. He was productive at times. He just was not productive enough to warrant being taken so high. Injuries also derailed him.
I get the feeling Vernon Gholston is going to take Mamula's place in Draft discussions very soon. After a productive career at Ohio State and a good Combine, Gholston got Shawne Merriman comparisons before the 2008 Draft. He came out and played worse than Merriman post steroid suspension and injury. To say that Gholston has been a nonfactor with the Jets would be a gross understatement. He has literally done next to nothing. In three years, he does not have so much as a sack. Luck would dictate that he would probably have fallen into one by accident by now. That is not the case, however.
The Jets now need to decide whether they want to bring him back in 2011.