Former Terp Center Edwin Williams is trying to make his hometown Washington Redskins.
It was another long, hot day in a summer full of them at Washington Redskins training camp. Rookie center Edwin Williams was battling to stay in front of All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth on a drill, jostling for position as he fought to impress coaches.
The whistle blew, and the two continued shoving each other playfully. Then Haynesworth, a prized free agent who signed a seven-year, $100-million deal with Washington earlier in the off-season, stopped and looked Williams, an undrafted free agent and former Terrapin standout, square in the eyes.
“You think you can block me?” Haynesworth declared, before turning his back to the rookie center.
“I never played against anybody like him,” Williams said later, in an Aug. 4 interview. “He’s an animal. He seems mild-mannered, but he can turn it on.”
Williams is one of three former Terps competing for roster spots and playing time with the Redskins this summer. He, along with cornerback Kevin Barnes and offensive tackle Scott Burley, has faced his share of learning experiences already at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. By early September, the Redskins will cut their roster down to 53 players, a group all three former Terps are hoping to join.
Until then, they go through the rigors of a training camp where the game is faster, the opponents are stronger and the demands are higher than anything they’ve seen in the past. And they do it as rookies, where coaches will forget your name — head coach Jim Zorn referred to “Keith Barnes” in an interview — and veterans will demean you — each first-year player carried a teammate’s pads off the field — rather than as senior leaders on an ACC title contender.
Monday, veterans taped Barnes, a third-round pick in April’s NFL Draft, and fellow rookie Robert enson to goal posts after practice. And that’s just the public side of being an NFL newbie.
“I had to get everybody dinner at Chick-fil-A last night,” Barnes said Aug. 4. “I spent $150 on pretty much everybody on the whole team.”
Still, all three understood their roles. Last year, each was a starter on a team that finished with an 8-5 record and a Humanitarian Bowl win against Nevada. Now, Barnes and Williams are third on the depth chart at their positions, and Burley is fourth.
“I think in any situation you go into, you’ve got to humble yourself,” said Williams, while carrying the pads of tackle Stephon Heyer, a former Terp teammate and now a Washington starter. “Coming into college, I was the man in high school, too. Now, I’m the bottom of the barrel. I kind of had that mentality coming in. I know I haven’t proven myself on a professional level, so why should I get any credit at all?”
Bumps and bruisesSo far, the results have been mixed at best.
In the Redskins’ first preseason game, an Aug. 13 contest against the Baltimore Ravens, Barnes was beaten by Ravens receiver Justin Harper for a touchdown, buying a pump fake from reserve quarterback Troy Smith.
Burley and Williams were part of an offensive line heavily criticized after the game, paving the way for just 56 rushing yards on 19 carries by Washington ball carriers.
In the team’s first intrasquad scrimmage, Burley was thrust into the spotlight after minor injuries hampered the three right tackles ahead of him on the depth chart.
Still, legendary offensive line coach Joe Bugel said the 335-pound lineman has a ways to go before he’s ready to compete at the highest level.
“He needs a lot of work,” Bugel said. “A lot of work as an offensive tackle in this league because of the speed rushers. But he’s got a chance.”
Williams earned a bit more praise from Bugel, who described the former three-year Terp starting center as “a smart kid” who “in the long range [is] going to be a good football player.”
But Bugel’s words to the media mean less to Burley and Williams than his coaching on the practice field. Being an offensive lineman in the NFL requires great precision along with power, and Bugel has helped the two rookies develop their game.
“Coach Bugel, he’s got so much fire, so much passion for the game still,” Burley said. “I think he’s like 69 years old, and he’ll get out there and run around with us and everything. It’s great to have that experience and professionalism he brings to the table.”
Barnes came into training camp with a different set of expectations. Third-round picks are expected to make some sort of impact right away, and Barnes’s status was lifted by the Redskins’ lack of a second rounder in this year’s draft.
Playing behind former Pro Bowler DeAngelo Hall as well as veterans Carlos Rogers and Fred Smoot, Barnes expects his impact on defense to be limited, at least in the beginning.
“It’s my first year; I definitely have to get better at playing the [defensive back position],” Barnes said. “But my main job is going to be special teams. That’s where I have to go in and show what I can do and hopefully work my way into the secondary sometime during the season.”
The Redskins play their second preseason game Saturday against the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, and the former Terps all have a lot to prove with just a couple weeks until final cuts are made.
Can familiarity breed success?Williams grew up with burgundy and gold in his blood. The 315-pound center has rooted for the Redskins since he was a kid growing up in Washington.
Now, here he is, playing for the team he’s loved with three players he’s known since he left DeMatha Catholic High School in 2004 for the university right down Route 1.
Staying home was part of the draw for Burley and Williams, who also wanted to join a team with a need for offensive linemen. Barnes didn’t have a choice: He was taken with the 80th pick of the draft by the Redskins after growing up a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Still, the proximity to his alma mater and hometown of Glen Burnie have made the transition all the easier.
“I’ve grown accustomed to my ways, and I love the area,” Barnes said. “I don’t have to move away from my family or worry about making new friends or finding a place to call home.”
Heyer’s presence has also benefited the players. Now a starting right tackle, Heyer was in the same position as Burley just two years ago, attempting to steal a roster spot as an undrafted free agent out of Maryland.
Both Burley and Williams praised Heyer for helping them develop with the Terps, where he was a lone senior starter on the offensive line in the 2006 season, playing the left tackle position on a line that gave up just 19 sacks.
“I learned behind him in college, and I’m still learning behind him now,” Burley said. “He’s been here three years now, so I can go to him for everything. Me and him had a good relationship in college, and we have a great relationship now. He’s always there. I can call him, and he’s there to help me out.”
Still, despite playing with some old friends for the local team, the Terps-turned-Redskins have entered a very new and different world.
All three noted higher expectations in Redskins preseason camp. Drills are run faster and harder but require even more attention to detail. Gone are the days of a coach barking at you to stay in shape: “Here, you’re kind of expected to be a professional,” Williams said.
With that mentality in mind, each rookie continues to look at an uphill climb to crack coach Zorn’s rotation — or even earn a roster spot.
“It really is a business,” Barnes said, reflecting on a very different mentality from his college days. “If you don’t produce here, you’re gone.”
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