Character key to Cavs' class
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Dave Leitao has been involved in the recruiting business long enough to know that players like Jerome Meyinsse do not routinely materialize in the spring of their senior years.

Leitao admittedly was focused on his 2007 recruiting class when he and his staff traveled to the Kingwood Classic, an AAU basketball event in Houston.

Leitao was scouting a game when he took a call from assistant Rob Lanier, who was in a different gymnasium. Lanier said there was a player he wanted Leitao to see.

It was Meyinsse, a 6-foot-9 senior from McKinley High School in Baton Rouge, La., who remained uncommitted despite making second-team all-state.

"Eight out of 10 times, when you see a player like that, there's a catch," Leitao said. "At this time of year, there's often something wrong with their academics or their character."

When they investigated Meyinsse's academics, the UVa coaches were shocked -- shocked at how good they were.

The son of two professors at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Meyinsse had a 4.0 grade-point average. His character, from all indications, was above reproach.

"I think what we were looking at was an exposure issue," Leitao said.

That might seem odd, given that Meyinsse was playing in the same city as a Final Four participant -- Louisiana State -- and for a high school that had produced LSU star Tyrus Thomas.

"Not a lot of [recruiters] were going down to Louisiana post-Hurricane Katrina," Leitao said. "And he didn't play much AAU ball, if any, because he's so academically oriented. He always had something going on that way."

The weekend he was in Houston, Meyinsse was supposed to be on a recruiting visit to Notre Dame.

He postponed that trip, which originally had been set up by Lewis Preston, an Irish assistant who subsequently took a job at Florida.

The Virginia coaches took one look at Meyinsse and could only hope that nobody else was watching.

"I remember seeing [LSU assistant] Butch Pierre under one of the baskets," said Gene Cross, who also had gotten a call from Lanier. "He was talking to a coach from Tulane. I kept thinking, 'Leave, Butch, please leave.'

"You figure, being there in Baton Rouge, he had to have seen [Meyinsse] before. The last thing we needed was for LSU to re-recruit him. It is rare to find a player with Jerome's credentials that late, but maybe coaches saw him in April [of 2005] and didn't like him enough to watch him as a senior. Sometimes, kids get a lot better during the school year."

Cross, who credits Lanier for much of the legwork with Meyinsse, remained at Virginia for only a short period after the signing period. At the advice of Preston, a coaching friend, Cross inquired about the Notre Dame opening and decided to return to his Midwestern roots.

Although they both had connections to the Meyinsse recruiting, Cross and Preston never discussed it.

"It's crazy how this business works," Cross said. "We're really good friends. I remain friends with a lot of people in this business by not talking about recruiting. Business is business and personal is personal. Sometimes, when I'm talking to a good friend, I'll say, 'OK, we've got to talk business now.' So, we didn't talk much about Jerome."

Cross said his first impression of Meyinsse was "that he was really, really active."

The UVa staff thinks he has a tremendous upside, but more immediate help should come from four other signees, 6-9 Ryan Pettinella from Webster, N.Y.; 6-9 Jamil Tucker from Gary, Ind.; 6-6 Will Harris from Corona, N.Y.; and 6-5 Nigerian Solomon Tat, who played in Stockbridge, Ga., the past three seasons.

Tat never signed a letter-of-intent with the Cavaliers, but is planning to begin UVa's Summer Transition Program in July.

Leitao knows the class will add to Virginia's skill level and its depth, but there's something else he likes about it.

"If you walked into one of our practices last year, we didn't have the most personality," Leitao said. "The gym wasn't lively. It was a team with good character, but it didn't have characters, if you know what I mean.

"That's something that these guys will bring to the table."
 

A sneak peek at future LB?
By Albert Breer/ Daily News Staff
Thursday, June 22, 2006

Today, on a manicured field in Charlottesville, Va., a player so unique, so fast for his size, so big for his position, so nimble and quick and instinctive, will take the field.

And a particularly poignant moment will take place.

Ahmad Brooks, four months ago banished from the University of Virginia's football program, will be back. It's a sign that, perhaps, the intriguing prospect has paid his penance and is returning into the Cavalier family.

Which, of course, may open quite a few more doors for him with the July 13 supplemental draft looming.

See, Brooks is a perfect fit for the rugged, two-gap 3-4 system that Al Groh runs at Virginia. The system is very much like the ones deployed in Cleveland, Dallas and, yes, Foxboro.

If, in fact, Brooks is best suited to play in those locales, it'd be in his best interest to get back in Groh's good graces, since the powers-that-be in those places -- Romeo Crennel, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick -- are closely connected to the Virginia coach.

And indications are the linebacker's taken all the steps to do just that.

"I think (the Virginia staff) was disappointed things didn't work out better," said Brooks' agent, Greg Williams. "But I do think things are fine now, and it was the right decision for both sides. It gave him a reality check -- Ahmad's a good kid who's made some bad choices -- and he's rededicated himself and has gotten in the best shape he's been in in two years."

The process started with Brooks' ouster in February. By then, it was already too late to get in on the April draft.

And if he'd been able to crash that party, it may not have been in his own best interest, anyway. Reports had him weighing 290 pounds, spread over his 6-foot-4 frame, at that point. Which is 30 pounds heavier than the weight at which he was listed as a Cavalier junior.

"When he first got down here, to be honest, he was a lot bigger than any linebacker I've worked with," said Atlanta-based trainer Chip Smith, enlisted by Brooks and Williams at the start of the process. "And to see the man move, it was just incredible. He wasn't in shape...probably up at 285, and he could really haul."

Smith isn't exactly one to be wowed either.

He and Competitive Edge Sports have trained dozens and dozens of players preparing for the draft in years past, and, from an athletic standpoint, Smith puts Brooks up there with any of them. One, in particular, to whom Smith compares Brooks is Bears' Pro Bowler Brian Urlacher, although Brooks carries an even-larger frame and may be even more explosive.

The problem, until now, came in maturity, according to those around Brooks. And they'll also tell you he's been working on it.

"I really think Ahmad can be a Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker, he has a first-step explosion that few guys can match," said Smith, who also counts Sox catcher Jason Varitek among his clients. "We put him in there with veterans like Hannibal Navies (Bengals) and Nate Wayne (Lions), and I think they've made him more accountable."

Since being thrown off the Cavaliers' roster, accountability has meant five-hour workouts five times a week. Speed work, position work, strength work, film work, diet work, interview work. Work, work, work.

According to Williams, the result is that Brooks tipped the scales at 261 pounds earlier in the week and burned a low-4.5 in the 40-yard dash. Add that to the fact he was a Butkus Award finalist and first-team All-American as a college sophomore, before an injury-plagued junior season, and you have the same guy who was expected to be among the top five prospects in the 2007 draft.

In fact, according to Williams, one team told the agent that had Brooks declared for the 2006 draft, he would've been right behind Mario Williams and Reggie Bush as the third-ranked player on its board.

As such, 13 teams have contacted the Brooks camp and more than that will be in Charlottesville this afternoon. Another 15 are thought to be seriously interested. The Patriots, for now, are in the latter group.

In any case, those who attend today will be interested in the times and weights and jumps Brooks posts. But maybe more than that, they'll be interested in the man he is.

"I think the issue with Ahmad is that he needed to grow up a little," said Williams. "It's a matter of realizing you're not a kid anymore and you have to take responsibilities for your actions. To his credit, he never blamed anyone else.

"He said, 'The things that happened to me were my fault and I have to fix them.' And that's what he's done."

In New England's case, it may be a matter of whether Groh -- a man who presided over a program stung by many of Brooks' wrongs -- believes that. Last week, the Virginia coach visited Foxboro and paced the practice field with Belichick.

It's a safe bet that Brooks' name came up, with the linebacker fitting the Patriots system like a glove. And it's also safe to say -- since the player is holding his pro workout in the coach's house -- that the player-coach relationship between Brooks and Groh has been repaired.

To what degree? Come up with that answer, and you may have a better idea of just how interested the Patriots really are.

 

Dolphins interested in former Virginia star BrooksBy Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

In the 2005 supplemental draft, the Miami Dolphins used a fifth-round selection on Manuel Wright, a talented but habitually underachieving defensive tackle from Southern California. For their investment, the Dolphins got an out-of-shape and immature defender, a guy who played in only three games and recorded four tackles and who reported back to work this spring in dubious condition.

But say this for Nick Saban: Just because the Dolphins' coach was once bitten in the supplemental draft doesn't mean he will be twice shy about using it again to add a young defender.

Which is why, more than just about any other team in the league, the Dolphins are eyeing linebacker Ahmad Brooks, the former University of Virginia star booted off the squad by coach Al Groh for a series of undisclosed infractions, as a possible choice in the July 13 supplemental draft.

The Dolphins were one of 22 teams represented on Thursday at Brooks' audition for league scouts. But in terms of due diligence, Miami has already done more background work than most franchises on Brooks, a player with enormous physical ability but a history of poor judgments off the field. That includes sending him recently to meet with Lon Rosen, a psychologist and close friend of Saban who has done personality reports in the past for the Miami coach.

It appears that Miami and San Francisco, which is scheduled to bring Brooks to the Bay Area next week for a one-on-one session, are the teams most interested in him. A team that exercises a pick in the supplemental draft must forfeit a choice in the corresponding round in next year's regular draft.

Although he possesses first-round physical skills, Brooks, clearly the top prospect in the supplemental draft at this point, is more likely to be chosen in the middle rounds. If that's the case, the Dolphins, prone to take a few chances on players -- as was the case when they signed former Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick last month as an undrafted free agent -- could be the club that chooses Brooks.

Saban is attempting to gradually remake an aging defense. He added three starters in the last two drafts and there remains some hope that Wright will yet become a player. Plus, many scouts feel Brooks will be best suited to playing in a 3-4 front, the alignment that Saban wants to eventually make his base defense. New defensive coordinator Dom Capers has coached the 3-4 virtually his entire NFL career.

At 6-feet-3 and 260 pounds, having shed more than 30 pounds in the past two months, Brooks certainly has the prototype frame for a 3-4 linebacker. And although Miami star Zach Thomas has demonstrated no signs of slippage, he is entering his 11th season and will be 33 when the campaign begins, and the Dolphins will soon have to start thinking about grooming his eventual successor.

Brooks is big enough to play inside linebacker and quick enough, as evidenced by 13 sacks and 31 quarterback pressures in three seasons at Virginia, to move outside and rush the passer. He also had 234 tackles, 21 tackles for losses, two forced fumbles, an interception and 14 passes defensed.

All of which means it won't be surprising if Saban and the Dolphins roll the dice in the supplemental draft for the second year in a row.
 

Must-have Cav?
By John Murphy, Yahoo! Sports
June 24, 2006

Ahmad Brooks has the skills to be a first-day selection in the NFL draft, but two talent evaluators who reviewed the former Virginia linebacker's tapes and workout believe he will slide somewhere between Rounds 3 and 5 in this year's supplemental draft.

Brooks, one of four prospects granted "special" eligibility this week for the July 13 draft, worked out for scouts and coaches on Thursday. He was timed between 4.69 and 4.75 seconds in the 40-yard dash and registered a 32-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-8 broad jump.

While those in attendance were pleased to see Brooks weigh-in at 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds – 26 pounds lighter than his original training weight with Chip Smith of Competitive Edge Sports in Atlanta – most scouts noted that he struggled some with his footwork in the shuttle drills (4.42 seconds in the short shuttle, 7.41 in the three-cone and 11.80 in the 60-yard shuttle) and produced average results in the bench press for his size (19 repetitions at 225 pounds). Still, they felt Brooks looked in good shape.

Known to be an underachiever with some lazy habits, Brooks reportedly has had off-field issues with failed drug tests at Virginia. His agent, Gregory Williams, told team decision-makers that his client had successfully passed five independently administered drug tests in the past three months. Also, a full medical evaluation of Brooks' previous right knee injury was provided to teams by Dr. James Andrews, whom Brooks had visited a few weeks ago in preparation for Thursday's workout.

Most 3-4 scheme teams see Brooks as being a good fit inside, while others feel he can play outside and put in some work at rush end in passing situations. Everyone is in agreement that having a solid support staff and veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball will be crucial to keeping Brooks in line.

The Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers were the teams that paid close attention to Brooks' workout, which was conducted by Cincinnati Bengals linebacker coach Ricky Hunley. The Packers, Bengals and Giants met with Brooks on Wednesday. Next week, he will travel to San Francisco to visit with 49ers officials and take a physical.