The article below originally appeared on SF Gate and is being reprinted with permission.

Julian Edelman, who is from Redwood City, had 105 receptions this season. Photo: Michael Dwyer, Associated Press

Back in 2005, after San Mateo’s Tom Brady had just won his third Super Bowl ring, there was another Peninsula quarterback who had pretended he was Brady in high school doing some very un-Brady like things at the position.

Redwood City’s Julian Edelman ran for 1,253 yards and threw for 1,312, providing a combined 31 touchdowns for the College of San Mateo. He left after his freshman year for Kent State, and here he is, eight years later, the No. 1 receiver for Brady and the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos.

Bret Pollack, CSM’s offensive coordinator back then and now the head coach, will sit down and watch the game and tell friends he saw it coming all along.

“I’m not surprised in the slightest,” Pollack said. “He was very competitive and very skilled. He was a great leader and he set the bar high for his teammates. He feeds off the naysayers, and his intensity is rare.”

There were a lot of naysayers and would-be bullies when Edelman was 5-foot-2 his first two years at Woodside High.

“I have always liked to compete and I have always been fiery,” Edelman said. “My dad pushed me to work and get better at baseball and football when I was younger, I finally hit a growth spurt, and I am still pushing to this day.”

Edelman, now 5-10, stood tall for the Patriots this season. Partly because of departures (Wes Welker), injuries (Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola) and an incarceration (Aaron Hernandez), Edelman’s production this year jumped from 21 catches and 235 yards in 2012 to 105 and 1,056 this season.

“He’s deadly,” Pollack said.

Edelman’s first professional offer didn’t come from the NFL. After he ran for big numbers at Kent State, the Canadian Football League‘s BC Lions came calling, thinking Edelman could be their next Doug Flutie.

Edelman turned them down flat and hoped a strong Pro Day workout would attract an NFL team’s interest in the late rounds of the draft or as a free agent.

“It was a big incentive-based contract,” Edelman told reporters. “But I didn’t grow up wanting to play in the Canadian Football League – I wanted to try to make the jump.”

The Patriots drafted Edelman in the seventh round in 2009.

He had a total of 69 catches his first four seasons and was better known for getting into training camp skirmishes with the Patriots’ defensive backs. When you’re a small guy growing up playing sports, you’d better have an edge. Edelman did and has kept it to this day.

Once, at Kent State, he ran after a receiver at practice who short-armed a catch attempt, and punched him.

Being a late pick who still can’t believe he wasn’t invited to the NFL combine only added fuel to the fire.

“He came out with that chip on his shoulder, a small guy from a small school,” Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington told reporters. “The chip’s still there.”

Edelman learned how to return punts and immediately added a burst, dekes and cut-back ability that started his path up the Patriots’ depth chart at receiver. He even filled in as a defensive back two years ago when the secondary was banged up.

The master stroke was in his second season, when Edelman moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Brady in the offseason.

“I was in his back pocket if he ever needed anyone to throw to,” Edelman told the NFL Network. “I’d be there. I’d leave anything, a workout or if I was out with my buddies, if Tom called.”

The time spent together playing catch and going over routes has clearly paid off for Edelman, and for Brady.

“He and I spent a lot of time together over the (past five) years,” Brady told reporters. “I’m glad it’s really paying off. He had a great opportunity to take advantage of, and he’s done it. It’s a credit to him and his work ethic, his mental toughness.”

Brady, by the way, is still waiting to see film of Edelman as a quarterback.

“I’d love to see those old tapes of him running around, because he’s kind of a spaz; I don’t know if you guys know that,” Brady said. “I always say, ‘God, what were you like in the huddle as a quarterback? How could anyone look at you seriously?’ But I guess he did pretty good. He definitely can’t throw the ball, so he made the right switch to receiver at the right time.”