Jacary Atkinson has been the most recognizable player in black-college football for the last two seasons, but that hasn't been enough to get him invitations to all-star games to showcase his skills in front of NFL scouts. Atkinson, the record-setting Tuskegee quarterback, is spending his winter preparing for workouts, while his peers are in nearby Mobile, Ala., for Saturday Senior Bowl, arguably the most important all-star game of the year.

That's because nearly every NFL has scouts and personnel staff on hand for a week of measurements and critiques of every player - mostly from BCS schools - invited. Atkinson, however, isn't on the roster, nor did he get a shout from the East-West Shrine game or the Cactus Bowl, the Division II showcase. It's not like the electrical engineering major from Valley, Ala., didn't produce big-time stats as a major cog in Tuskegee's 26-game winning streak and a black college national championship in 2007. In 2008, he passed for 2,662 yards and 24 touchdowns, and ran for 724 yards and 12 scores to lead the Golden Tigers to a second straight SIAC championship. Atkinson, 22-1 as a starting quarterback, earned two straight Doug Williams offensive player of the year awards from Sheridan Broadcasting Network and is a two-time SBN All-America. He was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, Division II's most outstanding player award.

At 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, he has the potential to stick in the pros, if not as a quarterback, as an athlete in the latest NFL craze - the Wildcat formation. Atkinson also played receiver at Tuskegee before moving permanently to quarterback, so he's versatile enough to at least earn a look from the pros. But it won't be based on an all-star appearance, which is very curious.