Aug. 13, 2003
Wake Forest alumni in NFL training camps, according to insiders.com:
Against all odds
MacPherson among undrafted rookies getting chance at NFL
By Jay Reddick
The first day of April's NFL Draft gets all the attention. Top pick
Carson Palmer and the rest of the first-round picks get their pictures
made with the commissioner on that Saturday afternoon, they have a news
conference with their new team, and are anointed as superstars for years
to come.
Most of the anxious moments -- and the construction of NFL teams' nuts
and bolts -- happen the following Sunday, when NFL teams jockey for
low-round picks and free agents who will fight for jobs in the coming
training camp.
James MacPherson knew all this. He had seen former teammates Calvin Pace
and Ovie Mughelli picked on the draft's first day, but Sunday was when
he kept the TV on and the phone by his side.
"I was sitting at home, watching the draft, and I saw Montique's
(Sharpe's) name come across as a seventh-round pick," MacPherson said.
"I hadn't expected to get drafted, but just then the phone rang."
On the other end of the line was Jim Caldwell, MacPherson's old coach at
WFU, but this was not a social call. Caldwell, now the quarterbacks
coach for the Indianapolis Colts, invited MacPherson to training camp.
"He said they had a spot open for me, if I was interested," MacPherson
said. "Of course, that wasn't much of a decision.
"This is a dream come true for me."
MacPherson is one of 17 players, including seven rookies, who opened
camp this fall with an NFL team. The drafted trio represent the Deacons'
second-biggest such class ever and was the second-biggest draft
representation in the nine-team ACC, behind Florida State.
Pace got the fanfare after he was picked 18th by the Arizona Cardinals.
He is expected to bolster their pass rush. Mughelli went in the third
round to Baltimore. MacPherson joins Tampa Bay wide receiver Fabian
Davis, Atlanta guard Blake Henry and Buffalo tight end Ray Thomas as
free-agent pickups.
As a quarterback, MacPherson has a high-profile job to fight for in
Indianapolis. Peyton Manning is the team's starter at that position, and
Damon Huard is the holdover backup. Veteran Jim Kubiak and MacPherson
are expected to battle for the third spot.
"Right now, I'm just trying to make it," MacPherson told Gold Rush after
his first day of preseason camp in Terre Haute, Ind. "Just to be here
and practicing with NFL players is an amazing experience, and one of the
most challenging things I've ever done."
The NFL season lasts just 17 weeks, but MacPherson has worked almost
non-stop since that phone call from Caldwell.
"We had a three-day rookie mini-camp the week after the draft,"
MacPherson said. "From there, I went home for a few days, then went back
to Wake and walked at graduation in May. That night, I flew out here (to
Indiana) for what we call 'summer-school practice.' That was four weeks;
I stayed two extra weeks to work out and get stronger, then preseason
camp started."
MacPherson said he has heard positive things from Caldwell, head coach
Tony Dungy and the rest of the Colts staff during preseason camp. He
expects to play in at least one or two preseason games before a decision
is made about his future.
The team is staying in dormitories during the preseason, but MacPherson
said the atmosphere there has very little to do with college life.
"It's more professional," MacPherson said. "We go back to the dorms, and
we want to relax and kid around, but we're all competing for jobs, so we
study."
The playbook, which MacPherson said "kind of looks like a Bible," is by
far the biggest he has ever seen.
"We can run the same play out of 30 or 40 different formations, with
five different pass-protection schemes," MacPherson said. "Everybody is
smarter at this level, and I have a lot to learn, but it's coming to me."
That was obvious during the team's first intrasquad scrimmage in August,
when his 6-yard pass to tight end Mike Roberg gave the second-stringers
their only touchdown of the game.
Davis is undergoing similar growing pains in Tampa Bay, but according to
coach Jon Gruden, he has also stepped up to the challenge, learning the
complexities of NFL football.
"He shows up on the practice field every day," Gruden told the St.
Petersburg Times. "The one thing about this guy is, he's a quick study.
He knows how to play football, and that's a winning edge for him right
now. He'll get a good look in the preseason."
That "good look" began Aug. 3, when Davis saw time at receiver, catching
one 24-yard pass, and also was the Bucs' leading kickoff and punt
returner in the first preseason game of the year, against the Jets in Tokyo.
Davis is fighting for a job among a large group on the defending Super
Bowl champion Bucs, a group that includes Keyshawn Johnson, Joe
Jurevicius, Keenan McCardell and Karl Williams. Shaun King, the Bucs'
backup quarterback, has already formed a connection with the Wake Forest
rookie.
"Our team of receivers is a tough shell to crack, but if there's a
front-runner to do it, it's him," King told the Tampa Tribune.
Among the veterans, Michael McCrary made the biggest news in the
offseason. After hinting that his knee injuries would force him to
retire and become a coach with the Ravens, he wavered on that decision
throughout July. On July 24, the Ravens released him from his contract
to clear salary-cap room.
He has said publicly that his knees will need at least a couple of
months of rest and rehabilitation before he plays again, but he hasn't
ruled out the possibility of a midseason return, with the Ravens or some
other team.
"I like Michael McCrary very much," Ravens owner Art Modell told The Sun
in July. "When he is healthy, he is an excellent player. There was a
time where we were led to believe he would retire. I don't know what
kind of shape he is in, but if he can help us late in the season, and
that's when we will need him most, then I wouldn't rule out bringing him
back for another season. But I can't answer definitively one way or
another yet."
