I found him selling cell phones at a kiosk in Fashion Place Mall.
Luke Staley looked fully capable of bolting around the end and flying up the sidelines, just as I remembered. But instead of 230-pound linebackers, he had only rushing shoppers to dodge.
The days when the BYU crowd would roar "Luuuuuke!" when he burst into the open are long gone. Instead of moving on to play in the NFL, he's explaining the advantages of T-Mobile cellular service.
Not as glamorous as football, but it's honest work.
But there are no cheers in the mall, only an occasional customer checking airtime rates and roaming charges.
I told him I was looking for an update on what he had been doing. He laughed self-deprecatingly and glanced around the kiosk. All things considered, he'd rather be playing.
He said he was taking 18 credit hours at BYU and planning to graduate this spring in sociology.
"I've got to get it done," he said.
I asked if he had time for an interview. He said to call him on his cell phone (imagine that) any time and we could talk.
Both BYU and Staley have had challenges since that eventful 2001 season. BYU's is to get back to contending for championships. Staley's is to adapt to the possibility his dream won't be fulfilled.
Since breaking his leg in the 11th game of the 2001 season, neither he nor the Cougars have met their goals. BYU lost its last two games of that season and 17 of the last 26. Staley was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2002 but tore his ACL in camp before playing in a game. This fall he performed well for the Lions in exhibition play — at least in his estimation — but was released. Official explanation: He was too big.
"I think that was just their reason to get rid of me," he said.
Staley says he feels fine, ready to go. But he admits his reputation of being damaged goods follows like an ill wind. So he sells cell phones. It's not a bad life. His wife is expecting their first child. He works out four or five times a week in hopes a team will call.
The biggest advantage to being cut, he says, was getting out of Detroit. "One of the worst places I've been," he said.
One night he and his wife awoke to the sound of gunshots outside their condominium. "One street you can be in a nice area, the next street over you can be in the 'hood," he said.
Staley isn't upset he left school early for the NFL. With a history of injuries that included having both knees and shoulders surgically repaired, several other arthroscopic procedures and the broken leg, going to the NFL seemed prudent. It still does.
He only wishes he had taken more classes so he could have graduated sooner.
He hopes to become a financial planner or a pharmaceutical salesman if he can't play football. He also thinks of coaching. "Football has been a big part of my life," he said.
I asked the former Doak Walker Award winner if he gets recognized in the mall.
"Yeah, I do. They stop by for autographs sometimes," he said. "It's nice."
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com