After J.T. O'Sullivan sets up under center today for the 49ers, the pride of UC Davis will drop back into a pocket of not only protection, but ultimately, of inspiration.

No, San Francisco's offensive line won't be the source of O'Sullivan's shelter, though it holds the key to his health and well-being. Rather, the former Aggies star will be joined by the ghosts of Phil Simms and Randall Cunningham. Of Ken Anderson and Dave Krieg. Of Brian Sipe and Rich Gannon. Of Steve McNair and, of course, UCD Hall of Famer Ken O'Brien.

Indeed, on this opening kickoff weekend, O'Sullivan can only hope to ultimately gain admission into that exclusive and quixotic fraternity, the brotherhood rushed by and composed of small-school quarterbacks who made it big in the NFL. And while six, possibly seven, teams today will start quarterbacks who haven't won a regular-season NFL game, and with Baltimore's Joe Flacco and his Division I-AA Delaware pedigree joining O'Sullivan as a small-school survivor, it just goes to show you need not have gone to a college football factory or been in a power conference to start in the NFL.

It all goes back to scouting … or lack thereof.

"All of us," said NFL scouting guru Gil Brandt, the architect of the Dallas Cowboys' powerhouses of the 1970s, "no matter how smart we are, or how dumb we are, don't know what the right formula for a quarterback is.

"It's harder for guys to fall through the cracks now."

Maybe, maybe not. Because even today, counting O'Sullivan and Flacco, 12 starting quarterbacks – nearly 38 percent of the league, compared to 25 percent in 1985, the year of Flacco's birth – attended campuses not only not considered college football powerhouses, but on college grounds you'd need Google Earth to find.

Guys like Brett Favre, who went to Southern Mississippi and starts a new chapter of his Hall of Fame career with the New York Jets.

And the guy he replaced in the Meadowlands but who found a home in Miami, Chad Pennington and his Marshall lineage.

The others: Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (Miami of Ohio), Jacksonville's David Garrard (East Carolina), Minnesota's Tarvaris Jackson (Alabama State), Detroit's Jon Kitna (Central Washington), Tampa Bay's Jeff Garcia (San Jose State), Carolina's Jake Delhomme (Louisiana-Lafayette), Arizona's Kurt Warner (Northern Iowa) and the crossover star of this phenomenon, Dallas' Tony Romo (Eastern Illinois).

Romo, a two-time Pro Bowler who threw for 4,211 yards and 36 touchdowns last season, is the poster boy and current cultural icon of the movement. Dating Jessica Simpson might have something to do with that.

The undrafted Romo also was not heavily recruited out of Burlington High School in Wisconsin. He was discovered only because the father of the Eastern Illinois offensive coordinator mailed copies of a Racine, Wis., newspaper with articles of Romo's prep exploits to his son. Intrigued, the Panthers of Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision) brought Romo to Charleston … on a partial scholarship.

It's a fine line between pride and pressure for small-college signal callers, which is how O'Sullivan takes his standing as an Aggie. Besides, the Jesuit High star grew up rooting for the 49ers.

"I hold being part of the Davis football program extremely important, especially (as a quarterback)," O'Sullivan said. "I had a great time friend-wise and with football, but to be part of the quarterback position at Davis is something I do not take for granted at all.

"I had fun here just in the spring watching (Mark) Grieb play for the (Arena Football League's San Jose) SaberCats, that sort of stuff. I think we all take a lot of pride in each other playing well."

Such prideful stories are the rule rather than the exception for small-college quarterbacks.

Brandt recalls being harassed continually by scouts who said the Cowboys needed to look at a gunslinger from a small private school in Wisconsin.

That school no longer exists. At least Krieg does not have to worry about alumni dues.

Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.