ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD.
SOURCE: DAN UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
For the first time since 1991, the Washington Redskins will open preseason training camp with all of their players signed.
Running back Terry Allen, whose 1,309 yards rushing ranked fifth in the NFL last season, and 1996 first-round draft pick Andre Johnson both agreed to terms Wednesday.
Defensive tackle Bobby Wilson was the last Redskins first-rounder to report to camp on time. Many team personnel said they hope Allen's and Johnson's agreements are an omen. "We had a good year in 1991," Redskins general manager Charley Casserly said.
Washington won the Super Bowl that year. The Redskins haven't been close since.
That may have been why the people in the mountains of the Maryland panhandle welcomed the Washington Redskins with the pomp and circumspection that has come to characterize the team's fans in recent years. Where there's hope, there's also skepticism.
The Sunday afternoon heroes arrived at Frostburg State University on Wednesday in preparation for training camp. Drills begin today (workouts at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.) and run through Aug.15. But the Redskins haven't had the look of heroes in the mid-1990s. They are 13-35 since 1993.
Third-year coach Norv Turner raised his arm up to the sky and said, "I like to think we're headed in this direction."
Turner admitted he reads almost every preseason pro football magazine to see if the "experts" are thinking the same way. "They're fun to read," he said. "The guys that give the coaches a "C", I throw that one in the trash. I like the guys that pick us second and third and give the coaching a "B-plus"."
A Redskins coach shooting for second place would have been blasphemy 20, 10 or even five years ago. In 1996, it's realistic.
Whether Washington can even reach second place will be determined by one of two men - Heath Shuler and Gus Frerotte - who combined are the story of this training camp. Turner has labeled the competition between the two quarterbacks as "wide open" and has said he is in no rush to make a decision on a starter. No day-to-day grades will be charted. The decision, expected to come in mid-August, will be made based on the coaches' feelings of overall performance through the camp.
"It's going to be a very competitive situation," Turner said. "I think it typifies where this team is right now," with competition between young players at many positions.
Allen and Johnson's positions were not ones the Redskins wanted to be in question. With Jim Lachey retired, the presence of Johnson, an offensive tackle from Penn State, took on greater significance. Casserly said he and Johnson's agent, Tony Agnone, had agreed when negotiations on Johnson's 4-year contract opened that the deal would be sealed before camp began. "I never sensed it would not be done," Johnson said.
Allen, who drove to Frostburg from Georgia all day Wednesday, had a shakier situation. He was asking to be paid an average of the top five running backs in the league, which would have been $2.6 million per year. The Redskins were hesitant to give that kind of money to a player who missed the 1993 season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear.
Allen signed a one-year deal for $2 million Wednesday night. He will again be an unrestricted free agent after the 1996 season.
"We finally felt this was a fair compromise for both sides," Casserly said. "Terry Allen wanted to be here. He didn't want to entertain offers from other teams.
"This is a way for both of us to go in, evaluate this season; I think it also allows us greater flexibility with the cap a year from now."
The signings were on the minds of many Redskins players at a camp kickoff rally at a Frostburg railroad museum. Like Casserly, cornerback Darrell Green asked fans if they knew when was the last time the team had every player at camp on time.
"It was 1991," Green said. "Think about it."
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB