Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 23, 1994 TAG: 9404230014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Pyne was voted the best center in college football last year, but he's not the top pro prospect. Various scouting services and pre-draft analyses rate him among the top five or six centers available in the draft, which begins Sunday with the first and second rounds, then ends on Monday.
Why not higher? Maybe size; Pyne is 6 feet 2, 280 pounds. NFL scouts seem to like taller folks snapping the ball. Pyne counters that NFL history is full of "short" center standouts, such as former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster (6-1) and the guy Pyne says he's been told is considered the best active center, San Diego's 6-1 1/2 Courtney Hall.
"What makes a great football player, an inch? Come on," Pyne said.
Maybe reputation. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper described Pyne as an "overachiever" in college who is "not as good as advertised."
Pyne doesn't understand it. He said he played well in the Senior Bowl, tested well at the scouting combine and can't figure out why some draft-watchers would downgrade him.
"I know what I can do. I'm just waiting to go do it," Pyne said. "I've done what I've done. I'll put my film against anyone's."
Pyne's strengths are his strength, aggressiveness, technique and smarts. A four-year starter who started his last 35 games for Tech, he will become the first third-generation pro football player if he makes the NFL.
Pyne's agent, John Macik of the Florida-based Golden Bear group, predicts Pyne might go in the third round but will have a long NFL career. Macik said Cincinnati, Seattle, Minnesota and New Orleans are considering using an early-to-mid-round pick to take a center.
Macik said 40-yard-dash times and bench presses are one thing, and football games are another.
"Several of the more credible [NFL team evaluators] I've talked to seem to think Jimmy has graded out the highest of any of the other players, offensive linemen or centers," Macik said.
Kiper noted "you can't count out fierce competitors who have a keen understanding of the position," and he praised Pyne for "tenacity and incredible weight-room strength." Pyne, whose experience as a placement snapper for Tech in '93 probably will come in handy in the NFL, has used real or perceived slights as motivation. If the pre-draft talk gets under his skin, Pyne's emotions could be turbo-charged by mini-camp time.
Pyne said he has stepped up his workouts already, and some of his feistiness is surfacing. Of the five consensus All-America linemen, only Auburn's Wayne Gandy and Notre Dame's Aaron Taylor are receiving pre-draft raves. Pyne, Virginia's Mark Dixon and Clemson's Stacy Seegars aren't.
"I think I'm being ignored, is what's happening," he said. "I don't know why. No one says [anything] about me [in draft analyses]. I sit back and I say, `All right . . . ' "
Kiper rates Pyne as the seventh-best center in his 1994 Draft Update. USA Today had Pyne fourth, behind California's Eric Mahlum, Louisiana State's Kevin Mawae and Notre Dame's Tim Ruddy. It's that size thing again; all three of those players are taller and heavier than Pyne (although Mawae and Ruddy are listed with slower 40-yard-dash times).
"Some teams will come in and it makes a difference for them, and some teams it doesn't," Pyne said. "I don't care."
So when will Pyne be drafted? Not as high as former Hokies lineman Eugene Chung (a New England Patriots first-rounder, 13th overall, in 1992), even though Pyne's Tech career was more notable than Chung's. Last year's All-America center, Mike Compton of West Virginia, was a third-round choice, the 68th player picked overall. Michigan's Steve Everitt was a first-rounder in '93, No. 14 overall, and was the 42nd center in NFL history to be taken in the first round but only the sixth since 1983.
The lower a player is taken, the less money he gets and the more his pride hurts. Pyne says he's putting that aside, and he hopes to be taken from the second to fourth rounds.
"You can get caught up in money, and I think too many guys do," Pyne said. "I do have pride. To go late, I wouldn't be happy.
"I just want to go to the best team for me, the best opportunity. Who knows where that is?"
by CNB