9 Fingers, No Problem: Wisconsin TE Is a Unique Pass-Catching Prospect | News, Scores, Highlights, S

MADISON, Wis. — Let's address this from the get-go, because it will be the NFL's biggest issue with Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli.

Yep, he's missing the index finger on his left hand. He hasn't had it since he was two days old.

Fumagalli was born with amniotic band syndrome, where the umbilical cord connecting him to his mother was wrapped around his left hand. It cut off circulation to his hand, and he was lucky not to have lost more than one finger—or the entire hand.

But he still runs better than any tight end in April's NFL draft, still blocks better, still gets open and separates, still uses his body to shield defenders. You know, all of that scout stuff.

Now, understand this: No one in college football—and no one in the 2018 draft—catches the ball better. At any position.

"And no one has for a couple of years," Wisconsin head football coach Paul Chryst said.

So please, NFL personnel, don't waste your time and money with medical background checks or psychological profiles. (As a boy, Fumagalli chose to be left-hand dominant.)

Just do what every scout for every NFL team does: bet your job on game tape.

"Turn on the tape, it doesn't lie—ever. I guarantee you it doesn't with [Fumagalli]," one NFC scout told Bleacher Report. "But I'm telling you right now, I've heard guys. We travel together, we talk. There are guys out there who truly think there's something wrong, and for some reason they can't explain, four fingers isn't as good as five."

To this, Fumagalli said, "If I had that [index] finger, it would almost be in the way."

Of course it would. Because when all you've known in life is a left hand with four fingers, you adapt and evolve. You live each day proving not only can you do anything that someone with five fingers can, you can do it better.

You prove that when someone tells you to throw a football, you use your middle finger as the balance finger and the ball comes off your hand just fine, thank you.

You prove that when your high school coach needs a pitcher who can get someone out, you throw a curve with your middle finger, and it has a nasty break. And it gets outs.

You prove that despite an impressive high school football career, you aren't the guy everyone overlooked for one reason or another (take one guess why), the one who decided to walk on at Wisconsin because the Badgers' overachieving, hard-working, results-producing culture fit perfectly with the player you were and wanted to be moving forward.

"If ever there were a Wisconsin guy, Troy was it," former Badgers head coach Bret Bielema said.

So Bielema offered Fumagalli a 2-3 scholarship—two years as a walk-on, three on scholarship—and after he left for Arkansas following Fumagalli's redshirt season, Gary Andersen arrived in Madison as coach and put Fumagalli on scholarship.

"Easiest decision I've made as a coach," Andersen said.

This is what happens when you meet Troy Fumagalli. His missing index finger is the only thing missing from the conversation.

Those NFL scouts and their physical and psychological checklists will soon figure it out, after Fumagalli plays his final college game Saturday in the Orange Bowl against Miami and begins to schedule individual workouts and interviews with teams. They see the tape; it doesn't lie.

One scout told Bleacher Report that Fumagalli compares favorably to Patriots Pro Bowler Rob Gronkowski; another said he's more like Jordan Reed or Travis Kelce. While most scouts agree the 6'6", 248-pound Fumagalli needs to gain 15-20 pounds to grow into the position in the NFL, he's being compared to three of the league's best tight ends over the last decade.

Yet when the interviews begin—when NFL personnel start to dig deep into a player they might want to spend a first-round pick on—the inevitable will come back in full force.

"I have a hard time thinking that they can turn [no index finger] into a big deal all of a sudden," Fumagalli said. "I've been doing things on and off the field all my life. Let me know what you want me to do, and I can do it. That's what I'm going to say."

Now you know why Fumagalli chose Wisconsin, why he flourished in the program that annually gets little respect yet continues to churn out successful seasons. Doesn't matter the coach—Barry Alvarez, Bielema, Andersen, Chryst—the Badgers win and make believers every year.

Since 2005 (Alvarez's last season), Wisconsin has won 131 games (10 wins a season) and three Big Ten championships. Saturday's Orange Bowl will be its 10th New Year's Day bowl in those 13 seasons.

Fumagalli, meanwhile, is just the latest overachieving star in a program full of them. He isn't putting up electrifying numbers—what tight end in college does?—but he's consistently the safest, surest target on the field, a player who wins individual battles against linebackers and safeties.

There is no greater indicator of a tight end's ability to wreak havoc than when a defense uses a cornerback in coverage—or when he is double-covered.

"Wisconsin is a little limited in the passing game, and if you're doubling the one guy who can get open and catch the ball, he's going to have a hard time putting up 'wow' numbers," one AFC scout told Bleacher Report. "But it's so much more than numbers."

Just like it's so much more than one finger.

But what he has gained in perspective and perseverance is more useful than a finger he hasn't needed, anyway.

"It's all I've known my entire life," Fumagalli said. "I haven't found anything in my life that I haven't been able to do without it."

ncG1vNJzZmianJqupLTEq6meqJ%2BnwW%2BvzqZmmqqknrCtsdJoaXBtYG2CcXmYZp2ippeav7R5zahkqaqfl7mmuYywoKybn6PAqrqMrZxmoaNirm7BzaKorp1dpa60v4ycmK2bmJ67qHnPq6asqJWYwQ%3D%3D