THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060359
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD. LENGTH: 198 lines
A siren sounds in the players' dorm at Frostburg State University each morning at 6:30. It's the Washington Redskins' crude, shrill way of awakening players to what could be their last day in the NFL.
Last Tuesday, Mother Nature had other ideas.
CR-AAACK!
At 5:30 a.m., a thunderstorm roars through this old mining town. A bolt of lightning explodes over Cambridge Hall. The accompanying thunder sounds like a runaway train.
Some players sleep through it.
Jim Kitts can't.
This day in his life as a free-agent rookie linebacker has begun an hour earlier than he had planned.
The 24-year-old Chesapeake native lies in bed a while, clearing the cobwebs, thinking about what he must do to claim permanently the No. 59 burgundy jersey he's been assigned for training camp.
Whether or not he can - and there's nary a soul who would argue in his favor - the Redskins have genuine respect for him and his remarkable story.
Kitts played three sports at Great Bridge High School, graduating in 1990. He played linebacker at Ferrum College, graduating in 1994. He wanted to play pro football, but needed an in.
He tried getting a couple of agents to take him on. They refused, though one told his father to put together a highlight film from Ferrum and send it to teams in the Arena Football League. He did and three responded, including Albany.
Signed as a fullback-linebacker, Kitts was the eighth of eight players vying for one roster spot. He won the job and soon became one of coach Mike Hohensee's toughest, most reliable players.
Last May, a Redskins scout called Hohensee looking for prospects. On June 12, Kitts signed an NFL contract.
It's worth only minimum wage - $131,000 - and it's valid only if he makes the team. In the meantime, he receives standard training-camp pay of $500 a week, meals and a jail-cell-sized room with a bed that would give Hercules a bad back.
At 7:30, Kitts and quarterback Mark Hartsell walk to the cafeteria for breakfast. Apparently, those stories about bountiful NFL training tables never made it to Frostburg. Kitts, who is listed at 6-feet-2 and 240 pounds, slaps a cheese omelet onto his white, oblong plate and moves quickly through the line. Nothing else appeals to him.
He turns left, into a room reserved for coaches and players. Maybe it's the hour, but a monk - even Art - has more to say than these players.
Kitts makes small talk with an acquaintance. There's a sister, Megan, at home working in insurance, and a brother, Jack, who's heading off to East Carolina University in the fall. Although he'd like nothing better than to play it for a living, football was never Kitts' first love.
``Baseball,'' Kitts says, pouring milk over a bowl of Wheat Chex. ``I played third base, pitched and caught, and I made All-District as a utility player. Then I got to lifting weights for football and it turned out I couldn't throw like I used to. I got all tight and everything.
``Wrestling? Nah, I've got to eat. Those guys start out wrestling at 200 pounds and end the season at 150. That was never for me.''
The practice complex is easy walking distance from the cafeteria. Kitts makes it in five minutes. It has finally stopped raining, and the autograph seekers are just starting to straggle in to their usual positions behind the gold restraining ropes that lead to the gym entrance.
Like everyone else, Kitts has been assigned two lockers - H33 and H34. His sit between rookie linebacker Jeremy Asher and rookie defensive tackle Ervin Collier. On the right side are his helmet, a couple of towels and ``shells,'' a lightweight shoulder pad more and more NFL teams are adopting for precautionary use during walk-throughs and non-contact workouts.
On the left side sit a couple of empty Gatorade cans, a wet pair of golf gloves, his uniform pants, jersey, thigh pads and his size-13 shoes.
Kitts wastes no time peeling off his blue gym shorts and climbing into a burgundy pair, his shells and jersey. On his way out the door, he pauses by a bulletin board, checking for his special-teams assignments. He's on the punt-coverage and punt-return teams. The return-team assignment is new, but not a sign of improved status.
``Dion got hurt, and I guess that's why I was moved over to the return team,'' Kitts says, referring to linebacker Dion Foxx, a former James Madison University star who will learn later that day that he needs knee surgery.
Kitts had a knee problem once, his senior season at Ferrum.
``Perfect timing, huh?'' he jokes. ``I injured it on a Saturday, had it 'scoped on Monday. I dressed out two weeks later, practiced that week, played the week after that.''
There is time to kill before the special teams hit the field to walk through basic return and coverage assignments. A Frostburg student walks by wearing what looks like a Dallas Cowboys cap.
``It's funny; growing up, I hated the Redskins,'' Kitts says. ``Actually, I didn't have a favorite NFL team. I didn't like the Redskins or the Dallas Cowboys, but when they played, I always rooted for Dallas.''
Ferrum is hardly a football factory. It has produced just one NFL star - Seattle running back Chris Warren - and is hardly among the first stops on an NFL scout's itinerary.
``Ferrum's the kind of place you either love or hate - there's no in-between,'' he says. ``I loved it. I made some of my best friends ever there, people I'll always keep in touch with.''
A girlfriend, perhaps?
``Nope,'' he says. ``Believe me, I do not need any distractions in my life right now.''
In punt drills, he plays for the return team, just behind the line of scrimmage. Occasionally, he creeps forward until he's at the line an instant before the ball is snapped.
``Blitz! Blitz!'' the offensive line screams when it sees Kitts coming. The line's alertness delights coach Pete Rodriguez.
An air horn sounds to end the segment. The linebackers and coach Mike Haluchak amble over to the sidelines, where a four-dummy blocking sled awaits. The idea is to start at one end and hand-fight each dummy as you work your way down the line to the other end, where the ``ball carrier'' waits.
Kitts executes the drill twice. His footwork is not as sophisticated as the rest.
A few minutes later, Kitts stands on the sidelines watching seven other linebackers walk through a run-defense drill. The horn sounds, ending that portion of practice, before Kitts has a chance to take the field. Nonetheless, he stops Haluchak and questions him on the way to the next drill.
``A lot of kids who wouldn't bother asking questions in a situation like that,'' Haluchak says later. He likes Kitts, calls him ``a lot of fun to coach. Nice kid. Smart kid. The kind of kid you want to have a chance at making it.''
Kitts takes the field for pass-defense exercise, running step for step with another linebacker, then flicking out his hand at the last moment to bat down a pass. Kitts can make plays. In a scrimmage against Pittsburgh, he had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Haluchak praises his work against Miami the previous weekend, too.
``Where Jim stands out is in 11-on-11,'' Haluchak said. ``He hangs in there. No one has (man)handled him in this camp.''
Soon, the 11-on-11 drills begin.
Ken Harvey, Marvcus Patton and Rod Stephens run out with the first unit. Kitts is behind Harvey, who has played in the last two Pro Bowls, is the team's best pass-rusher and maybe its most valuable player. Patton and Stephens came to the Redskins in 1995 as million-dollar free agents. They ranked first and second in tackles last season.
A few snaps later, the second team takes the field. Terry Crews, a reserve last year, replaces Harvey. Asher and ex-Dallas Cowboy Darrick Brownlow round out the unit.
After four plays, the first team returns. The next time the subs hit the field, it's Asher, free agent Patrise Alexander and another ex-Cowboy, Matt Vanderbeek, who take their positions.
Kitts stands on the sidelines, watching intently, helmet in hand.
``Linebacker is the most competitive spot on this team,'' general manager Charley Casserly says. ``The starters are set, but after that. . . . Vanderbeek and Brownlow are veterans, great special-teams players. But you also have the youngsters. Patrise, Asher, Foxx. Every other position on this team is down to one guy or the other. Not linebacker.''
He never mentions Kitts, who never makes it onto the field.
Stand and watch. That will be his routine all morning.
When practice ends at 11:50, Kitts trots over to a blocking sled, straps on his helmet and thrusts himself forward three or four times before heading to the locker room.
``I'm bored,'' he whispers. ``I want to do something.''
It doesn't matter to several hundred autograph hounds who practiced and who didn't. There are no names on the players' jerseys, but many have memorized numbers and names.
``Mr. Kitts . . . Mr. Kitts . . . Would you please sign this?''
He does, patiently. He smiles when someone snaps a photo. He says thanks when offered encouragement.
``This is hard,'' he says when asked how he handled all that standing around. ``These guys have had all offseason to learn what's going on. I came in so late that what I know, I taught myself. That doesn't make this any easier.
``You do mental reps, put yourself in the situation. They tell everyone what the defense is. You picture the down and distance. You picture what you'd do if you were in there.''
After he eats - chicken and dumplings - Kitts naps in his room. At 2 p.m., the linebackers meet to review the morning practice. At 3, Kitts is back in the locker room getting ready for afternoon practice.
Same drills, same inactivity, although late in the practice Haluchak slips him in for a couple of downs.
``The game has become so specialized now that there are going to be days guys don't get on the field because we're working on something that doesn't fit their strength,'' Haluchak says. ``Another day and he could get more work.''
That's true. So's this: The closer the Redskins get to their first major cutdown date of Aug. 20, the more they're going to work players with a chance at making the team. Kitts certainly isn't the only one on the outside looking in, and that list will soon grow.
``I'm making the most of the opportunity I'm getting,'' he says. ``I played pretty good in the scrimmage against Pittsburgh. I played pretty good when they came here (the following week). I played pretty good in Miami. I don't know what else I could do.''
The answer is nothing.
It is a virtual certainty that Casserly, Haluchak and coach Norv Turner will soon sit down with Kitts. They will tell him what he already knows: He will not be with the Redskins this season.
He shrugs when asked what he'll do if he's cut. His buddies in Albany are about to begin the playoffs. Kitts isn't sure he could still rejoin the team at this late date. He could go back to the Chesapeake sheriff's office, where he's worked as a deputy for several summers. But bringing prisoners to the gym to play basketball doesn't have nearly the appeal of bringing down Emmitt Smith.
``Jim's not big enough, not strong enough right now. I don't know if he ever will be,'' Casserly says. ``But I'm really glad we signed him. He is a good practice player, a competitive practice player. I don't regret him being here; in fact, he definitely belongs in an NFL camp.''
Haluchak's conversation with Kitts will end like this: Keep plugging. You belong in camp; with improvement, you could make an NFL roster.
``A lot of it is being in the right place at the right time,'' Haluchak says. ``I'd hate to see him quit. I think he can do it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot by CNB