Pasquarelli: QBs separate themselves
Pasquarelli: Tip Sheet
Combine notes: Is Boss Bailey the next Derrick Brooks?
Pasquarelli: Friday's buzz
Clayton: Outrunning history
Pasquarelli: Slim pickings
Pasquarelli: Thursday's buzz
Combine notes: No first-rounder for Bills
Clayton: On the clock
Clayton: Bills tag Price
Kiper: Top 25 NFL prospects (Jan. 20)
2003 NFL Draft Combine
Kiper: Ranking sack artists, run stuffers
Kiper: Ranking possession WRs, more
Kiper: Ranking big, deep-threat WRs
Kiper: How RBs can improve
Kiper: How QBs can improve
Kiper's Mock Draft: QB Palmer solid at No. 1
PFW: Mock draft No. 1
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Sunday, February 23, 2003
Updated: March 4, 4:36 PM ET
Lack of size not an issue for Newman
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- It's not easy to be a cornerback in the NFL nowadays. Quarterbacks are more accurate. Receivers are getting taller and faster. And corners, well, they aren't getting any taller.
Anymore, most young corners are at a four-to-five inch height disadvantage to the increasingly tall receivers entering the NFL. Receiver Charles Rogers of Michigan State is 6-foot-2. Andre Johnson of Miami is 6-2, 230 pounds. Five of the six best wide receivers after those two are taller than 6-feet. There isn't a pure coverage cornerback projected in the first two rounds taller than 5-11.
"All these teams are looking for these tall receivers because they know there is a lack of tall corners," Kansas State cornerback Terence Newman said. "Corners are trying to make up for the height, so we have to make up with jumping ability. You are not going to find a lot of corners going over 6-2."
And you aren't going to find a lot of corners as good as Newman. He's the class of the 2003 group of cover men, and he's on a mission. Unlike the many top receivers and running backs who elected to bypass working out at the Indianapolis scouting combine on Monday, Newman's going to run. He's going to jump. He's going to do the drills.
"I know I'm fast," Newman said. "If you are a fast person, you are going to have a fast time."
Newman's mission is to push himself away from the rest of the top cornerbacks such as Marcus Trufant of Washington State and Andre Woolfolk of Oklahoma. If he succeeds, Newman can try to make a run at being the No. 1 pick in the draft. But that will be difficult because ahead of him in the ratings are offensive players Carson Palmer of USC, Rogers and Andre Johnson.
"I don't think there is a clear cut decision for that No. 1 spot," Newman said. "I've just got to open their eyes. My job is to get to that position and then I can catch them early. My biggest thing is just getting a chance."
Newman is like most modern day cornerbacks in the sense that he's 5-11, 185 pounds. While he might concede the height and weight disadvantage to the receivers entering the league, he won't concede anything else. He's run 4.22-second 40s. He's run the 100-yard dash in 10.2. Twice he's won the Big 12 100-meter championship and he took one 60-meter title.
More than anything, Newman knows he's as gifted as any cornerback coming into the NFL in the past several years. He's as versatile as Champ Bailey of the Redskins and he has copied some of the techniques of Raiders corner Charles Woodson.
"I've been compared to Champ a lot," Newman said. "We have the same frames. He's a little taller than I am. But just watching the tapes of how fluid he is reminds me of myself."
Tapes of Newman catching passes in college games may also remind NFL teams of Bailey. Kansas State used him as a receiver in their offense. His final college game was in a bowl in which he played 130 plays. He played the entire game at receiver and all but a handful of the special teams plays.
Though he normally plays between 85 and 95 plays, the versatile Newman was so tired coming off that bowl game that he skipped the Senior Bowl to rest his body. His tired legs have regained the bounce.
His focus then became getting ready to specialize as a cornerback in the NFL. Playing 60 to 70 snaps in a pro game might feel like having a part-time job for someone used to being on the field most downs.
"Being more versatile is a bigger value than guys who can do just one thing," Newman said.
If needed, he could return kicks and punts. If asked, he can be on the coverage teams chasing down returners. He can do all of those things because he has speed. How did he come by all of this speed?
"I was chased by dogs while running the streets, so I guess I had good training," Newman said. "I was pretty quick on my toes in those days. Chows used to chase me. I wasn't the biggest guy on the street, so to me, those chows looked like big wolves."
College players looked like wolves to him as a freshman. Newman, being recruited only by Tulsa, Kansas State and Kansas, weighed only 155 pounds coming out of high school. Though recruited as a quarterback, Newman was first tried at free safety before becoming a coverage cornerback.
The more he played corner, the better he became. He loved the challenge. During his college career, Newman was beaten for only three touchdown passes, only one in the past season. From tapes, he's studied techniques from the best.
"I studied cornerbacks from Deion Sanders to Darrell Green to Champ Bailey to Charles Woodson," Newman said. "Deion and Charles were excellent with the one-hand quick jam. Champ had excellent footwork. I do some of the same things on the football field."
Opponents in the Big 12 respected him. Texas quarterback Chris Simms tells anyone who asks how good Newman is on the field.
"He's just an unbelievable player," Simms said. "A lot of the
teams ask you who's the best players you played against during the year,
during your college career. I always say Roy Williams of Oklahoma and I
say Terence Newman. He's just a guy that you're on the field and his
speed jumps out at you more than anybody else. We had a real fast team
down at Texas and he was the fastest guy on the field that day. He's
very impressive. He got an interception off me where I thought I threw
it over him and he showed his 44-inch vertical and went up and got it.
He is a very impressive athlete."
Though he is modest in nature, Newman offers some advice for the Bengals, who have the first pick in the draft.
"They have Jon Kitna at quarterback, and they have struggled at quarterback and they have struggled with cornerbacks," Newman said. "It's not going to be up to me, but if I were the Bengals, I'd take me."
John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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