15443: Wharram: NYTimes.com Article: Shockey Gives Draft Pick a Passing Grade] (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: haiti@brybiz.com


This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by haiti@brybiz.com.


Shockey Gives Draft Pick a Passing Grade

May 2, 2003
By BUSTER OLNEY


Like every other draft prospect, William Joseph received
the petri-dish treatment. He was measured, weighed, timed,
tested, interrogated, interviewed, examined. But the Giants
still did not know what they really needed to know.


And they had questions, after reviewing videotape. Joseph,
a defensive tackle, wrecked offensive lines as a junior,
but after returning to the University of Miami for his
senior season, he would become invisible for a play, for a
series, for a game.

With those doubts, Giants executives turned to a source
with impeccable credentials as a competitor to learn more
about Joseph. The evaluator would be honest, they knew,
because of his own desire to win. They asked Joseph's
former teammate Jeremy Shockey. "We got a lot of
information when we talked to Shockey," General Manager
Ernie Accorsi said. "We found out what the deal was."

What Shockey told the Giants satisfied their questions
about Joseph, who was the Giants' first-round pick and will
wear their uniform today, in the first day of the team's
three-day rookie minicamp. "He's going to be a great player
here," Shockey told the team's Web site reporter earlier
this week, "and he's going to be playing a long time."

The Giants played host to Joseph, along with other
prospects, before the draft. Joseph was reserved, saying
little, and was the quietest among the group of players he
was with, according to Denny Marcin, the Giants' defensive
line coach.

"He's more withdrawn to himself," Coach Jim Fassel said.
"That's what I had heard about him."

The Giants knew his background, too. His parents are
immigrants from Haiti who worked in hotels, and according
to the profile released by the National Football League,
they do not speak English; Creole was the language spoken
in their home. William attended Miami Edison High School,
and his younger brother, Carlos, followed him to the
University of Miami.

William Joseph demonstrated extraordinary quickness for a
player 6 feet 5 inches and 308 pounds. As a junior, he had
10 sacks in 11 games, 19 tackles for losses, and he
controlled the line of scrimmage.

As a senior, however, Joseph had only 5 sacks in 13 games,
15 tackles for losses. "I watched the tape," Marcin said,
"and he looked a little bit different."

Other draft assessors were more direct. Joseph lacked
energy and explosiveness. He would make a big play before
disappearing. Joseph's stock dropped. Once projected as a
top-10 or even a top-5 selection, he began sliding on draft
boards.

When the Giants' staff attended Miami's predraft workout
this spring, Shockey was there, as well, good-naturedly
cajoling Accorsi about picking his former teammates.
"Jeremy," Accorsi said once, "we can't take all of them."

But the Giants' staff had legitimate questions for Shockey
and Giants wide receiver Daryl Jones, because both played
with Joseph in 2001. Shockey told them that Joseph had a
strong desire to enter the draft last year, but his parents
had wanted him to become the first member of the family to
graduate from college. Joseph felt a sense of obligation,
Shockey told them.

Shockey constantly speaks of his alma mater, loves the
football program and the players. But Accorsi was not
concerned that Shockey's opinions would be slanted. "What
happens with these guys is that they understand that if we
bring someone in that they recommend, he's going to be in
the game with them," Accorsi said. "They're not just going
to bring in their buddy because they like him. They want to
win."

Shockey told Accorsi "that this guy has got great talent;
he's a player."

Joseph returned for his senior season, perhaps feeling less
than challenged and, one evaluator said, perhaps less than
fully motivated and concerned about getting hurt. "He got
some senioritis," the evaluator said. "I'm sure that's what
it was. He got overconfident. He wasn't always playing full
speed and I'm sure it affected him. If it didn't, there's
no way the Giants get him."

Marcin said: "All I know is, he's got it in him. Whatever
the reason, whether he was bored or whatever, we still got
a good football player."

Joseph was frustrated about dropping in the first round of
the draft. When he spoke to reporters through a speaker
phone after his selection, he sounded disappointed,
distant. His answers to questions were uniformly brief.

Joseph said he was "kind of mad, but now I need to go out
there and prove a point." "I need to show people what I am
capable of doing," he said.

A reporter asked Joseph about being teammates with Shockey
again. "It is a great thing to be reunited with Shockey,"
he said. "We were great friends in Miami. We used to hang
out a lot and it will be great to see him again."

And if it works out, Joseph can thank Shockey one day for
paving the way.



http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/sports/football/02GIAN.html?ex=1052882957&ei=1&en=dc80d907a466b0c5



Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

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