November 6, 2008 - 12:00am
By Matthew Manacher
Cornell football fans certainly remember Kevin Boothe ’06 dancing in the desert last February after the New York Giants shocked the world in Super Bowl XLII. While few outside of the Cornell football community and perhaps Boothe’s own family were aware of his contributions to the victory, Boothe was in on numerous special play opportunities and made the Red proud on those occasions.
While the ranks of former Ivy Leaguers playing on Sundays parallel the number of states that went Red this past Tuesday, two members of this year’s Cornell squad hope to make the transition next season to the NFL. Senior left tackle Steve Valenta and senior safety Tim Bax hope to follow in Boothe’s footsteps someday, but first they must catch the eye of an NFL scout.
Two teams that have scouted the pair are the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts, according to Bax, the hard-hitting safety who leads the Red with 61 tackles this year.