KING CITY, Mo.  In this small town in northwestern Missouri, breeding animals is a way of life.  "My daddy bred jackalopes," says Ernest "Woody" Fredrick, referring to the cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope that is rarely seen outside of the Midwest.  "But what Wehrli Farms is doing is something new."

Roger Wehrli

Fredrick is referring to an experiment currently being conducted by Roger Wehrli, a Hall of Fame defensive back for the University of Missouri Tigers and the NFL's Cardinals when they played in St. Louis, and one of the last, great white cornerbacks.  "He may fail," says Oren Daily, Jr., a professor of animal husbandry at the University of Missouri's Rolla campus.  "But when an animal faces extinction, you've got to do something."

Wehrli Farms

Cornerbacks breed without difficulty in nature, often producing children by cheerleaders and other exotic species.  "In captivity, it's a different story," says Daily.  "They get all skittish if they can't roam from one bar to another, or at least nibble on a sideline reporter during a game."

4H Club:  "Next year I'm gonna raise me a cornerback with a quick first step to the ball."

So the prospects for success are not great, but the Wehrlis, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Extension Service, have brought three white high school cornerbacks to their farm for breeding purposes, mating them to leggy young girls provided by the John Alston Modeling Agency of Kansas City.

"These are the same girls you see modeling fashion undergarments in regional newspapers," Daily says.  "They've been chosen for their low body fat, and their willingness to slap you silly if you try to run a crossing route through their push-up bras."

Jason Sehorn

The last white cornerback in the NFL was Jason Sehorn, who played for the New York Giants before a knee injury ended his career.  Sehorn has only one son, and environmentalists have become concerned that "The Species"--as Sehorn was known during his playing days--may die out if breeding in captivity fails.

"There is a 15-yard penalty on the offense for excessive celebration."

"Perhaps we've been focusing too much on baby seals and whales," concedes Evan Winslow of the Sierra Club.  "I've never seen a whale master the Cover 2 defense."

Copyright 2007, Con Chapman