THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010642
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
If the NFL ever puts together a Dream Team, Terrence Warren should be a lock.
Before the 1993 NFL draft, the Suffolk native and Hampton University graduate dreamed he was going to live in Seattle. Sure enough, the Seahawks made the fleet receiver their fifth-round pick.
Last week, he had another dream. He saw himself in a San Francisco 49ers uniform. On the trip from Seattle to San Francisco, where the Seahawks and 49ers played an exhibition game last week in which Warren caught three passes, he told a teammate about his premonition.
``He just laughed,'' Warren said Wednesday night from his hotel in Santa Clara, just down the street from the 49ers' headquarters.
That's right. Another dream becomes reality.
Warren, waived by Seattle on Sunday night, was gobbled up in a flash by the 49ers. They put him through a one-hour workout Monday, then signed him to a one-year deal late Tuesday afternoon.
``As long as I can remember, I was a 49ers fan,'' Warren said. ``I've always wanted to be a 49er. I loved everything about the offense, the way they ran it, their games. . . . I love it.
``I just had this feeling it was going to happen. When I was on the field, it wasn't like I was playing for the Seahawks, but like I was auditioning for the 49ers.''
They liked what they saw Saturday night, but they have loved what they've seen since he arrived.
Warren says coach George Seifert told him that he will be the team's No. 1 kick and punt returner Sunday when the 49ers open the defense of their Super Bowl championship in New Orleans.
``Seattle was a 6-10 team that found everything wrong with me,'' Warren said. ``But the best team in the NFL found everything right with me. In this sport, you never know where you're at.''
Warren sounds a little bitter about his two seasons with the Seahawks. In '93, he was active for two games, playing only special teams. Last season, he led the team in return average in a limited number of attempts. During the offseason, new Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson restocked the team at receiver, adding free agent Ricky Proehl and drafting Ohio State's Joey Galloway in the first round.
They also put Warren on the unprotected list for the expansion draft, then yanked him off it as soon as another Seahawk was selected.
``I never really understood why things happened the way they did,'' Warren says. ``I recently found out that quite a few teams wanted to trade for me, but they didn't want to trade me. At the same time, they had no plans to keep me this year. Why they chose to hold me back, I don't have a clue. Sometimes, they turned things into personal matters, and you can't win that way. You only hurt the team.''
The Seahawks haven't had a winning season since 1990, when they went 9-7 under Chuck Knox. The 49ers, meanwhile, have been one of the dominant teams of the last 15 years.
Having passed his ``audition,'' Warren uses another theatrical term to describe what he hopes his role at wideout will be with the 49ers - understudy to 10-year veteran Jerry Rice and 9-year vet John Taylor.
``What players better to learn from that Jerry Rice and John Taylor?'' he asked. ``What more can you ask for when you're trying to learn the game?
``J.J. Stokes is the ideal understudy for Jerry. I'm the ideal understudy for John Taylor. We're almost photocopies as far as stature. Once my speed and agility are shown, they may be ready to put me into that little rotation of theirs. If not this year, then next year.''
In the meantime, Warren says he hopes he starts having dreams about the Super Bowl.
Sweet dreams, indeed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
After dreaming of getting into a 49ers uniform, Suffolk native
Terrence Warren is with the defending NFL champs.
by CNB