couple rookie fluff articles

[MURP]

Ramsey and Jean Gillies.

New Bird content to wait in wings
LaJuan Ramsey knows what it's like.
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer

LaJuan Ramsey is used to being on a stage with stars.

He closed out his college career by playing in the Rose Bowl on the same deeply talented Southern California team with Heisman Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.

Ramsey is also quite accustomed to playing the role of anonymous understudy.

It wasn't until his senior season that he finally moved into the starting lineup for the Trojans.

"I was behind three first-rounders," Ramsey said.

Actually, it was two first-rounders (the Eagles' Mike Patterson and Minnesota's Kenechi Udeze) and an early second-rounder (Detroit's Shaun Cody), but you get his point.

In Philadelphia, Ramsey could be cast as the other young defensive tackle the Eagles took in the draft.

The Eagles grabbed Patterson with the 31st overall pick last year and Florida State's Brodrick Bunkley with the 14th overall selection this April. It's quite easy to envision those two playing alongside each other at least for the remainder of this decade.

Ramsey, on the other hand, will have to make the team. That's just a cold fact of life for a sixth-round pick who was taken 204th overall.

He doesn't mind.

"I've been in this same role my whole career," Ramsey said. "I don't have any problem with that position. I just want to contribute in any way, shape or form."

Ramsey doesn't have any problem playing defensive end, either.

Patterson revealed that his former college roommate has been working at defensive end rather than defensive tackle during the Eagles' rookie camp, which resumed yesterday at the NovaCare Complex.

"From what I hear, he's doing pretty well right now," Patterson said.

Ramsey, 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds, said he never considered himself just a defensive tackle even though he replaced Patterson as the Trojans' starter at that position last fall.

"It didn't surprise me when they started working me there," Ramsey said. "I played it a lot in college. I look at it as a chance to show some versatility. This is the same kind of thing I was doing at USC. The coaches wanted me to get on the field, so they tried to use my versatility and put me in at different positions. I don't characterize myself as a defensive tackle. I'm a defensive lineman."

Patterson was one of the first people to call Ramsey after the Eagles made him their final draft pick last month. The two roomed together off-campus at USC when Patterson was a junior and Ramsey was his backup as a sophomore.

"I consider myself a hard worker, and Mike just taught me the ropes," Ramsey said. "Hopefully, I can learn some more from him at this level."

How was Patterson as a roommate?

"It went well," Ramsey said. "We had a lot of good times. Mike was a video-game junkie and I was more of the outside type. But we hung out together and went to some different places. We'd go around the campus together and work out together."

Making the Eagles' roster at defensive end or defensive tackle is going to be difficult. In addition to Patterson and Bunkley at defensive tackle, the Eagles have veterans Darwin Walker, Sam Rayburn and Ed Jasper as well as second-year player Keyonta Marshall, a seventh-round pick in the 2005 draft.

Things are only slightly less crowded at defensive end, where the Eagles have Jevon Kearse, Darren Howard, Trent Cole, Jerome McDougle, Juqua Thomas and undrafted free agent Darrell Lee.

But Ramsey has always been able to carve out a niche for himself. He said all the projections he read before the draft predicted that he would arrive in the NFL as an undrafted free agent.

"But I had a feeling I'd get drafted by somebody," Ramsey said.

Now, despite his anonymity, he is hoping to prove himself as a worthy contributor, which was his primary role at USC.

"I want to establish my position on the defensive line," Ramsey said. "I want to help in any facet I can, whether it's throughout the week or on Sunday."

His patience tested, to the Max
Rookie guard Jean-Gilles had a long wait before Eagles called during draft
By PAUL DOMOWITCH
pdomo@aol.com

MAX JEAN-GILLES parked his 6-3, 358-pound frame in front of the television on the first day of the NFL draft and waited for a team to give him some love.

Almost 10 hours he waited, which is how long it took the league's 32 teams to tippy-toe through the first three rounds before calling it a night.

"It was the hardest day of my life. The hardest day of my life," said the University of Georgia guard, who finally found an NFL home the next morning when the Eagles selected him with the second pick in the fourth round.

While Jean-Gilles is happy to have landed with a team that has made four trips to the NFC Championship Game in the last 5 years, he wasn't happy to slip all the way down to the fourth round, where the signing bonuses are considerably smaller than they are in the first and second.

Most draft observers had him pegged as a probable second-rounder, who with a little luck might even creep into the bottom of the first round. He thought that, too, which was why he agreed to let a few members of the media hang out with him and his family on draft day.

"Never should have done that," he acknowledged. "They saw my facial expressions. They saw how disappointed I was. I went to bed that night and didn't fall asleep for a long time. I just laid there, praying a lot. My family kept saying, 'Don't worry about it. Go to sleep. They'll call you in the morning.'

"I finally fell asleep, woke up and the Eagles took me with the second pick on Sunday. It was a blessing in disguise. But it didn't feel like it that first day when nobody took me."

Sixteen offensive linemen were selected ahead of Jean-Gilles, including seven interior linemen.

"Nobody ever told me anything [about why he slipped]," he said. "We asked everybody in the NFL and they couldn't tell us. The only thing I can figure is my weight."

He figured right. According to several NFL scouts interviewed by the Daily News, Jean-Gilles' weight and his lack of foot speed - he ran a 5.5-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine in Indianapolis - were major factors in why one of the draft's most dominating blockers lasted until the 99th pick.

Why on earth would teams care how fast an interior lineman can run, you ask? Well, it's a pretty big deal if you ask your guards to pull a lot on sweeps and screens and need them to do a lot of blocking in space.

"To be honest with you, we didn't have him on our [draft] board because he just wasn't a very good fit for what we do," one AFC player personnel man said. "We need our guards to be able to get out and pull and lead sweeps, and that's just not his strong point. But he's a helluva straight-ahead blocker who can move anybody in his way. I think he'll do fine in their system."

Said an NFC scout: "The guy's a masher. But guys that heavy scare me. They're forever fighting the battle of the bulge. Remember Aaron Gibson? Came into the league at around 360 and left it at about 410."

Jean-Gilles carries his weight better than a lot of fat guys. "I've played at 380, 350, 330," he said. "People don't realize I'm as heavy as I am."

For the moment, the rookie is much more concerned with learning the Eagles' playbook and blocking schemes than he is with counting calories. After a morning practice and position meeting at the team's rookie camp yesterday, Jean-Gilles headed for the NovaCare Complex cafeteria, where he studied his playbook while shoveling down three sandwiches.

"It was kind of overwhelming at first," he said. "But [offensive line] coach [Juan] Castillo made it real simple for us. He broke it down so that it would be easy to learn. [Learning] the terminology is the hard part, but he categorized everything. Any time you hear a [certain] number, you know what you're supposed to do."

Jean-Gilles also is trying to learn entirely new blocking techniques from the ones he was taught at Georgia.

"It's a big difference," he said. "My coach at Georgia taught me to block a certain way, and they want me to block a different way here than I have been for the last 4 years."

Right now, Castillo is trying to force-feed Jean-Gilles as much of the offense and as much of the Eagle Way as possible. When the team reconvenes in July for training camp at Lehigh, Castillo will find out how much of it he managed to digest. If it turns out to be a lot, he will be given an opportunity to compete for the vacant starting left-guard job with third-year man Adrien Clarke and second-year man Todd Herremans. If it turns out to be only a little, then he'll probably spend most of the season, like so many Eagles rookies before him, watching and learning.

[Butchers Bill]

Didn't see this one posted anywhere else:

RB Moats adjusts to life in NFL
By DON BENEVENTO
Courier-Post Staff


PHILADELPHIA

Ryan Moats isn't a rookie anymore, but the Eagles' running back is not all that far removed from the days when he felt like he was drowning in his playbook with no one there to throw him a life preserver.

Life comes at you quickly in the NFL, and a player who gets left behind early often has a difficult time catching up. Accordingly, Moats was somewhat of a disappointment last season when he was not able to contribute anything of note until the tail end of his rookie season.

"I was in the doghouse," Moats said. "Not from anybody else, but I put myself in the doghouse."

No one on the coaching staff doubted whether Moats, a third-round draft pick in 2005, could play at this level. But everyone on the staff knew that Moats could not contribute if he didn't know the plays.

By his own admission, Moats was lost. He was thinking too much about what he was supposed to do and not playing within the natural flow of his abilities.

"The first part is learning the plays," Moats said. "And the next part is knowing them. Last year, I learned the plays, but I wasn't natural with them. I had to think about them."

That changed somewhat later in the season, when -- thanks in large part to Brian Westbrook sustaining a season-ending injury -- Moats got a chance to play in the last six games.

He wound up compiling 278 rushing yards on 55 carries, an average of 5.1 yards per attempt, and rushed for three touchdowns. He also caught four passes for seven yards.

"Getting a chance to play in those games helped me so much," said Moats, who is one of the young veterans working out in the Eagles' rookie camp. "Before then, I felt I wasn't playing my style of football."

And that style is?

"Do everything," Moats said. "Try to do everything right with the ball in your hands. You have to run, basically."

This season Moats will be among a handful of backs vying for playing time. Westbrook remains as the starter, but players like Moats, Bruce Perry, Reno Mahe and Correll Buckhalter will all be looking to fill in that role as the change-of-pace back.

Moats and Westbrook are similar backs in terms of size and stature, and they do some of the same things well. For example, each runs low to the ground, and they have the ability to make a defender miss.

But Moats concedes there are things that Westbrook does better.

"There's a lot of things he's good at that I'm not," Moats said. "He knows how to read different situations better than I can, and he's a better receiver than me."

In fact, Westbrook was tied for first on the team in receptions with tight end L.J. Smith with 61 catches for 616 yards.

Moats would like to improve in that area as well. Knowing Eagles coach Andy Reid often considers the short passing game as part of the team's running game, Moats wants to be more involved this season.

Said Moats, when asked whether he hoped to fit better into the passing game: "I hope so. I know a lot of that involves blitz pickups, and that's something I've been working on. I have to realize things are happening and then react." Reach Don Benevento at dbenevento@courierpostonline.com
Published: May 31. 2006 3:10AM

[Phanatic]

Here's another I didn't see around.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-eagles-bunkley&prov=ap&type=lgns

Bunkley staying on top of his study habits
By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer


PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Brodrick Bunkley is cracking the books the same way he did when his poor grades almost got him kicked out of school.

Only this time, Bunkley isn't studying anything remotely close to organic chemistry, quantum physics or whichever courses he took at Florida State.

A first-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in last month's NFL draft, Bunkley has spent a lot of time making sure he's familiar with the defensive playbook. Some of those college classes had to be easier than learning defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's complex system.

"The mental part is the toughest. Physically, everything is fine," Bunkley said Tuesday. "You have to stay on top of it. It's a lot of material."

Bunkley, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound defensive tackle, was the 14th overall pick by the Eagles. He fills a glaring need in the middle of a line that hardly generated a strong rush on quarterbacks last season.

Bunkley had nine sacks, 66 tackles and two fumble recoveries as a senior. He was a disruptive force in the middle of Florida State's defensive line, and has drawn comparisons to Tampa Bay's Anthony McFarland and Atlanta's Rod Coleman.

Bunkley nearly didn't get a chance to play his final season, though. Last spring he was told he wasn't academically eligible. With help from his defensive line coach, Odell Haggins, and support from his mother, Bunkley studied hard and made it back to the field.

"I told my mother and she burst out in tears," Bunkley said. "Just to hear your mother crying, man, that was one of the worst feelings in the world. I knew I had to turn it around. I knew I had to get right. I told my coach after I get back on the field I was going to relish and cherish every opportunity, every play, every snap. And it's led to a lot of success."

So far, the transition to the NFL has gone smoothly for Bunkley. His position is probably the easiest to learn in Johnson's defense. The two other defensive tackles -- Corey Simon and Mike Patterson -- selected by the Eagles in the first round since 2000 started as rookies.

"There are not as many adjustments," Johnson said earlier this month. "You can probably make a mistake inside there and not hurt you. Where as outside linebacker in coverage, sometimes a defensive end in containment, it's a little tougher. There is no question that at defensive tackle you still have to have some guys with intelligence, but it is an easier position to play."

Bunkley and Patterson -- the 31st overall pick in 2005 -- have the potential to be a formidable tandem in the middle of the defensive line for several years. Patterson, who went to Southern California, had 44 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks and one forced fumble last season.

"He's a great guy who has experience," Bunkley said. "I look up to him."

Bunkley is a versatile player who can rush the passer and stuff the run. He's strong and has a quick burst, allowing him to change directions and chase down runners.

Most draft projections had Bunkley going before Philadelphia picked at No. 14, and coach Andy Reid said the team considered moving up to get him.

Bunkley already is adding to his repertoire of moves. He's been practicing the spin move.

"In college, we didn't use the spin because coach (Haggins) didn't like it. It didn't fit in our defense," Bunkley said. Now it's another way to get pressure on the quarterback."

[Feva]

I might as well add to the fluff.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/14669385.htm

Birds draft pick buried in books

Chris Gocong is finishing up classes in California - and studying his plays.
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer
If you want to know how complicated defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's scheme is, talk to the engineering major from California Polytechnic State University.

So, Chris Gocong, on a scale of one to a final examination in your biomedical concentration, how difficult is it to learn this Eagles defense?

"It's definitely tough," Gocong said after he stopped laughing during a telephone interview earlier this week. "I think it's especially tough for linebackers. You really have to recognize a lot of checks."

Gocong, the Eagles' third-round draft pick last month, is the only rookie who was not in attendance yesterday at the NovaCare Complex as the team opened an instructional camp for its younger players.

He'd like to be here, but instead he's required to complete his education at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Gocong, who is being converted from a college defensive end to an NFL strong-side linebacker, admitted that he is concerned about missing the rookie camp.

"I really don't want to fall behind," he said. "I want to jump into my rookie year running full speed."

On the other hand, when he arrived at Cal Poly five years ago, his goal was to pick up an engineering degree. Playing in the NFL was a distant dream that did not seem realistic. He had not been heavily recruited out of tiny Carpinteria (Calif.) High School.

Only after he registered 171/2 sacks as a junior at Division I-AA Cal Poly and watched a teammate - linebacker Jordan Beck - go in the third round of the 2005 draft to the Atlanta Falcons did he think that the NFL was a reachable goal. He sealed a spot in the draft with 231/2 sacks - a I-AA record - during his senior season; he succeeded Beck as the winner of the Buck Buchanan Award that goes to the best I-AA defensive player.

Now, he wants to get started on his new career, but first he has to pick up that degree.

"That's what I went to college for in the first place," Gocong said. "I didn't go to Cal Poly to play football. It's really important for me to graduate."

It is probably unrealistic to think that Gocong can replace Dhani Jones as the starting strong-side linebacker as a rookie, but it is also not a secret that the Eagles were less than thrilled with Jones' work last season.

"He is one of those guys that might not start right away," Johnson said of Gocong. "Maybe he will help on special teams. We know he has some athletic ability, and we will just see how fast he picks it up. He's an intelligent guy, and we knew that coming in. We know he has a fast motor, and he's going to get plenty of opportunity."

Gocong is trying to learn the Eagles' defense even as he prepares for his final exams.

"I would say it's been pretty much half and half," Gocong said. "The playbook is pretty thick, and I haven't even got a chance to see the whole thing yet. It's just more. You have to always be aware on the field. As a defensive end in college, I just pretty much played the ball. This is a lot more reading of what's going on."

Gocong said he is scheduled to rejoin the Eagles on June 7 when the team will be conducting a full-squad minicamp in Philadelphia. At that point, he'll finally be able to focus entirely on football rather than artificial knees and other biomedical subject matter.

"The past two quarters have been pretty tough," Gocong said. "I was getting my body ready for the scouting combine and the draft. Now, I actually have a job, but at the same time I'm still going to school. I've had to switch my mind back and forth. When I was in Philadelphia, I was totally into football. Here, I'm into school, I'm going over the playbook, then I'm back looking at school stuff. It's definitely tough, but it's well worth it."

When you have such a busy schedule, something has to be sacrificed. In Gocong's case, it has been his rock band, VOID. He has been the void in the band.

"I think I've been replaced," said Gocong, who plays guitar  , bass and piano.

[reese125]

who plays guitar  , bass and piano.

so now when Gocong makes a tackle, hes gonna frantically fiddle his fingers in the air in excitement? great

[The BIGSTUD]

who plays guitar paranoid, bass and piano.

so now when Gocong makes a tackle, hes gonna frantically fiddle his fingers in the air in excitement? great

McNabb already mastered that one.

[PhillyGirl]

For some reason or another, that McNabb picture just got me SO stoked for the season.

I can't wait to see him back to his normal, joking self instead of having to deal with the black cloud of TO.

[SidFarkus]

It really is the most boring part of the NFL year...

[The BIGSTUD]

For some reason or another, that McNabb picture just got me SO stoked for the season.

I can't wait to see him back to his normal, joking self instead of having to deal with the black cloud of TO.

Same here. TO was a great receiver and really exciting to watch, but the whole season you were just waiting for a blow-up. Now it's like a huge weight has been lifted off the shoulders of the team and the fans, and we can just watch the games without worrying about sideline blow-ups.

[SidFarkus]

mmmm taste the fluff

http://www.macon.com/mld/philly/sports/football/14695570.htm?source=rss&channel=philly_football

Eagles' top pick credits coach's tough love
Brodrick Bunkley says his college defensive line leader was like a father, supportive but also highly demanding.
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer

Some of the reasons Brodrick Bunkley emerged as the 14th overall pick in this year's NFL draft are as obvious as the Eagles' need for a better pass rush.

Bunkley, 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds, is quick, strong and talented. He can bench-press 525 pounds, and during Florida State's stretch run last fall, it seemed as if he was spending as much time behind the line of scrimmage as the opposing team's running backs.

Those things tend to capture the attention of NFL scouts.

Not nearly as palpable is the influence of those closest to the college stars who become instant millionaires when they are taken in the first round of the draft.

If Odell Haggins, the defensive line coach at Florida State, had not cared so much about Bunkley, you have to wonder what would have become of the talented defensive tackle from Tampa.

"The one thing I admired about Coach is that he stays on top of his players, and he stays on them hard," Bunkley said last week after he participated in a practice at the Eagles' rookie camp, which resumes today at the NovaCare Complex. "He's a big part of the reason for the success I had last season. I was thankful to have a coach like him.

"I was able to talk to him about my problems. He was almost like my father in Tallahassee."

Bunkley's thankful now, but there were times during his tenure at Florida State's Tallahassee campus that he really didn't want to hear what Haggins had to say.

"Yeah, I made him mad sometimes," Haggins said during a telephone interview. "I think he just wanted to throw me around."

An example?

"I'm a pretty laid-back person, and Brodrick always hustled on the football field," said Haggins, who played defensive tackle for Florida State from 1986 to '89. "When he was young, there was one time when I told him how to do something and he said, 'Coach, I can do this the other way. I've got it.' I went berserk on him.

"I explained to him that you can do it his way against less than great talent, but when you play against the best competition, the great players, you have to be a technician."

That was the first time Haggins deployed tough love on Bunkley. It would not be the last.

"One day, he was sitting down at the training table eating dinner," Haggins said. "I saw him and I went up to him and said, 'You're not taking care of business.' I think he wanted to start crying. He had a little school work left to do, and he hadn't finished it."

The toughest of times came late last spring. Bunkley, still recovering from surgery to repair a severe right ankle injury, was told he would not be academically eligible to play football in 2005.

"It was a couple of classes," Haggins said. "He needed to turn in work, and he didn't do it. He called me crying. He felt he had let me down big time and that he had let his mother down big time. I had to go into parent mode. I talked to him and used tough love on him."

Haggins became a human alarm clock, set most days for 7 a.m.

"He was on top of me every morning making sure I was up," Bunkley said. "He was pounding on the door, and it reached the point where I was like, 'Please, let me be.' He was like a nagging mother or father. At the time, I may have been frustrated, but it was all for the best, and that's what I think about now."

Bunkley, restricted from working out with his teammates, took summer correspondence courses, kept himself in shape and was reinstated by the start of the season.

"It was a time that could make or break a kid," Haggins said. "Throw out football. This was a 22-year-old man and that was [the] time when he was either going to show he was a man or revert to the things you do as a 15- or 16-year-old boy."

Bunkley promised to show Haggins he was a man.

"Brodrick came to me and said, 'I'm going to take care of it,' " Haggins said. "That told me a lot. In the back of my mind, I had confidence in him. When he came back to practice, he was between 290 and 295 pounds and in good running shape. He was in a lot better shape than I thought he'd be."

What followed was a sensational final season by Bunkley at Florida State in which he made it obvious that he belonged in the NFL. He set a single-season school record with 25 tackles for losses. He led all Atlantic Coast Conference interior linemen with nine sacks. He was a dominant force, and his position coach was immensely proud.

"I'd say we had a father-son relationship," Haggins said.

They still do, which is a testament to how much Haggins meant to Bunkley.

"He teaches you the things you need to know, and he works his kids hard," Bunkley said. "He's just a great coach because he's a great person and he has knowledge of the game. I still talk to him all the time."

[QB Eagles]

Now here's some stuff I definitely don't mind being all condensed into one thread.

[hbionic]

You guys expect us to read all of that stuff? What happened to highlighting select lines in bold. Bunch of lazy fargos. 

[Butchers Bill]

You guys expect us to read all of that stuff? What happened to highlighting select lines in bold. Bunch of lazy fargos. 

Figures you would expect us to fluff you...chuggie.   

[Father Demon]

For some reason or another, that McNabb picture just got me SO stoked for the season.

I can't wait to see him back to his normal, joking self instead of having to deal with the black cloud of TO.

I had to read thattwice.  I thought yousaid that picture got you SO soaked.   

[hbionic]

For some reason or another, that McNabb picture just got me SO stoked for the season.

I can't wait to see him back to his normal, joking self instead of having to deal with the black cloud of TO.

I had to read thattwice.  I thought yousaid that picture got you SO soaked.   

lol...lmao....