Area Players Hope For Weekend Call

Jackson, Bethea Might Hear Name Early

In the spring of his junior year of high school, D'Qwell Jackson still dreamed of attending Florida State. Joe Kines, the Seminoles' linebackers coach at the time, visited Jackson's high school in Largo, Fla., and sat in a room watching film. Then he told Seminole High Coach Sam Roper he would keep Jackson in mind, but that Florida State was recruiting several players in Texas with more impressive size and better physical attributes.

Jackson wound up at Maryland, where he became one of the best linebackers in school history, leading the ACC in tackles two years in a row and earning the conference's defensive player of the year award as a senior. And yet going into today's NFL draft, Jackson is hearing a recognizable critique: He's too small to excel as a middle linebacker at the next level.

He is a hair over 6 feet and weighs about 230 pounds, a bit small by NFL middle linebacker standards. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.73 and 4.80 seconds at the pre-draft combine, a bit slower than expected.

Most draft analysts predict he will be selected early in the second round; some have him going even later. But his supporters say there are three numbers more important than Jackson's height or speed: 136 tackles as a sophomore, 123 tackles as a junior and 137 tackles as a senior.

"He's athletic enough to play whatever position they put him in," said Tim Banks, who coached Maryland's inside linebackers last season. "I just know this: Whoever gets him is going to get a lot for their value."

"I think he'll be a heck of an NFL player," Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen said. "He's a guy who is going to be very intense and practice hard every day. He's just such a good person, he's going to maximize his potential. . . . I think [Jackson's size] is a factor, but there's linebackers like that in the league. Mike Singletary wasn't real big either, you know, and he's in the Hall of Fame."

Jackson, 22, considered leaving school after his junior year, when he was told he was a likely second-round choice. But a nagging wrist injury hurt his prospects, and he went back to College Park to attempt to play himself into the first round. Friedgen said he remains hopeful Jackson will be taken in the first round.

"He's always been a borderline late-round-one, early-round-two guy. He's always been on the bubble," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. " 'Instincts' is the key word everybody in the NFL is using. If you're instinctive, you don't have to be as big or as fast or as gifted, and this kid has talent."

Jackson likely will be the fourth area player chosen today, after Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Maryland tight end Vernon Davis and Virginia Tech cornerback Jimmy Williams. Several other Hokies, including defensive linemen Darryl Tapp and Jonathan Lewis and linebacker James Anderson, could also hear their names called during the first three rounds.

Antoine Bethea, a safety from Howard, has a chance of being taken today, which would give the Bison a first-day selection for the second year in a row. Bethea has been a first-team all-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference selection three years in a row, and Howard Coach Ray Petty says his talent is comparable to that of St. Louis Rams cornerback Ronald Bartell, who last spring became the first Howard player to be drafted higher than the sixth round.

"I think [Bethea] has a great chance of being drafted on the first day," Petty said. "He's a playmaker and that's what the NFL's looking for -- he just makes plays."

Bethea, 5-11 and 203 pounds, had 88 tackles and four interceptions last season. The Newport News, Va., native, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds at the combine, said the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks have shown the most interest. Like Jackson, he said he isn't worried about when he's selected.

"I just hope that I go this weekend, that somebody calls my name," Bethea said. "That's all I'm wishing for right now."