By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 22, 2004; Page D04

The opening round of the NFL draft Saturday will be overflowing with Miami Hurricanes, and the school has the linebacker market practically cornered. The first two players likely to come off the board at the position are former Miami teammates Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams, although they are different types of prospects.

Williams is regarded by scouts as the most athletic linebacker in the draft, with the perfect body for the position and the can't-miss label he has worn since high school. Vilma is the heady kid who always has been told he's too small but has a better feel for the game than just about anyone else and soaks up all the information he's given by his coaches until he emerges as the most productive player on the field.

They likely will head their separate ways Saturday but will try to uphold the grand tradition of Miami linebackers such as Ray Lewis (Baltimore Ravens), Micheal Barrow (New York Giants), Jessie Armstead (Carolina Panthers) and Dan Morgan (Miami Dolphins) in the NFL.

"Guys come back and tell us what it's like at the next level,'' Williams said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February. "During the summer time, Mike Barrow is there working out with us, showing us little things to make us better. I think it makes it a lot easier, that and the guys we go against in practice every day."

Five or six Miami players probably will be selected in Saturday's first round. Safety Sean Taylor, tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork are certain first-rounders, and Vilma and Williams are almost-as-sure bets. Offensive lineman Vernon Carey could be taken in the first round as well.

Linebacker has become a forgotten position in the first round of the draft. Only four linebackers have been chosen in the first round of the past three -- Morgan by the Carolina Panthers in 2001, Northwestern's Napoleon Harris by the Oakland Raiders, UCLA's Robert Thomas by the St. Louis Rams in 2002, and Oregon State's Nick Barnett by the Green Bay Packers last year. This could be a better year for the position, as some NFL executives believe that Auburn's Karlos Dansby perhaps could join Vilma and Williams as first-round choices.

Williams has lived with great expectations since coming out of powerful De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., as the nation's top-rated recruit on defense. John Madden spoke at his high school football banquet and said that Williams was the only player he ever had seen capable of going directly from high school to the NFL.

There has been plenty of talk about the notion of any high school player ever being able to make the jump directly to the NFL since the February ruling by a federal judge that temporarily opened the draft to college freshmen and sophomores and high schoolers. Williams said he never took Madden's comment about him seriously.

"I took it as a great compliment, but never in my dreams did I think I could skip college and go to the pros,'' he said. "The size of these guys at the next level is a lot bigger. It's a lot more than high school. When he said that, he was speaking at a banquet, a high school banquet. . . . I just took it as he thought I was a good player. . . . The only way I think you could do it is as a punter. There is so much you need to know, and the speed and size of the guys. You're talking about a boy going against me. You're talking about guys 30 years old, 25 years old."

But Williams's athletic gifts are apparent. "He can play inside, outside," Vilma said at the combine. "He could play safety, defensive end, whatever he wanted. He's a great athlete."

Williams struggled early in his Miami tenure to deal with the burden of the reputation that preceded him. He played only as a reserve fullback as a freshman, and had a modest 51 tackles after cracking the lineup at outside linebacker as a sophomore.

But he settled in and became the player he had been expected to be with a 108-tackle junior season, and had 82 tackles and six sacks last season. Some NFL executives think the Denver Broncos, who have the 17th choice in the draft and potentially need an outside linebacker to replace free agent Ian Gold, are the prime candidate to take Williams.

Williams and Vilma maintained a friendly competition throughout their college careers and their auditions for NFL scouts. Said Vilma: "I want to do better than D.J. and I'm going to tell him. . . . We keep it going all the way to the end of practice, to the end of workouts, whatever it is."

Vilma will have to battle the perception that he is not big enough to be an effective middle linebacker in the NFL and must move outside. He was measured at 6 feet 1 and 223 pounds. He said he does not care too much about which position he plays, but added: "I'm not concerned. I've been playing middle since high school. They always said I was too small in high school, too small in college. So it's no different."

He took over for Morgan as Miami's starting middle linebacker in 2001 and was particularly productive the past two seasons, totaling 260 tackles. "I'm going to be there," he said. "And if I'm going to be there, I'm going to make the tackle."

Said Williams: "He has great instincts. The coach will put something on the board and by the time we get out there, he'll never make a mistake. . . . After the coach says something to him, he'll say it over and over and over again until it sticks in his head."

He was a finance major and an academic all-American. But he displayed the renowned Hurricanes bravado when he was asked at the combine to rank the top linebackers available in the draft.

"Well, me and D.J., one and two," Vilma said. "Three, uh, I don't know. I'll give it to Dansby, I guess."