Appearing act

Chronicling one quick rise from obscurity to the NFL

Ralph Hunter has renewed my faith in pro football scouting. Hunter is a 6-foot-1, 205-pound safety/corner from Virginia Union who was drafted last month by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round, the 18th safety picked in the draft. When my trusted Kiper handbook came in the mail prior to the draft, draftnik Mel had Hunter rated as the 52nd safety. Joel Buchsbaum had him No. 42 for Pro Football Weekly.

Understandable. Virginia Union is a lost sheep in the football pasture of life, the place scouts go only when the other 943 college football-playing schools in the United States have byes. But Clancy Pendergast went there a couple of weeks before the draft. And that made all the difference.

List of the week The next wave of free agency hits June 2, when teams can cut players with cap hits and spread those cap costs over 2002 and 2003 instead of taking the entire hit this year. What follows are the top 10 likely cap casualties and/or free agents still out there, with my educated guess as to where they'll land (and, lest you think my Ray Brown pick is nuts because he's older than the sun, consider that he played the best year of his life last season at 38 and will be a very good one-year fix for someone) ...   Player Old Team ... New Team  1. WR Keenan McCardell Jacksonville ... Kansas City  2. G Ray Brown San Francisco ... New Orleans  3. DE Marco Coleman Washington ... Atlanta  4. T John Fina Buffalo ... Cleveland  5. WR Derrick Alexander Kansas City ... Cleveland  6. DT Sam Adams Baltimore ... Baltimore  7. DE Keith McKenzie Cleveland ... Cincinnati  8. WR Antonio Freeman Green Bay ... Tampa Bay  9. WR Michael Westbrook Washington ... Oakland.  10. QB Charlie Batch Detroit ... Houston  *Adams, McKenzie and Westbrook are free right now.

Pendergast, the Cowboys' defensive backfield coach, goes to visit about 20 secondary players before the draft. If he doesn't have enough information on a marginal player, like Hunter, he'll go to flesh out a scouting report. If he wants a closer look at a great player, like Roy Williams, he'll go. Hunter was a relative nobody, obviously. But his college coach finagled an invitation for him to the Hula Bowl, the postseason all-star game in Hawaii, and in midweek practices Hunter impressed at least one scout on hand -- Dallas' Larry Lacewell. And when Lacewell came back from the game, he told Pendergast he ought to look into a big, hard-trying, rangy kid named Hunter. Pendergast got his high-pick ducks in a row, seeing prime choices like Williams and Phillip Buchanon and Derek Ross in person. And six days before the draft, Pendergast made his way to Richmond and found Hunter. He hadn't been invited to the scouting combine. Only one other team, the Raiders, had spent time with Hunter individually before the draft, even though Virginia Union had a sparsely attended Pro Day for scouts a few weeks earlier. Hunter was not on many radar screens. Maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to get into some team's camp as a free agent. That's how it looked, at least until Pendergast got to Richmond.

First impressions are important in this kind of visit. Is the player coachable? Is he respectful? Is he hungry? For some reason, Virginia Union's football locker room was closed, and Hunter could not get his football cleats. He borrowed an old pair of cleats, slightly small and very, very worn. Early on in the drills Pendergast set up -- vertical jump, 40-yard dash, a series of moving in and out of cuts and interception drills -- Hunter began taking one shoe off every couple of minutes and rubbing the bottom of his foot. One metal cleat, it seemed, was poking through the bottom of the shoe and digging into the bottom of his foot. Hunter, in essence, was running (4.50 seconds in the 40) and jumping (42-inch vertical jump, as high as the best prospects) with a nail cutting into his foot on every stride.

"We can stop," Pendergast said a few minutes into the workout. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Coach," Hunter said, "I'm not stopping the workout. I'll work out for you barefoot if I have to."

And so the trial continued, with occasional breaks to rub the foot. Hunter looked fluid when Pendergast ran him through cornerback drills -- he'd been a corner one year and a safety for three in college -- and seemed marginally fast enough to actually play corner in the NFL. But it was the quickness that sold Pendergast, quickness that was evident even with the cleat crucifying Hunter's foot. "I'm watching, over and over, and I couldn't believe how he came in and out of breaks, and how he broke on the ball," Pendergast said later. "You know, I run the workouts when I go to these places, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This guy was getting in and out of cuts better than anyone I worked out this spring."

They went to look at some game tape. Hunter had blocked 11 kicks or punts on a bad college team. He never took a play off. Work ethic. An inner drive. Pendergast tested Hunter on defensive alignments and found that not only did Hunter know the corner's and safety's responsibilities on every play he showed on the video screen or drew up on the board; he also knew where the linemen and linebackers lined up, and what they were supposed to do. When Pendergast left campus, he felt the high of knowing what he was sure at least 28 or 29 other teams -- and maybe 31 -- didn't know. He knew Hunter was a player who could definitely make the Cowboys as a backup safety and maybe as a nickel back, and who would upgrade the special teams immediately. And in the personal interview and through the coaches at Virginia Union, Pendergast found Hunter to be an honor student who'd never gotten in any trouble throughout his four years.

The next day, after Pendergast briefed the Cowboys on what he'd seen, a little rectangular magnetic card with "Hunter, Ralph" was inserted six or seven picks down in a long column of fifth-round prospects. In one workout, Hunter had gone from way off the board to a solid second-day draft possibility.

The Cowboys, with a compensatory pick at the end of Round 5, picked Hunter. Why so high, relatively speaking? Because they couldn't risk that the Raiders -- or someone working on a late-week tip that the Cowboys were crazy about him (though Pendergast and the club didn't breathe a word about it to their peers in the business) -- would pluck him in a late round. And when the phone call went to Hunter's South Jersey home with the news, he said: "You won't regret this."

"I will prove the Cowboys did a smart thing," Hunter told me. "I won't let them down. It's too important to me."

And that's why this renews my faith in scouting. I wonder sometimes if the human factor is considered often enough when looking at prospects in all sports. Here's a guy that a coach saw with his own eyes, a guy who'd played hard in a consistently bleak situation, a guy who'd performed on special teams while being a defensive starter for most of his four years, a smart guy, a guy whose numbers and tests put him on par with the big-college guys. And instead of playing it safe and wondering why no one else was looking at a player who'd so obviously slipped through the cracks, Pendergast got excited and knew he'd found a diamond in the sore-footed rough.

For the sake of scouting, and scouts, root very hard for Ralph Hunter to make the Dallas Cowboys.

The last time the Yankees were this far back in the American League East -- 4 1/2 games -- was September 1997.

1. I think when Carolina head coach John Fox looks at Julius Peppers, he sees Michael Strahan. Fox has moved Peppers, who mostly rushed the passer from the right side at North Carolina, to the left, which is Strahan's side. He figures Peppers can get up 290 or 295 pounds and retain his quickness. But it's always a risk putting your best pass rusher over the tight end side. Hope you're right, John.

2. I think this was my favorite Mike Tyson quote from his interview with the FOX News Channel a couple of nights ago, concerning his feelings about the media: "I wish one of you guys had children so I could kick them in the [expletive] and stomp on their testicles so you could feel my pain. Because that's the pain I have waking up every day." Glad to see Mike's adjusting so well to civilization.

3. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week:

a. Montclair High School Softball Note of the Week: The outlook wasn't bright for the Montclair (N.J.) nine and southpaw pitcher/column-writer's daughter Mary Beth King on Saturday in North Caldwell, N.J. This was the quarterfinals of the Essex County Softball Tournament. Seeded 11th, we'd upset sixth-seeded Cedar Grove 2-0 the previous week. Now we faced the third-seeded West Essex Knights (15-3) and their first-team all-county pitcher, Vermont-bound Thani Totaro. Our school had never made it to the county semis, so this was a big day. But the Internet pundits didn't give us much of a chance. Pundit, actually. In a pregame prediction on the [Newark] Star-Ledger's mostly petty softball forum, someone picking the four quarterfinal matches called the game "the only mismatch of the day. Montclair is decent, but has no big-game-playing or coaching experience. They are also greatly overmatched by big power pitchers. I don't see them getting more than a couple of hits and no runs. West Essex has made a living scratching out runs against decent, but not great, teams. More of that will continue today, with Totaro being the big bat and the big star on the mound again. Final score: West Essex 5, Montclair 0." We go quietly in the first. In the bottom of the first, with Mary Beth pitching, the first kid bunts and we drop it. Mary Beth walks the next kid. First and second. Totaro up. Mary Beth strikes her out looking. She hits the next kid in the helmet. Kid's OK. West Essex crowd sensing the kill. Next two kids pop out and line out. Whew. She escaped. Totaro mows us down. Mary Beth gets them 1-2-3 in the second and 1-2 in the third. Totaro lines a single to center. Next kid pops a duck behind first and it lands three feet fair. Our right fielder, Heather Zaccone, may not look like Ichiro, but she throws like him. Her perfect 120-foot strike to third nails the runner, ending the inning. Mary Beth has a 1-2-3 fourth. We get two quick outs in the fifth, and Courtney Epps, our senior left fielder (bound for Montclair State to play basketball) bounces one to third. Their third baseman throws wild to first. Safe. Courtney steals second, and the catcher's throw goes into center field, sending Courtney to third. Allison Farley up. Totaro's fanned her twice already. First pitch ... humpback liner between first and second that falls! Courtney scores! One-zip! Montclair bleachers going wild! West Essex fifth: groundout, popout, groundout. West Essex sixth: groundout, back-to-back-singles by Totaro and the catcher, their third and fourth hits of the game. Pressure. Big pressure. First and third, one out. Infield comes way in. My heart's pounding. Mary Beth is in the circle, tossing the ball into her glove underhanded, taking the ball out and tossing it again, four, five six times. She throws ... grounder to short. Jeteresque Kaitlin Giannetti never hesitates. She picks it up, throws a strike to home, and Jess "Johnny Bench" Sarfati blocks the plate perfectly. Bang-bang play, but Totaro's out. She's out! Pop to right and the inning's over. One more inning. Their 7-8-9 hitters are due. Seven grounds a single between short and third. It's never easy, is it? She's sacrificed to second. Mary Beth tosses the ball into her glove, over and over. She looks like she's waiting for a bus. No emotion. No nothing. Ninth hitter's gotten good aluminum twice, but she waves at a 55-mph fastball for strike three. Two down. Leadoff hitter. Grounder to the mound. Mary Beth picks it up and throws to first ... it's high! Jess Giammella leaps to get it and comes down with a sweep tag on the runner and her foot on the base. The base ump looks to the home-plate ump for help. They point at each other. The base ump nods. The home-plate ump nods. Our girls are jumping up and down, half in exultation, half in fear they'll call the kid safe. "She's out!!!" the base ump screams, and West Essex side goes nuts in anger, and our side goes nuts in jubilation. Biggest win in our program in six years! Grown men hugging grown men! Girls piling on girls! Mary Beth has the biggest smile I've ever seen her wear. Pitching lines: King, W 4-5, seven innings, five hits, no runs, one walk, three strikeouts. Totaro, L 15-4, seven innings, four hits, one unearned run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. Now it's on to the county semis against second-seeded Caldwell (15-1) at Pulaski Park in Bloomfield Saturday night. It's safe to say I'll be there. Hoarse.

b. Re: Six Feet Under, I am begging Nate: Do not go through with the sham marriage to this sicko Brenda. She will only give you pain, my boy.

c. I am begging Nate even more to court the rabbi.

d. And while we're at it, David, you might want to think about breaking up with the cop. Bad karma there.

e. Coffeenerdness: Well, you've gotten used to my rants about the stale espresso in Starbucks lattes because the baristas don't clean out the pods after each use, as they're supposed to. Now comes this e-mail from the land of expensive college tuition: "Hi, my name is Briana Beckerman and I'm a sophomore at Tufts University. I am writing to you not because I am friends with your "No. 1 Daughter" (although I am), but because in addition to being a full-time student, I am a part-time barista at Starbucks. I read what you wrote last week, about the lack of pod rinsing you've observed, and I was impressed with your knowledge of what goes into making an espresso drink. I must admit that I am often among that 80 percent of baristas who don't rinse ... but I have an explanation. I work at a store in Harvard Square, which is usually very busy. In order to keep the customers happy, it is important that we not only make delicious beverages, but that we make them quickly. When there is a line extending out of the store, the accumulation of three-second rinsing sessions could easily create an atmosphere of impatient wristwatch-glancers, something that we don't like to see. That is why the rinsing is often neglected, but that is not why the bitterish aftertaste exists. If the espresso is pressed into the unrinsed pod just as hard as the rinsed pod, the water will take much longer to run through it because of the pre-existing, already-used espresso. What the efficient barista should realize is that failure to rinse the pod must be compensated by a lighter tamp. This results in a beautiful three-layer espresso shot with a nutty, caramel-like flavor -- and no bitterish aftertaste. So, on behalf of the inexperienced baristas out there, I would like to apologize for all of those visits to Starbucks that left you dissatisfied. Don't worry, though, they'll learn. I hope you have as much faith in them as I do. For now, however, please come to Starbucks at the Garage in Harvard Square and I will make you the best grande hazelnut latte you've ever tasted ... and I'll even rinse the pod." You the man, Briana! Thank you for partially restoring my faith in baristas nationwide, and for continuing my latte education. But I still want the pod rinsed. I will wait in the longish line, even. Don't worry. It's better to pay $3.65 for a good drink and wait one extra minute than to pay $3.65, get in the car, drive down the street and taste a weak or bitter latte.

4. I think the more I hear about Steve Beuerlein's elbow, the more I fear for Mike Shanahan and his backup quarterback situation.

5. I think, and I know I'm two weeks late on this one, the NFL has to cut the first-round draft time to 10 minutes. I know for a fact that one NFL team had its decision made on its first-round pick the moment the previous team picked. And someone in the room said: "Wait till there's a minute left to turn in the card." Why? Free air time on national TV, that's why, with a camera in their war room. The extra five minutes would not inhibit a single trade from getting made. If you want someone's pick, is it a logical excuse that you needed three extra minutes to work out the details? No! Every team knows the value of every pick, for crying out loud. Chopping the extra five minutes would only hurt one thing: the ability of ESPN people to prattle on and kill time. Fifteen minutes is just ridiculous.

6. I think the one thing that's cool about Joey Harrington is he knew the Lions' beat writers by name after the first minicamp.

7. I think these are my baseball thoughts:

a. The Red Sox are just on one of those rolls. I saw Darren Oliver pitch the first left-handed BoSox shutout in Fenway in 10 years last Tuesday (thank you WEEI, thank you Dale Arnold), and when Ryan Rupe three-hits you for seven innings and you still find a way to win (2-0 Sunday in Tampa), you are leading a charmed life. Good thing, with Oakland and Seattle on the road this week.

b. Ichiro's amazing. He slaps, he lines, he bunts, he walks, he steals. What a weapon. An all-timer.

c. I'm second in the 12-team Suburban League rotisserienerdfest as of Monday morning. I could really use Mulder to get healthy, and Abreu to get going.

d. Someone explain to me how Toronto is 9-20 and out of it on May 6. Out of it I can buy, but 11 under .500 after a month? Pathetic.

8. I think I'm really starting to like the Bills. Look how they played last December, particularly in beating the Jets on the road and taking the Patriots to the last play. And look what they've added. This is, minimum, a wild-card team in 2002.

9. I think David Boston is the luckiest man on the face of the NFL earth today. Instead of having a real chance to go to jail because the cops couldn't prove two bags of cocaine found near where he was sitting were his, he'll probably get a legal slap on the wrist for driving while impaired and enter the NFL's substance-abuse program.

10. I think the only players I'd pay some real money for right now in free agency are Sam Adams and Keenan McCardell. Both have a Pro Bowl season left in them, and three good years.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings.

 

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