The Indians trade Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn! – WFNY Podcast – 2015-08-09
August 10, 2015Could Josh Lenz be this year’s Taylor Gabriel?
August 10, 2015Each year as the Cleveland Browns training camp gets underway, I recall the trips with my dad and brother to Hiram College to watch some of the practice sessions. That would have been around 1960. Hiram was the site of the Browns’ training camp from 1952 to 1974 after being located at Bowling Green State University from 1946-51, the Browns’ first six years of existence.
Details are difficult to retrieve but I do recall being way out “in the country”, a single, dusty football field, a set of bench-seat stands, baking out in the sun, and taking a few black and white snapshots with an Eastman-Kodak Brownie Camera (the ones below are not mine).
Later in the 1960s while trying out for the JV football team, my most visceral memory was that players were forbidden from drinking water during the long, sweltering practices. “Water,” the coaches told us, “can give ya cramps.” The two main treatments for the wide variety of injuries that didn’t knock us out cold were being told either to “shake it off” or to “walk it off”.
So training camps have come some distance since that Neanderthal era. (So have cameras.)
Following the years at Hiram, the Browns trained at Kent State from 1975 to 1981, Lakeland Community College in Kirtland from 1982 to 1991, and then at Berea from 1992 to the present (minus that brief hiatus from 1995-99). And as 2015 unfolds there is discussion of the Browns moving their training camp to Columbus in the near future.
Compared to the distant, rural Hiram environment, Berea is Times Square, but after last year’s somewhat tumultuous season with Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine in their first year at the reins, this 2015 camp seems downright sedate. The conversation in 2014 was dominated by the competition at quarterback. The second of two first round picks for the Browns in 2014 was a certified celebrity and the debate concerning the quarterback position began the day Johnny Manziel was drafted and just never let up.
The Quarterback
With the Browns, the benefits of competition for a place on the roster and for a higher place on the depth chart is a routine part of every conversation, from the owner to the coaches, all the way down to the undrafted free agents. The talk about competition in every “room” seems to be part of the conditioning, if not part of the script. This year, however, where the quarterbacks are concerned, it’s a different story. This year, it’s Josh McCown. And no one else, it seems, is close. In fact, the “Words into Action” theme for this year’s training camp sounds like the primary cautionary lesson learned from last year’s debacle of Johnny Manziel’s rookie season.
From the moment the Browns signed McCown, they seemed to adopt a different approach to the quarterback position. They appeared to be looking for a way to avoid the controversy and disruptions that are an inevitable part of leaving the question wide open during training camp.
So far McCown is helping to make it look like a terrific idea. If the feedback being heard from coaches and teammates regarding McCown was being offered about a rookie first-round draft pick, Cleveland fans would be thrilled: Outstanding character, an unselfish teammate, command of the playbook and the huddle, passes that are accurate and intelligently low-risk, impressive athleticism. No controversy here. Instead, the Browns training camp quietly goes about its business. A welcome change indeed.
Comments about Josh McCown:
“I like Josh. I think he’s an A++ person. I think he’s a leader. He can obviously spin the ball. He’s more athletic than a lot of people realize … I don’t think anybody thought he had the wheels, movement or agility that he actually has … because the guy has defied the reality of what he should be able to so, supposedly, at his age. He’s a good quarterback. He can spin the football, make the reads. He’s making throws. I like where he’s at. I like his progression and what he’s going to be able to do for our offense.” — Ray Farmer
“… The one thing that has jumped out is his accuracy, not just on the underneath stuff but those intermediate to deeper throws. I talk about having to watch the film and being able to evaluate, but I don’t have to watch the film to know he threw some pretty good balls in practice today. It’s good to see. Hopefully, that will carry over when we’re in pads.” — Mike Pettine
“… When he took off running, we were joking with him that he’s an older car but low mileage, kept in the garage, driven to church not a lot of mileage on it (laughter). He’s surprised me. He has kept himself in great shape over his career. It’s a credit to him. He’s a good athlete and he showed it today.” — Mike Pettine
“McCown just gives you the best ability where only the receiver can catch the ball. He puts the ball in a spot where if it’s not caught, it’s incomplete. McCown, he’s the best at it.” — Travis Benjamin
“He knows the offense like the back of his hand.” — Andrew Hawkins
“… Josh McCown has surprised us. Even when we are in perfect coverage, he is putting the ball in tough spots. He is challenging down field. Sometimes he is checking and catching us off guard. He knows what we are playing before we even get out there. That is just playing so many years in the National Football League and that is having the weapons around him now that he can get the football to. I am looking forward and I am very excited to see what he can do because first hand I have seen him day in and day out, OTAs and minicamp. He is the same guy each and every day. If that continues, I believe he will have a pretty good season.” — Donte Whitner
The New Big Story
Filling the Big Story vacuum left by the absence of a quarterback controversy is the interesting item about the quarterback-turned-wide-receiver, Terrelle Pryor. This is a fascinating project. There aren’t a great many big-time college quarterbacks drafted to play QB in the NFL who have had the skill set to turn into an NFL wide receiver. “Explosive athleticism” is how Mike Pettine describes Pryor’s talents. Athletically, Pryor was no run of the mill quarterback. He’s no ordinary athlete. Having been clocked at 4.38 in the 40-yard dash, the 6-foot-4, 232-pound Pryor arrives with some advantages that clearly cannot be coached.
Pryor is in camp with a fierce drive to make a success of this transition. Prior to the start of training camp he worked independently with Josh McCown, former NFL WR Randy Moss, and suspended Browns WR Josh Gordon. He’s also close friends with Steelers WR Antonio Brown.
Another former player he might consider studying is Hall of Famer Paul Warfield. Warfield, now 72, was a rookie for the Browns in 1964. He was such a threat, such a success in his rookie season, that the Baltimore Colts made Warfield a top defensive priority in the championship game. For the most part they double teamed him, which led to the huge day by Gary Collins, who caught three TD passes and was named MVP of the game.
But Warfield was by no means a sure bet, big-time receiver coming out of college. At Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, he was a star running back and defensive back and also a track star, setting a state record in the long jump. As an Ohio State Buckeye, Warfield was a halfback and cornerback from 1961-63. In 27 games he rushed 196 times for 1,047 yards for a 5.3 yard per carry average. During his entire college career, he caught only 39 passes, 22 in his senior year.
In the excellent article by WFNY’s Greg Popelka, The Curse of Paul Warfield — A loving look at a 45-year slump, Popelka tells the now-fabled story of the Browns working out Warfield on Lakewood High School’s football field in a kind of rookie camp before there was a name for such activities.
The assumption going in was that Warfield would probably end up a defensive back, but when they saw his speed and natural, fluid moves it was clear. He would become a receiver.
William “Dub” Jones, a former Browns receiver himself and frequent target of Otto Graham, was at the time the coach of the backfield … and the receivers … and, in effect, the offensive coordinator. Warfield has given Jones (now 90 years of age) a great deal of credit for what he learned about receiving under his early tutelage.
The important part of this story for Terrelle Pryor is to realize how much Paul Warfield had to learn at the NFL level, and after virtually no experience at wide receiver in high school or college.
Yes, such transitions are possible. The legendary Woody Hayes at OSU never bothered to exploit Warfield’s potential as a wide receiver. And the legendary Paul Brown, serving as a Browns draft consultant after his firing, recommended Warfield to the Browns, but as a defensive back.
Tunnel vision and willfulness are too often part of the makeup of legends, but to Browns receivers coach, Joker Phillips, this is no joke.
The Head Coach
A sound indicator of clear, incisive thinking is the ability to articulate those thoughts and, in his second year as Browns boss, Mike Pettine continues to give evidence that he is all about mastering the issues every head coach confronts. And what a welcome relief that he doesn’t speak in the usual jumble of aphorisms and stale football jargon.
There are times when he reminds the distant observer of the Mount Rushmore-jawed Chuck Noll, not only in his no-nonsense demeanor but in his clarity of thought, in the phrases he tends to use, in the ideas he generally emphasizes. But Pettine also displays, at times, a delightful wry sense of humor, which explains one of the reasons he is such a fan of Joe Thomas, who is similarly inclined.
Some of the comments about Pettine:
“I hear from college coaches, pro coaches, people I know well, people I don’t know well. He’s highly regarded.” — Jimmy Haslam
On his relationship with Head Coach Mike Pettine:
“Great. The guy doesn’t invite you to his summer home if he is mad at you or there is a problem. I think Mike said it best when he said we were both singing from the same hymnal. The reality is that me and Mike … don’t have any issues. I can’t tell you when I have ever been in a knockdown, drag out argument with the man ever. Do we agree on every player? No. Can we sit down and have a conversation? Yes. I like Pett. I think he likes me. There is nothing that we have ever gotten into … that has ever been any major bone in contention …” — Ray Farmer
“He’s my kind of guy. He’s … all business. He’s not a show-favoritism guy. He’s not a lot of fluff, not a man of many words. He wants production. He wants hard work. There’s no gray area, and I appreciate a coach like that. Like I said, I think Pettine’s going to be an incredible coach in this league long after I’m done playing, and it’s cool to be a part of his first team.” — Andrew Hawkins
Great coaches, like great quarterbacks, are generally judged so based on their wins and losses (the more of the former and the less of the latter, the greater the coach). Fair enough. Yes, football being the ultimate team sport, it takes a team with a large 53-man roster. It takes goodness knows how large a number of coaches and support staff. Such an ocean liner of an organization does not, like a Paul Warfield, make a precise and graceful turn on a dime. It takes a while. But movement in the right direction is where it starts.
Training camp 2015 thus far is offering continued signs of progress, showing a greater degree and depth of talent, of continuity, of individuals taking responsibility for their jobs, of team unity, and of cooperation.
So far, so good.
6 Comments
Nice on Rich
I spoke with several of the Browns old timers about the first BGSU training camps. It was for a project and I had an offer to have it published but I felt it was too low and then I moved across the country for a new job and never pursued it any further. Dante Lavelli was very helpful in framing those camps, what a wonderful guy to give me all that time to speak with him.
I was at Hiram as a kid. You’re right – not a bit of shade anywhere, but there were even fewer barriers to the players than at Lakeland. You stood or sat on the sideline of the one field, and it was easy to be run over or hit with an errant throw. I thought Lakeland was the best, but that view’s probably warped by the quality of the players we saw there. Way more fun to watch Bernie work with Web and Reggie than watch Weeds throw to Josh Cooper.
OK, let’s get that paper out of the archives and figure out how to share it. Sounds like a great idea of a column.
You are, without question, my favorite Brown’s writer (no disrespect to anyone else). Great article.
Always good to read some Browns writing where the research has been done and we have the extra advantage of seeing the piece sitting in its frame of TIME. Of course there is a simple law to Browns articles these days. The quality of the piece is inversely proportional to the number of letters used on Mr. J. Manziel. He’ll play and we’ll talk THEN.