Boston College defensive end Mike Mamula's draft stock rose after an impressive showing at the NFL's annual Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. It was a perfect follow-up to a senior season in which he posted 17 sacks. He added four more in the 1995 Aloha Bowl, earning the all-star game's MVP award.

But it was his work at the Combine that got the attention of the NFL personnel people.

Mamula said his work in practices in college set the stage for his showing at the Combine.

"I knew I was going to do well," said Mamula. "In years past, we would do combine drills during spring practice and all the drills that were practiced when I was in college, I would always excel at. I ran a 4.49 (40) and I knew that I had all the athletic abilities to do everything the way (the scouts) wanted. It was easy for me because I'd already done these drills 1,000 times. So I understood what was needed from me and I got it done."

Philadelphia's first-year head coach Ray Rhodes was convinced. So much so that the Eagles traded their first-round pick (12th overall) and two second-round draft choices to Tampa Bay in order to move up to the seventh spot in the opening round so they could select Mamula, making him the team's highest-chosen defensive player in 24 years.

DE Mike Mamula

"I really didn't know what to expect because I'd never been to Philadelphia, but I was excited and just ready to go," Mamula said. "There was obviously pressure, but there was pressure on everybody."

Becoming a starter at right defensive end, Mamula collected 13.5 sacks during his first two seasons to go along with 130 tackles. The Eagles finished both years with a 10-6 record, but couldn't advance past the second round of the playoffs.

"It seemed that our defense was always good, but we just couldn't get over the hump. We couldn't put up a bunch of points," Mamula said. "One playoff game I remember, we played against San Francisco (in '96) and we lost (14-0). It was like we could never get over the hump with the offense."

When the 1998 preseason rolled around, the fourth-year veteran experienced a setback, a season-ending right knee injury in a game against Pittsburgh. The injury occurred on his 25th birthday, no less.

"I blew my knee out. It was the first series. It just went. It was crazy," he recalled. "My fiancée at that point and my parents were in town and they had my whole house dressed up for my birthday and I had to wait to blow out the candles the next day because I immediately had surgery."

Mamula made a return trip to the operating room before the following training camp began.

"I actually had surgery on my ankles to clean out bone chips," he said. "That was bothering me for the first couple years I played and as soon as I got those taken out, I felt like a new man. I went out there and had one of my better seasons. It was like I was a rookie again. It was great."

With a career-high 8.5 sacks in 1999, the born-again rookie was playing for his second head coach, Andy Reid.

"Anytime a new coach comes in, you don't really know what you're going to get yourself into and it was a pleasant surprise," said Mamula. "I played for Tom Coughlin (at Boston College) and for Ray Rhodes (Eagles) and for Dan Henning (BC), and I think Andy took the finest points of each coach and it was all capsulated into one. He had the disciplinary skills, but he also knew how to take care of the players at the same time. He knew what buttons to push and when to push them instead of just being like a strict person all the time. He really understood how to take care of the players and how to get the most out of the guys."

Mamula made the most out of the last two games of that '99 season. Hosting New England on Dec. 19, he collected three sacks to help the Eagles to a 24-9 win and in the process was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week. Following a bye week he intercepted St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner and returned the ball 41 yards for a touchdown in a 38-31 victory over what would be that season's Super Bowl champion.

"I had dropped into coverage and the ball was just dumped off to the running back and I caught it with my left hand, pinned it on to my leg and ran for a touchdown," Mamula said. "It was awesome."

To make that period of time even more memorable, Mamula and his wife, Chantal, added to their family between the season-ending victories when twins, Milton and Luca, were born.

Since his six-year career concluded following the 2000 season, Mamula and his family have made their home on the Main Line and he is the co-owner of CSS Inc., an employment screening company in Voorhees, N.J.

"If you go for a job and you have to get a drug test and a background check, that's what my company does. We provide that service and we also do state contracts and things like that,"" said Mamula.

It's far from the football realm, but he likes his new career.

"It gives me flexibility. It allows me to leverage relationships that I have," Mamula said. "And, of course, the Philadelphia Eagles experience helps out tremendously."

Mamula is helping out as well, giving back locally by serving on the boards of The United Way of Camden County; the Adam Taliaferro Foundation; and People for People. He is also giving back to his alma mater, Lackawanna (NY) High School's football team by hosting an annual golf tournament in suburban Buffalo.