Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9404300043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: ASHBURN LENGTH: Medium
It wasn't enough that the Friday skies over Redskin Park were as gloomy as the club's prospects for this NFL season. Offensive tackle Jim Lachey kept wondering when somebody on the practice field was going to feel like a San Diego Charger - with a lightning bolt to the side of the helmet.
"We stayed out there when the lightning kept flashing," Lachey said, grinning from below his Ohio State cap. "I thought to myself, `This guy [new coach Norv Turner] must be tough.' I thought somebody was going to die before we'd get to leave the field.'
"Of course, if we were coached by Woody Hayes, we'd probably still be out there."
The work day was cut 55 minutes short by the afternoon electric show, but one bolt already had struck Redskin Park earlier in the day, when starting strong safety Danny Copeland, 28, told several teammates and media members he was retiring, then left the club's facility.
"Danny told me he just didn't have the burning inside and the zeal it takes to play this game anymore," said cornerback Darrell Green. "I was not totally shocked."
Green was in the minority, and Copeland's decision - if it sticks - is the last thing a rebuilding team with a new coach, a new system and too many new faces needs.
"Danny and I talked this morning," Turner said. "He's going to come back in and talk again on Monday. He said he wanted to think about some things, and I told him to take the weekend.
"A guy has got to do what he thinks is right for himself. Obviously, he's a proven player, and we need those. . . . You can say it's the last thing we need, but this club has been through so much already, what's one more?"
Copeland's departure wasn't the only surprise. Free-agent running back Brian Mitchell, who won't start even if he returns to the club, wasn't expected at this three-day minicamp. He showed.
Mitchell was one of the familiar faces who barely made up the majority. On a 78-man roster, there are 32 new Redskins. The names include free agents such as linebacker Ken Harvey and center John Gesek and the club's future behind Gesek, first-round quarterback draftee Heath Shuler.
There are many more unfamiliar names and faces. Free-agent wide receiver Willie Hinchcliff didn't play college football. Seventh-round draft pick Gus Frerotte of Tulsa has an uncle, Albert G. Frerotte, who played football at Virginia from 1938-40. Dexter Nottage, Washington's sixth-round pick Monday, is a defensive end from Florida A&M who didn't play the past two seasons after returning to his Miami home to support his ailing mother.
Program sales should prosper at RFK Stadium this season. Only six Redskins remain from the team that Lachey joined in September 1988 after he was traded by the Los Angeles Raiders for quarterback Jay Schroeder. The half-dozen are Monte Coleman, Green, Raleigh McKenzie, Kurt Gouveia, Ed Simmons and Chip Lohmiller.
"Monte and I were joking the other day that we're the ones who went to the new team," Lachey said. "The changes in the system, it's another new challenge. When it gets to your 10th year [in the NFL], you know there aren't that many more left, and that makes every year more important.
"What's tough is to look around and not see the familiar faces, the guys you got to know, the guys you won with, guys like Jeff Bostic, Joe Jacoby, Mark Rypien, Art Monk, Charles Mann. It's got to be tough to make a decision on people like that."
Lachey spent last season recovering and rehabilitating from knee surgery. He knows his teammates may have felt worse during a 4-12 season that made Richie Petitbon a fired rookie head coach.
"It's definitely not the same old stuff we're learning," Lachey said. "It's refreshing for everybody, after going through the type of season we had last year."
The Redskins are spending this minicamp the way they'll probably spend the 1994 season in the NFC East Division standings - looking up. They're also doing what Shuler might be doing during his rookie season - scrambling.
by CNB