View
1
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
B10 Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13, 2012 | SPORTS | www.kentuckynewera.com
Open Mon.-Fri. 10:00AM-5:00PM
Sat. 10:00AM-3:00PM
270-522-4304
Tollgate Plaza, 37 Commerce St., Cadiz, KY
NFL n
BY TERESA M. WALKER
AP SPORTS WRITER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. —Kendall Wright calls theTennessee Titans’ play-book big with a lot of plays,and it’s something verynew to the wide receiver.Not because he’s a rookieand first-round draft pick.
It’s the first playbookWright has ever had.
Wright played at Baylor,where coach Art Briles usespractices, film study andmeetings to teach plays sig-naled into the offense. Noth-ing was written down andbundled into a playbook ofany form. When Wrightplayed quarterback in highschool in Pittsburg, Texas, hehad no playbook there, either.
“For me, it’s learningeverything,” Wright saidFriday afternoon after hissecond session in the Ti-tans’ rookie minicamp. “Iwas just out there. We had alot of different stuff we ranat Baylor. But right now Ihave a playbook that I’mstudying every night andgoing over with coaches inthe meetings. It’s a differentlearning process for me.”
Wright has plenty ofcompany right now among24 rookies for the Titanstaking part in two days oforientation and practicesbefore veterans returnMonday to resume the off-season program. But of hisnew rookie teammates,Wright said he thinks Bay-lor was the only team thatdidn’t have a playbook.
Learning the playbookshouldn’t be a problem.Wright said he memorizedmore than 300 plays at Baylorand already knows several
plays from the Titans’ play-book despite only arriving intown Thursday. For Wright,it’s simply a different formatand not something he has tobe taught how to read. Thereare no special tutoring ses-sions from receivers coachDave Ragone.
“It’s a big book with a lotof plays in it, so I’m justlooking at whatever posi-tion coach wants me to lookat,” Wright said. “There’s alot of different positionshe’s got me looking at. I’mjust soaking it all in andgoing through it every day.”
With plenty of needs ondefense, the Titans surpris-ingly took the 5-foot-10, 196-pound Wright with the 20thpick overall last month. Heset Baylor records by catch-ing 302 passes for 4,004yards and 30 touchdownpasses working withRobert Griffin III, the No. 2pick overall by Washing-ton. The Titans like his pre-cise route running andquickness, especially afterthe ball gets into his hands.
“Kendall looks good,”coach Mike Munchak said.“He looks like we thought. Alot of learning going on, a lotof teaching going on. ... It’shard to get too excited over arookie after a day or two, butI think all the guys look likewe thought they would.”
Wright now has No. 13,adding the 3 to the No. 1 hewore in college. NFL ruleskept him from sticking withthat number, and Wrightsaid he isn’t big enough towear a number in the 80s.He also isn’t worried aboutany bad luck or supersti-tions with the No. 13.
“I’ll make it lucky if Ican,” Wright said.
Titans give Wrighthis 1st playbook
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tennessee Titans rookie wide receiver Kendall Wright (13) catches a passduring a workout Friday at Baptist Sports Park in Nashville, Tenn.
Junior Seau buried in hometownBY BERNIE WILSON
AP SPORTS WRITER
SAN DIEGO. — Hours afterJunior Seau was buried in hishometown, thousands of fansattended a public memorialservice at Qualcomm Stadium,where the hard-hitting, fist-pumping linebacker starredfor 13 seasons.
Many wore Seau’s No. 55 jer-sey — in Chargers blue, South-ern California cardinal andgold and Miami Dolphins aquaand orange.
Among those attending wereSeau’s parents, his ex-wife andtheir children, several currentand former Chargers, and for-mer rival John Elway. Elway,who now runs Denver’s front of-
fice, was accompanied by newBroncos quarterback PeytonManning and coach John Fox, aformer assistant with San Diego.
Seau’s No. 55 was painted atmidfield.
Seau com-mitted suicideon May 2 at hisO c e a n s i d ehome. Heplayed parts of20 seasons inthe NFL, withthe Chargers,Dolphins andNew England Patriots.
After a private funeral ear-lier Friday, Seau was buried atEternal Hills cemetery.
Those scheduled to speakFriday night at Qualcomm
were Dan Fouts, LaDainianTomlinson and Bobby Ross,the only coach to get theChargers to the Super Bowl.
Chargers chaplain ShawnMitchell opened the servicewith a prayer.
“Junior, we don’t know ifyou can see this down here, buttonight’s your night.”
Said Fouts: “Our paths nevercrossed on the field, but boy couldwe have used him with the of-fense of Air Coryell. I’m also gladI never had to play against him. Icould just imagine the thought ofhim sacking me, then standingover me and dancing all over me.”
Someone yelled, “Ask Elway!”Fouts called it a “classy move”
for Elway, Manning and Fox toattend, and the crowd cheered.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Luisa Seau, themother of former footballplayer JuniorSeau who committed suicide lastweek, is held byher grandson asshe reaches forthe casket ofher deceasedson as it is lowered intothe ground at his burial Friday in Oceanside,Calif.
Seau
Recommended