Bryson Tucker is small by football standards, officially listed at five feet and nine inches.

He went to university at a place called Mary Hardin-Baylor, a Division III institution that is a mere footnote to an afterthought in the rich tradition of Texas football.

And he’s from a place called Caldwell, a Texas town of approximately 4,000 souls.

“Nobody’s ever heard of Caldwell,” said Tucker, a rookie running back in Stampeders training camp. “I come from a school nobody’s ever heard of. And nobody’s ever heard of me either.

“But I like it. I like the underdog role. I like the story from rags to riches.”

Like many skilled players, Tucker played multiple positions in high school. Unlike most of those players, his jack-of-all trades ways continued when he enrolled at university.

“In high school,” he said, “I played quarterback, I played safety, I played corner, I played running back . . . I played everything. When I went to college, I was going to play just DB. As a freshman, I played corner. As a sophomore, I was outside linebacker. My junior year, I was a safety and running back and kick and punt returner.”

Tucker chooses to see the positive side of his nomadic football experience.

“I’m a football player,” he said. “I was learning on both sides. I get to see everything and be a student of the game on both offence and defence. I’ll be successful no matter where you put me because I’m a student of the game. Hopefully, it all turns out pretty good for myself.”

Tucker figures being an undersized player — even a player with all-star credentials — from a Division III school worked against him when it comes to getting noticed by professional teams.

After a season of arena football in Green Bay and completing his degree in sports management and business, he was managing a couple of GNC stores and wasn’t sure where his next football opportunity would come from, assuming it would come at all. Eventually, he contacted Stamps assistant general manager John Murphy.

“He said ‘Come to (the free-agent camp) in Tampa and let’s see what you’ve got.’ I went to Tampa and tore it up,” said Tucker. “I’m here now and I’m ready to get it rolling.

“I was training for about a year and leaving it in God’s hands. I figured if it was in God’s plans for me to play football, I knew an opportunity would open up. I definitely had the idea I wanted to play. I had an opportunity to go back to arena ball but I turned it down because I had a feeling I was going to get a shot in the CFL and it ended up happening.”

So now, the guy who went to university at a place that started as an all-girls nursing school is taking his best shot at the Stampeders.

“I played D-3 football,” he said, “so it’s kind of neat to come out and play with a lot of guys who played at all the schools I wish I had the opportunity to play at. To put myself in there and compete at a high level, it feels good. I feel that if you can play football, you can play football at any level. This is just part of my dream right now.”