Something about junior college players always seems to intrigue me. More often than not, there’s a good story behind a player’s decision to go juco. It’s usually a matter of academics and that he couldn’t qualify where he committed. Even then, there’s often a side story.

Maybe a kid really wanted to get into that Division I school and decided juco was a worthy sacrifice to one day live his dream. Maybe he had a bunch of offers, but didn’t want to settle on D-II or low D-I. Maybe he wasn’t being recruited at the position he wanted to play or maybe he was injured and juco was a proving ground.

There’s always something and it’s always a neat story. WVU’s Zach Hulce is another example.

There he was Tuesday, defending himself against claims he fumbles too much — unfair since the media hasn’t seen more than the one in Saturday’s scrimmage — and he had to tell people one reason he didn’t play beyond his fumble was because he actually tried to play with a concussion. He offered that piece of information reluctantly, which made it seem like there was much more to his story than he was willing to tell.

Little did anyone know he wasn’t even supposed to be at WVU. After graduating from Glendale (Ariz.) Community College, Hulce was supposed to go to Boise State. The Broncos yanked his scholarship and Hulce had to find a new home by himself.

“I recruited myself,” Hulce said.

Not satisfied with the assistance from Glendale’s coaching staff, Hulce called more than 100 schools to see if anyone was interested in a kid who ran for 1,101 yards, averaged 5.5 yards per carry and scored eight touchdowns in 2007.

Good plan, bad phone bill.

“It was pretty expensive,” he said.