Finley and Bennett

[kepdawg]

Gearing up
4:16 PM Thu, Feb 21, 2008 | Permalink
Albert Breer E-mail News tips

Back in Houston, Jermichael Finley and Martellus Bennett played on the same AAU team. And they both had the same issue with that squad.

"We played on the same AAU team," Bennett said. "But I left the team because we weren't getting the right amount of gear. Nike wasn't showing us enough love. J-Mike and I, we were the underdogs on the team. We were always the ones who got all the put-back baskets and all the dunks and scored all the points. But we never got any love."

Hoops didn't end up writing the athletic ticket for either one of these guys. Bennett went to A&M on a football scholarship. Finley did the same at Texas.

And they both are here now, auditioning for the NFL. But that doesn't lessen the sting of how those dastardly AAU coaches shorted them back then. It wasn't just with the "gear" either. It was everything, really. Or at least that's Finley's assertion.

"We were really the best players on the team. And we weren't getting the ball enough. So we just quit the team," Finley said. "We saw everyone else getting gear, but me and Martellus were coming up short. On everything. Warm-up suits. Shoes. Socks."

So you could hardly blame these two for getting out of there.

When they did, the guys joined up with the Houston Swoosh and, according to Bennett, never lost again to their former team. And the bond from walking out on their first AAU team lives on to this day.

"Me and J-Mike, we're real close," Bennett said. "We always talk a lot of trash, no matter what it might be. During the Texas game this year, all the defensive players, they came from a break and they said, 'Jermichael said he's better than you, J-Mike said this, J-Mike said that.'"

Just so no one's concerned -- the NFL did afford both these guys with the same gear as everyone else for this week. So no need to worry about either one walking out

LINK (http://cowboys.beloblog.com/archives/2008/02/gearing-up.html)

[JR2004]

I cry one tear for both these guys... :rolleyes:

[mistanice]

per Todd McShay

JERMICHAEL FINLEY:
A surprise junior addition to the 2008 class, Finley is flying under the radar right now. He's undersized and unpolished, but you can't coach the type of athleticism this 6-5, 240-pounder will showcase in Indianapolis. Mark my words: Finley's post-combine stock will rise higher than any of the other 17 tight ends expected to attend.

[mistanice]

Packers: Looking to hook a 'Horn?
By JASON WILDE
608-252-6176
jwilde@madison.com

INDIANAPOLIS — One day after releasing veteran tight end Bubba Franks, the Green Bay Packers were spending some quality time with one of his potential replacements: University of Texas tight end Jermichael Finley.

Of course, considering Thursday was the first day of the annual NFL scouting combine, it's waaaay too early to be suggesting Finley — or any of the other highly touted tight ends strolling through the Indiana Convention Center hallways — will be joining the Packers during the April 26-27 draft.

"We look at all positions the same," general manager Ted Thompson said Thursday. "We'll see how it turns out."
Links
• YouTube: Finley highlight video

But Finley, a redshirt sophomore who caught 45 passes for 575 yards while starting all 13 games last season, said the Packers have shown the most interest in him since he arrived in town. In fact, he said the Packers told him he would be one of their 60 allotted 15-minute interviews.

"Green Bay, they've been on me. They've been on me real hard," said Finley, who ranks among the top tight ends available in the draft, along with Southern Cal's Fred Davis, Texas A&M's Martellus Bennett, Notre Dame's John Carlson, Missouri's Martin Rucker and Tennessee's Brad Cottam. "I think I'd fit in real nice there. That's who's showing me the most love."

The 6-foot-4, 243-pound Finley, who turns 21 on March 26, said he was well aware that the Packers released Franks, the team's 2000 first-round pick (No. 14 overall) who went to three Pro Bowls in his eight-year career in Green Bay.

Franks' play slipped in recent seasons, with Donald Lee emerging as the starter last year while Franks caught just 18 passes for 132 yards while missing eight games with a knee injury.

"So," Finley said, "they need a tight end."

As do a number of other teams. Finley said he plans to do "everything" when the tight ends begin working out today, though he'll also take part in the Longhorns' pro day March 19. He said when he put his name in to the NFL's advisory board to get an idea of where he'd be drafted if he came out early, he was told the second round, but that "a good workout would put me at the end of the first round. But you never know at the combine."

With Franks gone, the other tight ends on the Packers' roster from last year are Lee, Ryan Krause and Tory Humphrey, who missed the season because of a broken leg suffered in training camp.

Asked if the Packers have to find a tight end in the draft, offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, a former tight ends coach, said, "I have great confidence in our personnel department and I'm sure things will work out, as they always seem to. We're not playing for a long, long time and I haven't really given it any thought, to be honest with you."

Guest speaker

Thompson spoke to the 300-plus players during Wednesday night's opening session of the combine, pinch-hitting when another GM wasn't able to deliver the speech. His message?

"'Welcome to the NFL. Have fun, but be professional. It's a job interview,' " Thompson said. "'Be on time, be professional.' They have someone (different) talk to them each night."

Finley said Thompson "seemed pretty cool."