A rookie typically is overwhelmed by his first NFL practice, no matter how glittery his college resume. He is stunned by the size, speed and skill of his new teammates, some of whom he watched on television while growing up and idolized. His brain is short-circuited by the amount of information thrown at him by coaches, and he needs a little bit of recovery time to settle down and convince himself that he truly belongs.
That won't be the case for Larry Fitzgerald.
Not only will the wide receiver be one of the most gifted players on the roster of whichever NFL club he joins after the first few picks of the draft on April 24, but his initial practice will have a been-there, done-that feel. Long before Fitzgerald became the Heisman Trophy runner-up as a precocious sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh and the leader of a dazzling group of wideouts available for this draft, he was a young ballboy for the Minnesota Vikings, impressing Dennis Green and the team's other coaches while playfully running routes with two of the league's top receivers, Cris Carter and Randy Moss.
"He opened the door for me as far as being able to see professional athletes work on an every-day basis, watching them and seeing how they got so good, what they did to make them play so well on Sundays,'' Fitzgerald said of Green during the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February. "A lot of people don't ever get to see that. I got to see the work ethic.''
A reunion could be in store. Green returned to the NFL in January as coach of the Arizona Cardinals, who have the draft's third overall selection. The Cardinals could choose a receiver to go with 2003 rookie sensation Anquan Boldin, and Fitzgerald should be the first -- or, at worst, second -- of the five to seven receivers likely to come off the board in the first round. Texas's Roy Williams closed the gap when he was timed at an eye-catching 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash in his campus workout for NFL scouts last month, but many talent evaluators around the league say they remain convinced that Fitzgerald will be the best receiver to emerge from this draft.
"I've known Larry since he was 8 years old,'' Green said. "His father and I had a close relationship. He's a fabulous young man. When you talk with him, you know you're around star quality. He, like Cris Carter, can expand the field for you. He has great hands, great speed, great footwork. It probably helped him, being around our team, but he was probably destined for greatness anyway.''
Fitzgerald's father, Larry Sr., played college football at Indiana State and made it to the New York Giants' camp before being cut. He is the sports editor for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and co-hosted Green's radio show. When the relationship between Green and the Minneapolis media turned combative, the elder Fitzgerald was Green's primary defender. Green took on Larry Jr. and his younger brother Marcus, now a running back at Marshall, as ballboys.
"He didn't tell me that he wanted to play in the NFL until he was a freshman in high school,'' Larry Fitzgerald Sr. said by telephone today. "I never pushed him. His mother never pushed him, other than pushing him out there to play pee-wee football maybe a little earlier than I would have wanted.''
Larry Jr. worked for the Vikings for four years, starting when he was 13, he said, and became particularly close to Carter. He was pronounced ready to play in the NFL by Green while he was in high school.
"I was out there with them every day,'' Fitzgerald said. "They were always pulling me aside and telling me little things that I need to watch: 'Watch me do this. Watch me do that. You need to work on this.' Little things like that. I just had lunch with John Fitzpatrick. He's a scout, and I was telling him the drill he taught me, how to catch off the JUGS machine, is something I still do to this day. And I learned that at 12, 13 years old.
"It helped me out a whole lot. As soon as I got to college, I was watching tape. I was doing everything that I saw Cris and Jake [Reed] and Randy do to make themselves so great on Sundays. My coach would always have stuff for me to watch because I showed him that I was interested and I wanted to learn. I wanted to be the best, and he just continued to help me to do that.''
Green and the other Vikings coaches told him, Fitzgerald said, to be sure not to squander his ability, prodding him to develop as a person and a football player. That message was reinforced at home by Larry Sr. and Fitzgerald's mother Carol, an AIDS activist who died last April after a seven-year battle with breast cancer.
"Our values have been extended to him,'' the elder Fitzgerald said. "He bought into it. He listened to us. . . . Your children take an interest in what you do. I was able to tell him that, 'Your dad had an athletic background,' and he tried to measure up to Dad. He's been able to blow me away. He benefited from being around so many people who had an impact on him. They really reinforced what we'd been telling him about respecting your elders and respecting discipline and if you're going to be a good person, that's where it starts -- respect. They hammered home that athletics and education go together.''
Those who meet the younger Fitzgerald are instantly struck by how polite and engaging he is. When he scores a touchdown, he calmly hands the ball to a referee like his boyhood football hero, Barry Sanders. When he was named the city's 2003 sportsman of the year, Fitzgerald told a banquet audience in Pittsburgh that one of his future goals is to be on his school's board of trustees.
"Larry Fitzgerald is an impressive young man,'' Chargers Coach Marty Schottenheimer told reporters after his club, which has the top overall pick in the draft, brought Fitzgerald to San Diego for a visit last week. "Obviously he has outstanding physical skills as a wide receiver. The positive impression he made on everybody in the organization might, if not equal his performance as a player, indeed surpass it.''
Fitzgerald does not have blazing speed, but scouts love his size, quickness, strength, timing, leaping ability, precise route-running and strong, sure hands. He reportedly has 20/15 vision. In two seasons at Pittsburgh, he had 161 catches for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had a touchdown reception in 18 straight games, an NCAA record. Many scouts believe that Williams and former USC standout Mike Williams will be future Pro Bowl selections but Fitzgerald will be the best of the group.
"You're excited about some of the big receivers in this draft,'' Tennessee Titans General Manager Floyd Reese said.
Fitzgerald, 20, was declared eligible for the draft by the league because he spent a year at a prep school before his two years in college -- fulfilling the NFL's draft-eligibility requirement that he be at least three years removed from high school. He will remain eligible for the draft even if the league prevails in its appeal of the Maurice Clarett lawsuit and bars Clarett and Mike Williams from the draft. Had the NFL rejected his draft application, Fitzgerald said, he would have returned to Pittsburgh for another season without a legal challenge.
"You don't want to fight against the NFL,'' he said. "It probably would not have been in my best interests.''
Wide Receiver Roundup
This is the deepest, best-stocked position in the draft. Many executives around the league think that Fitzgerald and Roy Williams will be among the first four players selected. There is a difference of opinion regarding Mike Williams. Some NFL talent evaluators are convinced that he will be a top-10 pick. Others believe he will plummet until late in the first round and be chosen after Reggie Williams of Washington and perhaps Michael Clayton of LSU. Wisconsin's Lee Evans also has a strong chance of being selected in the first round, and Oklahoma State's Rashaun Woods and Ohio State's Michael Jenkins have outside shots.
Quality receivers will continue coming off the board in the second and third rounds. That's good news for the Baltimore Ravens, who desperately need a receiver and don't draft until the second round. They have the 51st overall pick. Boldin went to the Cardinals with the 54th choice last year and had 101 catches for 1,377 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie.
Teams with a possible first-round need at the position are: Oakland (No. 2); Arizona (No. 3); Detroit (No. 6); Cleveland (No. 7); Atlanta (No. 8); Jacksonville (No. 9); Buffalo (No. 13); San Francisco (No. 16); New England (Nos. 21 and 32); Carolina (No. 31).
Receivers who could be taken in the first round: Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, Mike Williams, Reggie Williams, Clayton, Evans, Woods, Jenkins.
Around the League
It appears possible that the Tim Couch trade could be completed this week. An NFL source said this morning that the Green Bay Packers are in ongoing discussions with agent Tom Condon about a new contract for the quarterback, and with the Cleveland Browns about draft-pick compensation. . . . Free agent offensive lineman Solomon Page visited the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday. . . . University of Miami (Ohio) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger visited the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have the 11th overall choice in the draft. . . . Free agent cornerback Otis Smith agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Patriots.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11169-2004Apr14.html
That won't be the case for Larry Fitzgerald.
Not only will the wide receiver be one of the most gifted players on the roster of whichever NFL club he joins after the first few picks of the draft on April 24, but his initial practice will have a been-there, done-that feel. Long before Fitzgerald became the Heisman Trophy runner-up as a precocious sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh and the leader of a dazzling group of wideouts available for this draft, he was a young ballboy for the Minnesota Vikings, impressing Dennis Green and the team's other coaches while playfully running routes with two of the league's top receivers, Cris Carter and Randy Moss.
"He opened the door for me as far as being able to see professional athletes work on an every-day basis, watching them and seeing how they got so good, what they did to make them play so well on Sundays,'' Fitzgerald said of Green during the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February. "A lot of people don't ever get to see that. I got to see the work ethic.''
A reunion could be in store. Green returned to the NFL in January as coach of the Arizona Cardinals, who have the draft's third overall selection. The Cardinals could choose a receiver to go with 2003 rookie sensation Anquan Boldin, and Fitzgerald should be the first -- or, at worst, second -- of the five to seven receivers likely to come off the board in the first round. Texas's Roy Williams closed the gap when he was timed at an eye-catching 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash in his campus workout for NFL scouts last month, but many talent evaluators around the league say they remain convinced that Fitzgerald will be the best receiver to emerge from this draft.
"I've known Larry since he was 8 years old,'' Green said. "His father and I had a close relationship. He's a fabulous young man. When you talk with him, you know you're around star quality. He, like Cris Carter, can expand the field for you. He has great hands, great speed, great footwork. It probably helped him, being around our team, but he was probably destined for greatness anyway.''
Fitzgerald's father, Larry Sr., played college football at Indiana State and made it to the New York Giants' camp before being cut. He is the sports editor for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and co-hosted Green's radio show. When the relationship between Green and the Minneapolis media turned combative, the elder Fitzgerald was Green's primary defender. Green took on Larry Jr. and his younger brother Marcus, now a running back at Marshall, as ballboys.
"He didn't tell me that he wanted to play in the NFL until he was a freshman in high school,'' Larry Fitzgerald Sr. said by telephone today. "I never pushed him. His mother never pushed him, other than pushing him out there to play pee-wee football maybe a little earlier than I would have wanted.''
Larry Jr. worked for the Vikings for four years, starting when he was 13, he said, and became particularly close to Carter. He was pronounced ready to play in the NFL by Green while he was in high school.
"I was out there with them every day,'' Fitzgerald said. "They were always pulling me aside and telling me little things that I need to watch: 'Watch me do this. Watch me do that. You need to work on this.' Little things like that. I just had lunch with John Fitzpatrick. He's a scout, and I was telling him the drill he taught me, how to catch off the JUGS machine, is something I still do to this day. And I learned that at 12, 13 years old.
"It helped me out a whole lot. As soon as I got to college, I was watching tape. I was doing everything that I saw Cris and Jake [Reed] and Randy do to make themselves so great on Sundays. My coach would always have stuff for me to watch because I showed him that I was interested and I wanted to learn. I wanted to be the best, and he just continued to help me to do that.''
Green and the other Vikings coaches told him, Fitzgerald said, to be sure not to squander his ability, prodding him to develop as a person and a football player. That message was reinforced at home by Larry Sr. and Fitzgerald's mother Carol, an AIDS activist who died last April after a seven-year battle with breast cancer.
"Our values have been extended to him,'' the elder Fitzgerald said. "He bought into it. He listened to us. . . . Your children take an interest in what you do. I was able to tell him that, 'Your dad had an athletic background,' and he tried to measure up to Dad. He's been able to blow me away. He benefited from being around so many people who had an impact on him. They really reinforced what we'd been telling him about respecting your elders and respecting discipline and if you're going to be a good person, that's where it starts -- respect. They hammered home that athletics and education go together.''
Those who meet the younger Fitzgerald are instantly struck by how polite and engaging he is. When he scores a touchdown, he calmly hands the ball to a referee like his boyhood football hero, Barry Sanders. When he was named the city's 2003 sportsman of the year, Fitzgerald told a banquet audience in Pittsburgh that one of his future goals is to be on his school's board of trustees.
"Larry Fitzgerald is an impressive young man,'' Chargers Coach Marty Schottenheimer told reporters after his club, which has the top overall pick in the draft, brought Fitzgerald to San Diego for a visit last week. "Obviously he has outstanding physical skills as a wide receiver. The positive impression he made on everybody in the organization might, if not equal his performance as a player, indeed surpass it.''
Fitzgerald does not have blazing speed, but scouts love his size, quickness, strength, timing, leaping ability, precise route-running and strong, sure hands. He reportedly has 20/15 vision. In two seasons at Pittsburgh, he had 161 catches for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had a touchdown reception in 18 straight games, an NCAA record. Many scouts believe that Williams and former USC standout Mike Williams will be future Pro Bowl selections but Fitzgerald will be the best of the group.
"You're excited about some of the big receivers in this draft,'' Tennessee Titans General Manager Floyd Reese said.
Fitzgerald, 20, was declared eligible for the draft by the league because he spent a year at a prep school before his two years in college -- fulfilling the NFL's draft-eligibility requirement that he be at least three years removed from high school. He will remain eligible for the draft even if the league prevails in its appeal of the Maurice Clarett lawsuit and bars Clarett and Mike Williams from the draft. Had the NFL rejected his draft application, Fitzgerald said, he would have returned to Pittsburgh for another season without a legal challenge.
"You don't want to fight against the NFL,'' he said. "It probably would not have been in my best interests.''
Wide Receiver Roundup
This is the deepest, best-stocked position in the draft. Many executives around the league think that Fitzgerald and Roy Williams will be among the first four players selected. There is a difference of opinion regarding Mike Williams. Some NFL talent evaluators are convinced that he will be a top-10 pick. Others believe he will plummet until late in the first round and be chosen after Reggie Williams of Washington and perhaps Michael Clayton of LSU. Wisconsin's Lee Evans also has a strong chance of being selected in the first round, and Oklahoma State's Rashaun Woods and Ohio State's Michael Jenkins have outside shots.
Quality receivers will continue coming off the board in the second and third rounds. That's good news for the Baltimore Ravens, who desperately need a receiver and don't draft until the second round. They have the 51st overall pick. Boldin went to the Cardinals with the 54th choice last year and had 101 catches for 1,377 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie.
Teams with a possible first-round need at the position are: Oakland (No. 2); Arizona (No. 3); Detroit (No. 6); Cleveland (No. 7); Atlanta (No. 8); Jacksonville (No. 9); Buffalo (No. 13); San Francisco (No. 16); New England (Nos. 21 and 32); Carolina (No. 31).
Receivers who could be taken in the first round: Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, Mike Williams, Reggie Williams, Clayton, Evans, Woods, Jenkins.
Around the League
It appears possible that the Tim Couch trade could be completed this week. An NFL source said this morning that the Green Bay Packers are in ongoing discussions with agent Tom Condon about a new contract for the quarterback, and with the Cleveland Browns about draft-pick compensation. . . . Free agent offensive lineman Solomon Page visited the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday. . . . University of Miami (Ohio) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger visited the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have the 11th overall choice in the draft. . . . Free agent cornerback Otis Smith agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Patriots.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11169-2004Apr14.html
