BY ANN TATKO
Knight Ridder Newspapers

ALAMEDA, Calif. - (KRT) - Early last year, Scott Fujita felt as if everything were conspiring against him.

He was coming off a successful season as a linebacker for Cal. Yet, the NFL scouts were wary because of neck surgery Fujita had in 2000. Their wariness even prompted his agent to drop him.

At best, Fujita said, he was looking at a free-agent's route into the NFL.

Not satisfied with that probability, however, Fujita decided to train two months with Performance Enhancement for Professional Athletes, also known as PEPA Sports, based out of Alameda.

Specializing in improving speed and explosiveness, PEPA Sports has grown into a popular and successful training operation for prospective NFL players since its inception in 1997. In particular, PEPA Sports trainers work with college players before the NFL combine, taking place this week in Indianapolis.

A year ago, eight of the organization's clients went in the first five rounds of the NFL draft, including two who weren't regarded as likely draft picks coming out of college. Among the clients were wide receiver Ashley Lelie, a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos, safety Lamont Thompson, drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round, and Raiders' second-round pick Langston Walker, a tackle from Cal.

Ann Manatt, director of operations, said she expects PEPA Sports to land five in the top three rounds this year. Leading that list are Cal quarterback Kyle Boller, Stanford receiver Teyo Johnson and Stanford running back Kerry Carter.

Last year, Fujita was one of the two so-called "undraftable" players.

Thomas Weatherspoon, president of PEPA Sports and lead trainer, heard all the knocks against Fujita.

"It wasn't just the neck surgery," Weatherspoon said. "He ran a 4.9 in the 40. He supposedly wasn't athletic enough. He was too slow up field and left to right. Because of all that, the scouts said he wasn't going to make it."

Two months and 37 training sessions later, Fujita had a 4.43 in the 40, the second-highest vertical leap at the combine and 4 percent body fat, making him one of the most fit linebackers available.

The neck injury still kept him down in the fifth round of the draft. But he immediately proved himself with the Kansas City Chiefs, earning a starting spot and the Mack Lee Hill award, given to the team's top rookie.

"All it took was finding someone who believed in me," Fujita said. "Thomas never once let me stop believing I could make it."

PEPA Sports works out of an old naval hangar, now transformed into Bladium Sports Club, where an indoor AstroTurf field serves as the organization's training ground.

The company trains some athletes year round, but its main emphasis is preparing prospects for the NFL combine. Weatherspoon said he caps the program at 25 players so he can give personal attention to each of them.

His program, which draws players mostly by word of mouth, attracted so many interested athletes this year that Weatherspoon had to turn away more than a dozen. Next year, he plans to expand the program to two daily two-hour sessions, which will allow him to accommodate 25 more players.

"We've kept it small on purpose," Manatt said, pointing to Weatherspoon. "It's hard to reproduce him."

Using his background in track and field, Weatherspoon focuses his program on building core strength and flexibility, as well as teaching players how to run like track sprinters.

He starts their training in water and on sand, so when they transfer to grass, their moves are more explosive.

That was the most revealing aspect of the training for Boller, who began working with PEPA Sports on Dec. 9.

"At first, I'd do stuff that made me feel klutzy," Boller said. "That's how I know I'm doing things the right way now. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in my life."

Weatherspoon has worked with NFL players for 17 years, the past six after founding PEPA Sports. Two years ago, he also extended his program to include sessions for high school athletes who were looking for a stronger base of offseason training.

"What I hear all the time is, `If I'd had you four years ago, I'd be all-world right now,"" Weatherspoon said. "That's why I decided to go back and try to help those kids now."

In a way, that's why he started PEPA Sports in the first place. He said he wanted to create an atmosphere where players feel motivated to look beyond projections and scouting reports.

He learned that from his younger brother, Kenny Harrison, who won the 1996 Olympic triple jump gold medal and now works alongside Weatherspoon as a PEPA Sports trainer.

In high school, Harrison was what Weatherspoon called "embarrassingly slow" and considered by most coaches to be too short for a triple-jump career.

"Instead of saying, `You're right,' he said, `Yeah, right' and made them eat their words," Weatherspoon said. "He showed everyone that he was so much better than the rest of the world."

Weatherspoon laughed as he turned to watch Harrison race Johnson.

"I teach kids that the impossible can become possible in a minute, if they have the will," he added.

Often, he takes in players who seem to fit naturally into that impossibility category.

Andre O'Neil was hanging out on the streets in Oakland when Weatherspoon cut him a deal: write letters to coaches and put together film and he could train at PEPA Sports for free. O'Neil, a wide receiver, will start his second season at Menlo College this year and is eligible for the draft next year.

Giovanni Toccagino Jr. had dropped out of San Diego State three years ago. He returned home to help his family after his sister was in a car accident.

Weatherspoon found him waiting tables at the Toccagino family's restaurant in Palo Alto.

After nine months at PEPA Sports, Toccagino got a workout with the 49ers last season and may get another one this year after spending a season as a tight end with NFL Europe's Scottish Claymores.

"My friends always called me Frankenstein because of the way I walked and moved," Toccagino said. "(Weatherspoon) broke me down and built me back up."

And then there's Fujita.

A few months ago, Weatherspoon got his best validation when the agent who dropped Fujita sent some of his new players to train with PEPA Sports.

"That agent came up to me and said, `You made me look stupid,"" Weatherspoon said. "As I've always said, a person should come here and judge for himself."

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