BLUEFIELD — Remember these names?

Giovanni Carmazzi and Spergon Wynn, John Friesz and Michael Bishop.

Who, you might ask?

The first two were drafted ahead of Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL Draft. The last pair were ahead of Brady on the Patriots’ roster, when Brady was a nearly-forgotten fourth string quarterback for New England.

Brady experienced much the same existence at Michigan, where he was as low as seventh on the depth chart. He eventually worked his way to a starting slot, proving many wrong along the way.

“Here is a man since he went to college was in constant competition, who always had some kind of adversity to overcome, rather it was competing with Drew Henson or trying to keep his spot,” Richlands product and two-time Super Bowl champion Mike Compton said. “If you look back and if I am correct when he was at Michigan, anytime they needed a big comeback, he was the guy they had in there.”

Still, Brady lasted until late in the sixth round to the Patriots.

When Bledsoe got hurt early in the 2001 season, Brady, who had worked his way to second string, was inserted into the lineup. He has been there ever since.

Bledsoe, considered then one of the NFL’s best, eventually left, and Brady went on to lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles in four years, including his first one with Compton as one of his offensive linemen in 2001.

Compton was on injured reserve when the Patriots won it again in ‘03.

“The NFL is a funny game, it is about opportunity, one man’s pain is another man’s gain,” Compton said. “If it wasn’t for (Jets linebacker) Mo Lewis hitting Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady may not even be in the league.

“When you are a professional football player and your number is called, you take advantage of it because your window is so narrow, it will be open and closed before you know it.”

Want to know what drove Brady to where he is now on the brink of joining Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowl titles?

It’s all of the above, according to Compton, who spent 12 seasons in the NFL, including eight in Detroit, three in New England, and one more in Jacksonville. He also starred at Richlands and West Virginia.

“I think his work ethic, his mentality, his whole attitude is, ‘My whole college and pro career, nobody thought I was good enough, I am going to make everybody regret passing me up,’” Compton said. “ ‘I am going to be the best quarterback I can be to show everybody that you made a mistake passing me over.’

“I think most of the quarterbacks drafted ahead of him are not even in the league anymore,” added Compton, a list that includes Marshall product Chad Pennington and Marc Bulger from West Virginia. “He is a great guy, a great professional, he would come early and leave late, and is very poised in pressure situations.

“I always make the statement if we had had Tom Brady in Detroit with Barry Sanders I would have had a couple of more rings.”

 •••

New England will be facing the Giants today in Super XLVI, a rematch of the same matchup four years ago when a remarkable catch by David Tyree helped New York spoil the Patriots’ hopes of a perfect season with the 17-14 upset victory.

While the Patriots, and especially head coach Bill Belichick, have tried to avoid such discussions, Compton thinks revenge is somewhere deep inside the players and coaches still in New England.

“In my opinion they won’t admit it because it just adds fuel to the fire and creates distractions,” Compton said. “If I am a player on that team and this was my only game and my destiny was taken away from me from being absolutely perfect, it is there, it is buried somewhere in the deep parts of their minds.

“I guarantee you it has crossed their minds, but Coach Belichick and his guys, they have been trained to say the right things.”

•••

New England had been to the Super Bowl once in its history before Belichick arrived.

One of the true enigmas in the sport, Belichick has built a winning organization in New England by doing things his way. It might not be the most popular way, and his roster is rarely loaded with superstars, but the players accept their roles and follow his lead.

“A lot of times you will see that he has guys or did have guys that are considered old or washed up, on the down side of their career and he will take guys like that,” Compton said. “Those are his guys, guys who are willing to do whatever they have to do to play their role to win a championship...

“He is sort of like Phil Jackson but without the Zen part of it. He is very detailed, the games were easy, the practices were harder than the games and that is part of their mentality. We are going to prepare you for everything they do and practice is going to be hard. When you play this game it is just going to click, it is not going to be as hard as practice.”

Belichick is renown for his rocky relationship with the national media, which simply can’t seem to crack his rather dour facade.

“A lot of what you see with Coach Belichick with media is just the way he deals with media,” Compton said. “As a player you know that because he tells you that. He says let me handle the media, don’t worry about what I say because these guys don’t need to know.

“That whole media thing with him, as players we would laugh when we would see him, we were like he is just toying with them.”

•••

There isn’t much doubt which team Compton is leaning toward as the Super Bowl kicks off tonight in Indianapolis.

He does, however, have a soft spot for another local product, Ahmad Bradshaw, the former Graham and Marshall star who will play running back for the Giants.

“I have got a few friends on (the Patriots), the trainers, my line coach, Brady, Dan Koppen, Matt Light, I still have a few friends there, they are not all old and retired yet,” said Compton, who is now the offensive line coach at Bluefield College. “I will be sort of leaning toward the Patriots, but on the Giants you have Ahmad on there, a local guy, and you like to see local guys do good....

“I think it will be a great game. I will be surprised if it is not, as they say, one for the ages...I think whoever has the ball last will have the chance to win.”

•••

Compton, like many in the country and world, will be watching the Super Bowl. He has own ideas on what to watch out for.

Among the storylines leading up to this game has been New England tight end Rob Gronkowski, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the AFC title game win over Baltimore. His condition has been a constant source of news for the last two weeks.

“He will play, the mentality of an NFL player, he will take painkillers and they will shoot his ankle up, by the time the game comes he won’t feel anything,” Compton said. “The question being at halftime, where it is so long, the adrenaline stops pumping and you get stiff and tight. It will be kind of interesting to see how he comes out in the second half.

“I have used all the football remedies, took shots, especially this game. This is the one game where unless something is absolutely broke or torn, you are going to do whatever you can to be out there and to help your team.”

Compton does believe his condition will play a key role in the game.

“I think it depends on how New York’s defense handles New England’s no-huddle, and it depends on the health of Gronkowski,” Compton said. “If he is healthy that creates some bad matchups for the Giants defense.

“With him limping I think that favors the Giants. The two quarterbacks (Brady and Eli Manning) will play as they always do, their best games on the biggest stage, the old saying ‘great players make plays’ and those players will make plays.”

As with any game, it will come down to matchups. Compton is especially wary of New England’s secondary, which has struggled all season long, trying to contain the three-headed monster receiver corps for the Giants.

Compton expects it to be a great game.

“A lot of it depends on matchups, how their defense matches up with the offense, how New England’s defense and particularly the secondary matches up with New York’s receivers,” Compton said. “It comes down to whatever one team does best, the defense has got to try and stop it and take it away and make them do something they don’t want to do.

“Whichever team’s defense can do that I think they will have the edge.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

 at bwoodson@bdtonline.com